Elspeth Wyllie ENIGMAS - Solo piano and chamber works

To coincide with Elgar’s 160th birthday on 2nd of June 2017, Divine Art has released a recital recording featuring Elgar’s own solo piano transcription of his much-loved Enigma Variations.  Elgar originally extemporised and sketched out the work at the piano, and his transcription highlights the intimate nature of a work inspired by friends and acquaintances.

This is complemented by a varied collection of masterful works by British composers. Edmund Rubbra’s Two Sonnets by William Alabaster for trio are exquisite, and this is the first modern-day recording with a mezzo, as Rubbra intended. The recital also features the premiere recording of Nicholas Sackman’s Folio I for solo piano – a lively suite originally written for his family. Edwin York Bowen’s Sonata for flute and piano is perhaps familiar to flautists, and Kenneth Leighton’s Elegy to cellists; however both works deserve wider exposure as staples of post-romantic concert repertoire.