August Johannes Jaeger (1860-1909), ‘Nimrod’ of Elgar’s Enigma Variations
Edward Johnson writes… Colin recently reviewed an ICA Classics CD conducted by Constantin Silvestri and it reminded me that the distinguished Romanian maestro had recorded Elgar’s “Enigma Variations.” The reason for this recollection lay in the fact that at 2 minutes, 35 seconds, his “Nimrod” was quite possibly the fastest on record. That too brought to mind Leonard Bernstein’s “Nimrod” with the BBCSO at 5 minutes, 30 seconds, quite possibly the slowest. I duly thought it would be interesting to have both in the Column and Colin agreed!
To those have been added several “Nimrods” by other non-British conductors, though we start with Elgar himself in 1926. His recording of the work ran to four 78s, making eight sides in total. The side featuring “Nimrod” started with previous variation (“W.N”) but what is noticeable is that as “Nimrod” gets toward the end of the piece, and towards the end of the side, the tempo noticeably quickens. In fact, at 2 minutes, 50 seconds it is almost as fast as Silvestri, despite the “Adagio” marking.
As it happens, the question of side-lengths often determining the tempos adopted in 78rpm recordings is nothing new. Back in 1971, I raised it with Sir Adrian Boult and he replied as follows: “You have raised a very interesting point and one which I am afraid I cannot answer really successfully. You see when you have it in mind to get to a certain point in 4-and-a-quarter minutes, or whatever it is, you are inclined to hurry, even though you know it is really all right. I think there is no doubt that the recording managers were very nervous about it and we all had it on our minds, added, of course, to the incredible discomfort of recording in the old tiny studios.”
In short, Elgar’s 1926 78rpm tempo for “Nimrod” cannot be taken as the yardstick for other performances due to the circumstances in which it was played. In fact, that particular side timed out at 4-and-a-half minutes, very close to the side-length Boult quoted in his letter to me. He also added his own memory of Elgar conducting: “Of course, with him anything might happen. I have heard him slash through things when he was in a bad temper for no reason at all that one could find, so much so that if I made I made a mark in my score, I used to put the date as well because he did things so very differently at different times.”
The “Nimrods” below include Stokowski’s only Elgar recording, made ‘live’ in Prague when he’d turned 90. However, he championed Elgar in his early conducting days and gave the US Premieres of the 2nd Symphony in Cincinnati in 1911 and the Cello Concerto in Philadelphia in 1922. Unfortunately both works received hostile reviews from the critics. The 2nd Symphony was considered by one to be “pleasant and interesting but it is not great, nor in any sense convincing.” The Cello Concerto fared worse, being dismissed as “ambling on and on, utterly without distinction, utterly without inspiration.” Unsurprisingly, Stokowski never returned to either work. However, he did programme the “Prelude and Angel’s Farewell,” Elgar’s purely orchestral arrangement from “Gerontius” and doubtless insired by Wagner’s “Prelude and Liebestod.” The Elgar arrangement was published in 1900 yet to this day it has never had a commercial recording, something I find quite extraordinary.
Also featured below is Leonard Slatkin’s “Nimrod” from Taiwan, whilst also on YouTube is his fascinating introduction to the work in the 1995 Proms season. In his illustrated discussion he played the original ending to the work, being about two minutes shorter than the one we all know. Elgar was indeed right to revise it.
We finish with Bernstein’s controversial “Nimrod.” The comments under the video reveal what might be called “one man’s meat is another man’s poison” ranging from “Love this piece and Bernstein’s conducting” to “pathetic, exhibionistic and too slow.” Take your pick!
EdJ
Elgar’s own 1926 recording …
Boult and the LSO in 1970 …
Silvestri and the Bournemouth Symphony in 1967 …
Jochum and the LSO from 1975 …
Stokowski and the Czech Philharmonic in 1972
Skrowaczewski and the Saabrucken Radio Symphony Orchestra, 1994
Rozhdestvensky and the Royal Philharmonic, Proms 2007 …
Slatkin and the Taipei Music Academy & Festival Orchestra, Taiwan, 2024
Bernstein and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Festival Hall, 1982