I think I mentioned that a dear friend, who knew how much I loved the Elgar violin concerto, gave me for Christmas a copy of Michael Messenger's Edward Elgar. Elgar turns out to be a fascinating figure, who constructed a gruff persona to mask his grievous insecurity and also, I think, to keep his emotions in check. For Elgar - and in particular the Elgar of the violin and cello concertos - music seems to have been what Eliot said poetry was - "... not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things." Had Elgar been less insecure and more emotionally demonstrative, he might still have written great music. But it would not have included his violin and cello concertos.
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