The very best of Andrew Davis (3): On approaching death

Corno di Caccia says:

I was fortunate to have been at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall for a memorable performance of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius conducted by Sir Andrew Davis at the Closing Concert of the 2022 Edinburgh Festival. After the Concert, I’d taken my Concert programme and an empty CD box of his Elgar recordings on Warner Classics in the hope of getting his Sir Andrew’s autograph. Outside the Stage Door, after the performance, a few individuals stood waiting and, eventually, he appeared and chatted so freely to a couple before moving on to myself and my friend and it was such a special time talking about Elgar with a conductor who knew this composer’s music so well. I asked him if he’d sign my programme, which he did so graciously; then, rather cheekily, I asked if he would sign the inside of the empty box of his Elgar recordings which, again, he did so graciously and enthusiastically. As he was signing, I said, ‘Don’t worry, I’ve still got the CDs’. I’ll never forget his joyful laugh in response. I first got his autograph as an 18 year old in 1978 after a Proms performance of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. Thank you for these very special videos. Sir Andrew had that gift of explaining music to people, whether they know the particular piece being discussed or are complete strangers to it. A rare gift that not many conductors or musicians posess.
I’ve just done, yet another, survey of Vaughan Williams’s Symphonies, this time using Andrè Previn’s LSO/RCA recordings on vinyl. Now, I will once again open that CD box to play his Andrew Davis’s Elgar recordings, plus one of his recordings of the Violin Concerto. Thank goodness I have so many of his recordings, as well as Proms performances I’ve recorded onto DVD over the years. Two commercial DVD recordings which have also been in my archives for years, and are must-haves for any Sir Andrew Davis fan, are his exploration of Elgar’s Enigma Variations filmed in Worcester Cathedral with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and his immensely moving and authoritative interpretation of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius filmed in St. Paul’s Cathedral. RIP Sir Andrew and Thank you for all the pleasure your music- making and insights have given us all.