Imagine if Hamlet began with the Prince alone on stage, delivering the lines, "To be or not to be ..." - no explanation, no setting of the scene, just one character thinking out loud, leaving us to make what we will of what he says. Elgar does the musical equivalent at the opening of the Cello Concerto, placing the listener in the middle of things from the work's opening bars
For the complete article, please use the link: