Pomp and Circumstance March No. 4 [Alf:36-M907101]

Of all four marches that came after the overwhelmingly successful No. 1, March No. 4 seems to many people to be most closely related in general effect to the first. Just why this should be so is difficult to say. All five of the Pomp and Circumstance Marches are cast in basically the same form, a two-part A-B-AB, with the "A" part energetic and moving briskly along, and the "B" bringing a change of feeling (even though no actual change of pace is indicated) with the so-called "great tune" by way of contrast. However, it has become almost a tradition with Nos. 1 and 4 to play the final section in a slower tempo, probably in respect of Elgar's tempo marking "Grandioso" at this point. Certainly both of these "great tunes" could, and have, been considered as portraying musically the very essence and glorification of British majesty and power at the time they were written.