The piece
In 1899 Elgar published his Enigma Variations: a theme followed by fourteen variations, each the portrait of a friend. The ninth, Nimrod, portrays August Jaeger, his editor at Novello, who had encouraged him at a moment of discouragement; “Jäger” means hunter, like Nimrod in the Bible. Slow and solemn, it has become one of the pieces most often played in the United Kingdom at remembrance ceremonies. The version played here is the one Elgar wrote himself for the piano, published by Novello the same year.
Everything is played slowly, Adagio, in joined chords: keep the weight of the arm in the keys and move from one chord to the next without lifting the hand, like a choir breathing together. The tune is always the top note of the right hand. The music grows up to the fortissimo of bar 28, then dies away pianissimo after the largamente at the end.
