Elgar: Serenade for Strings in E minor, Op. 20

“Barbirolli's way with Elgar's symphonies is different from Boult's - more supple and, in the Second, strikingly melancholic and bleak.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2010 ****

“Not even Sir John Barbirolli or the much underrated William Boughton quite captures the same sense of strings merely breathing on their instruments in the way Goodwin memorably achieves here. …while the strings of the ECO capture to glowing perfection the barely restrained emotions of the sublime Elegy. An outstanding programme.” International Record Review, March 2001

“Even before the review was in, a well-meaning soul placed this disc on my desk. This, my benefactor assured me, was not just “another Elgar” for the anniversary – it was something special. So it proves. Ehnes finds glowing tone and inspiration throughout in a beautiful yet penetrating reading. Will it displace my beloved Kennedy or Kang? Time will tell.” Gramophone Magazine

“Not since Nigel Kennedy's 1997 remake with Sir Simon Rattle and the CBSO (EMI, 1/98) have I heard an account of the Elgar as thrillingly combustible, imaginative and involving as this. Davis's utterly unforced and ravishingly moving account of the entrancing Serenade makes a cherishable pendant.” Gramophone Magazine, Janurary 2008

“James Ehnes has a lovely ripe vibrato and an expressive openness that touches the heart from his first entry. It's when it comes to the balancing of confessional intimacy with symphonic purposefulness that I'm not so convinced. Ehnes does try to drive the music forward in places, but the impression is more of spurts of activity amidst long stretches of dreamy lyricism.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2008 ***

“Unforgettable!” Penguin Guide