Elgar – Sun Dance from Wand of Youth Suite No. 1 (String Quartet Parts)

At the height of his maturity as a composer, Elgar composed two suites for orchestra by expanding and developing some incidental music he had composed at the age of twelve for some private theatricals. Suite Two was first performed in Worcester on the 9th September 1908 as part of the Three Choirs Festival, and was conducted by the composer.

In a lovely arrangement by Bill Thorp, this ever popular piece forms part of a group of Edward Elgar's much-loved salon pieces, that are as fresh and exquisite as when first conceived over a century ago. The wistful Salut d'Amour nostalgically evokes the (appropriately) Edwardian golden age, and will be ever-popular because it is so beautifully written.

This is an adaptation by Carlo Martelli for string quartet of one of six choral songs the composer wrote while holidaying in Southern Germany. The original version was for harmonium and 4 part chorus. Elgar later orchestrated three of the songs under the title Three Bavarian Dances. For colleges, conservatories and professionals.

In the early 1890s, whilst on holiday in Bavaria, Elgar composed several pieces for chorus and keyboard for a group of musicians he met at the inn in which he was staying. He later orchestrated three of the pieces that were published as Three Bavarian Dances - this arrangement is the second movement of that suite. The Pavão Quartet recorded this arrangement on the CD Dreaming, released in 2008 on Discrete Recordings DISC0801 and re-released in 2010 on Discadia Records DISCA001. Included on the same CD are four more of Martelli’s Grieg, Beethoven, Debussy and Dvořák arrangements also published by Broadbent & Dunn.