Jonathan Kingston and Francis Rumsey take a look at “Nimrod” from the Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar. It’s a useful solemn organ music piece for the beginning or end of a funeral, or perhaps for Remembrance Day, which needs careful management of dynamics.
Discussing the performance of the piece, Jonathan and Francis start out by considering that managing graduated dynamics is the key to success here. The piece goes all the way from pp at the start up to ff just before the end, following which there is a very rapid reduction in dynamic level that needs careful handling.
For more about this piece and others in this series see our blog:
https://viscountorgans.net/organ-tutorial-nimrod-by-edward-elgar/