The Hallé Orchestra, Madeleine Shaw

Elgar - Symphony No.1
Elgar - Overture: Froissart
Elgar - Grania and Diarmid: Incidental Music, Funeral March and ‘There are Seven’
Elgar - Pomp and Circumstance March No.3

Sir Mark Elder, Conductor
Madeleine Shaw, Mezzo-soprano

In first concert of our three-part Elgar festival, master Elgarian Sir Mark explores different aspects of the composer’s complex musical personality. In December 1908 the Hallé gave the world premiere of Elgar’s First Symphony and ever since then this great work has retained a special place in the orchestra’s repertoire and affections.

Inspired by the 14th-century Chronicles of Froissart, Elgar’s Overture was his first large-scale orchestral work, an elegant foretaste of the more expansive masterpieces to come. We also hear incidental music Elgar composed for Grania and Diarmid – a play by George Moore and W.B. Yeats based on a great heroic Irish legend – and the fiery and dramatic Pomp and Circumstance March No.3.