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And in the final variation (“E.D.U.”), which is Elgar’s depiction of himself, Litton gives a charismatic rendition. The famous “Nimrod” variation, despite its breadth, has a dignified air that never feels overly slow or sentimental. Litton maintains the rumbustious atmosphere but taking it a little slower than many interpretations. Variation 7 (“Troyte”), although not marked as such, has the character of a scherzo.
ENIGMA ALBUM REVIEW FULL
The first variation (”C.A.E.”), in which Elgar depicts his wife Alice, Litton voices the orchestral lines judiciously to allow the full beauty of the composer’s orchestration to be appreciated.
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throughout the performance, Litton is attentive to all of Elgar’s markings, which brings integrity to each variation and its own strong character. The opening strings phrases have a solemnity, which ebbs away when the woodwind enter, bringing a shed of light and warmth. Litton gives the theme of the “Enigma Variations” a sense of command and authority, bringing out different colors from the orchestra.
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In this latest Holst recording, made in 2017, he conducts the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, another ensemble he has had a long relationship with, coupling it with Elgar’s “Enigma Variations”, recorded back in 2013. It’s the musical inspiration und creativity that doesn’t allow more than solely songs that are nice and at the same time far away from what Tolkki is capable to deliver, looking back to the Stratovarius albums.Andrew Litton is no stranger to both works in this album, having been made a recording of Elgar’s Variations in the late 1980s, and of Holst’s “The Planets” in 1998 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, respectively. Here it isn’t the musical savvy that acts as a hinder. Unfortunately, the album is exchangeable with many other releases, sharing a similar approach. ‘The Enigma Birth’ is driven by a gifted guitarist. ‘Beautiful Lie’ belongs to this category and the theatric ‘Another Day’ sound more like being taken from an average musical. Although the album has some good moment, the conclusion is, that there is also a lot of average material that ended up on ‘The Enigma Birth’. As on the previous records, also the newest delivery features a wider cast of singers, supporting the axeman on realizing his musical vision of the Avalon Metal Opera. ‘Also ‘Time’ and ‘The Fire and the Sinner’ are faceless songs, being exchangeable and standard. There is the very catchy ‘I Just Collapse’ which is well produced but also has no edges and real identity. It’s the title track that kicks things off and it gets very clear that the new album delivers to expectation which also means that it doesn’t really surprise. Melodic metal, sometimes faster and often in moderate pace, is what fills the album’s tracklist. Timo Tolkki’s Avalon takes a similar route as the predecessor albums. I don’t think that anybody expected bigger changes and the assumption is correct. Twelve songs and a running time nearly one hour deliver a lot of quantity and let’s have a look into the quality level of what is offered by this longplayer. The latest record, ‘Return to Eden’, has been released in 2019 and these days that axeman returns with ‘The Enigma Birth’. Timo Tolkki, that was one of the driving forces of Stratovarius, the Finnish metal outfit that released a solid number of excellent metal albums in a time, when a lot of metal bands struggled.Īfter having parted way with Stratovarius, the guitarist started with Timo Tolkki’s Avalon and own project/band that premiered in 2013.