Elgar's "Cockaigne Overture" - - Audio + Full Score

pf: Arthur Bliss cond/ New Philharmonia Orchestra Cockaigne (In London Town), Op. 40, also known as the Cockaigne Overture, is a concert overture for full orchestra composed by the British composer Edward Elgar in 1900-01. The success of the Enigma Variations in 1899 was followed by the initial failure of The Dream of Gerontius, which caused composer Edward Elgar to become dispirited and declare that God was against art. Nevertheless, he received a commission from the Royal Philharmonic Society and began work on a new piece and soon reported that it was "cheerful and Londony, 'stout and steaky'...honest, healthy, humorous and strong, but not vulgar." The first performance was in the Queen's Hall, London at a Royal Philharmonic Society Concert, on June 20, 1901, conducted by the composer. The composer dedicated the work to his "many friends, the members of British orchestras." The music was an immediate success and became one of Elgar's most popular works. It has been performed in the concert hall less frequently in recent decades, though a performance conducted by Britain's then Prime Minister, Edward Heath, at a gala London Symphony Orchestra concert at the Festival Hall in November 1971, brought Cockaigne to much wider attention than usual.