This Week in Classical Music 7/22/2018

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Antiques Roadshow reveals missing Elgar Score; 

Mozart for Epilepsy?

 It’s “This Week in Classical Music”; an update on what’s happening in the classical music world; I’m Randy Kinkel.

 A woman who appeared on the British Antiques Roadshow with an original Elgar manuscript has been threatened with legal action by the Elgar Foundation.

Jude Hooke brought in a manuscript containing the original drafts and revisions of Elgar’s famous Enigma Variations on the popular TV show.  It had belonged to her late Husband.

The manuscript, which contained revisions of the work signed by the composer himself, was valued by specialist Justin Croft at £80,000 – £100,000.

It disappeared from the Elgar Foundation in 1994 and its whereabouts hadn’t been known since. The foundation has asked for it to be returned to the Elgar archive, now housed at the British Library.

David Mellor, chairman of the Elgar Foundation said:

“I don’t know how this unique manuscript… got into this lady’s hands. But one thing is certain. She has no proprietary right to it and we have already warned Christie’s that this property cannot be sold by them because the person who is offering it is not the legitimate owner.

the Elgar Foundation has been “in touch with the person who discovered the score, with a view to restoring it to its place in the research archive of music manuscripts and correspondence, which is now at the British Library.”

The Mozart Effect—the notion that listening to music of the classical-era master can boost brain power—has experienced something of a renaissance. periodic studies have provided evidence that Mozart's music improves cognition in young and old alike.

And now New research from the University of Edinburgh provides confirmation that Mozart can be very beneficial for children suffering from epilepsy.

A common test that detects electrical activity in the brain reveals "there is an anti-epileptic effect of Mozart’s music," reports a research team led by Eliza Grylls. Three pieces of contemporary popular music did not have the same positive impact.

"Given the large proportion of people suffering from epilepsy [who do not respond] to the current medical treatment, and the financial burden of anti-epileptic medication in our society, a new therapy would be welcomed," they write in the journal Seizure.

"A significant decrease in epileptic activity on EEG was found in the children during listening to Mozart compared to the baseline," the researchers report. "This supports the idea that this effect is unique to Mozart, or at least to similarly structured music,"

 For more on these and other items and events, go to the website, K-B-A-C-H dot org; Be listening each week at this time for another update. Follow us on Facebook and twitter, and also listen every weekday at Noon for the Most Wanted Hour with Linda Cassidy, playing your top 100 classical hits.  I’m Randy Kinkel for KBACH’s “This Week in Classical Music”; Member supported 89.5 KBAQ Phoenix and HD, a service of Rio Salado College and Arizona State University.