Pomp and Circumstance March Op.39 No.4 in G major

Having discovered a winning formula with his Pomp and Circumstance March in D - the one that subsequently had the words of “Land of Hope and Glory” attached to it - Elgar naturally went on to write more concert marches with the same title and in the same vein. Written in 1907, the Pomp and Circumstance March in G - the fourth in the series and the second most familiar - begins like its predecessors with a briskly martial episode and enshrines at its centre a broad hymn-like melody that is to be recalled in triumph at the end. In spite of the Elgar’s express wishes to the contrary, this melody also attracted patriotic words to it - a “Song of Freedom” arranged (fortunately after the composer’s death ) during the Second World War.

R.A