Tone Poem Tuesday

I imagine I’ve featured this work before, but that’s what’s great about classical music: You can keep coming back to it! Sir Edward Elgar composed this concert overture, “Cockaigne (In London Town),” in fulfillment of a commission from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The resulting work proved to be one of Elgar’s most popular works, a programmatic depiction of the typical kinds of scenes of Edwardian London, from the bustling workers all the way up to the nobles on procession. The piece starts off rather quietly, but by the end it’s full on Elgarian pomp and pageantry. Here is Elgar’s overture “Cockaigne (In London Town).” Sir Adrian Boult, one of the finest conductors of Elgar and Vaughan Williams, leads the London Philharmonic.

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