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Elgar Bavarian Highlands with piano duet accompaniment
Posted by Chris Howell on August 28, 2025, 3:57 pm
An Elgar question for someone. A year or so ago, the Santa Cecilia Choir gave a performance of From the Bavarian Highlands (all 6 of them), with the accompaniment played by piano 4-hands. I can’t find any evidence that these exist except with normal piano 2-hands accompaniment, or orchestra. No explanation was offered and the conductor, Andrea Secchi, in an interview at the end, said the 2-hand version came first but the 4-hand version is “often played”. He didn’t say by who, and I can’t trace any performances with piano 4-hands except this one. Has anyone ever come across this version?
Re: Elgar Bavarian Highlands with piano duet accompaniment
Richard Westwood-Brookes in "Elgar and the press" (which I reviewed some years ago for this site) quotes from a review of the first performnance of the suite on 21 April 1896, from which it is clear that this was given with orchestral accompaniment - it followed a performance of Beethoven's Egmont Overture (the review does not state who conducted, but it does not appear to have been the composer). It would seem therefore that the piano version was origially intended for rehearsal purposes only, and as such would not have existed in a four-handed version. This may not resolve the mystery but it does possibly shed some further light on the matter.
Re: Elgar Bavarian Highlands with piano duet accompaniment
The review in the Worcester Chronicle of 25 April 1896 clearly states that Elgar conducted the performance, and also conducted Guilmant's Symphony for organ and orchestra, with Hugh Blair at the organ. Blair and Elgar otherwise shared the conducting (the review is not clear on what, if anything, Elgar conducted apart from his own work and the Guilmant). The reviewer remarked that "Mr. Elgar can as gracefully handle the composer's pen as he does the bow of the violinist, and the conductor's baton". So in his home town in 1896, Elgar was known as a violinist and conductor who did a bit of composing on the side! But, as you say, this does not resolve the mystery. Most sources, such as elgar.org., tell us that the choir and piano (2 hands) version came first, in 1895, and the orchestrated version a year later. There are recordings of the choir and piano (2 hands) version stating that it is the original version, so I think we can take it as a genuine alternative, not just a vocal score for rehearsal purposes. Certainly, the version with piano is viable and effective in a way that a performance of, say, Gerontius, with piano accompaniment clearly would not be. Though, in the absence of a named arranger, the default assumption is that Elgar himself did prepare the piano arrangement of Gerontius in the vocal score, so we can only hope that no misplaced authenticist will perform and record it in this form. But, to get back to Bavarian Highlands, what I don't find is any reference to a version with piano duet accompaniment and, if the assertion by the conductor of the Roman performance that it is "often performed" were correct, I would expect to find traces of a few performances on the internet.
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Richard Westwood-Brookes in "Elgar and the press" (which I reviewed some years ago for this site) quotes from a review of the first performnance of the suite on 21 April 1896, from which it is clear that this was given with orchestral accompaniment - it followed a performance of Beethoven's Egmont Overture (the review does not state who conducted, but it does not appear to have been the composer). It would seem therefore that the piano version was origially intended for rehearsal purposes only, and as such would not have existed in a four-handed version. This may not resolve the mystery but it does possibly shed some further light on the matter.
Previous Message