Elgar: Symphony No. 1 in A flat major, Op. 55

One of the great British conductors of the 20th century, Sir Adrian Boult studied under the legendary Arthur Nikisch in Berlin, which makes his Brahms interpretations so special.

Similarly his friendship with Sir Edward Elgar ensured that all his interpretations of the composer’s works were without question authoritative, achieving an iconic status.

The Proms recording of Brahms’s Symphony No.3 from 1977 is in superb stereo and represents Boult’s ‘golden years’. He recorded two cycles of Brahms symphonies in 1954 and in the 1970s but all in the studio, whereas this ICA recording catches him ‘live’ producing a sense of drama and passion. Martin Cotton comments in his booklet notes, ‘Perhaps most surprising is the final Allegro where there is an organic shape to the movement which doesn’t compare with the rather more staid LSO (studio) recording of seven years earlier.’ In his notes, Martin Cotton emphatically states that the 1976 ‘live’ recording in wonderful stereo of Elgar’s Symphony No.1 from the Proms, ‘is completely astonishing’. Boult, one of the last living conductors to have known Elgar, had effectively been blessed by him: ‘I feel that my reputation in the future is safe in your hands’ – and here he gives what is arguably his greatest performance of the work. Cotton attended the 1976 concert and describes it as ‘one of the greatest musical experiences of my life’.

Boult’s recent recording of Brahms’s Symphony No.1 coupled with Elgar’s Enigma Variations (ICAC5019) was acclaimed in International Record Review: ‘This is a very powerful reading, from the quite fast introduction of the first movement to the triumphal close. Much the same can be said of the Elgar “Enigma” Variations from the Royal Albert Hall Centenary Concert in 1971, again with the BBCSO. Boult keeps “Nimrod” flowing, but in the finale his speeds are more flexible – starting steadily, then pushing on. It all works extremely well.’

This CD represents stunning value at over 81 minutes long.

Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) was England's greatest composer since the death of Henry Purcell in 1695. He was a relatively late developer, with his first major symphonic work, the Enigma Variations (1898-99), being produced when he was already in his forties.

Elgar wrote two very fine symphonies that unerringly captured the zeitgeist of Edwardian England; both are included in this set in superb performances by Bernard Haitink. The first disc ends with two additional Elgar pieces performed by the late lamented Richard Hickox.

This release is a tribute to Vernon Handley's long and valued association with the London Philharmonic Orchestra extending back over 45 years.

A very special relationship exists with the music of Edward Elgar as the London Philharmonic Orchestra is often referred to as ‘Elgar’s Orchestra’. The LPO also had a special association with Vernon Handley and this release in a small way acknowledges Handley's contribution to the Orchestra's life. It marks the first re-issue onto a single disc of the acclaimed recording of Dame Janet Baker's Sea Pictures from a concert recorded by Capital Radio in 1984 and a landmark premiere release from the same concert of Elgar's Symphony No.1. When the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Elgar Society were planning a concert to mark the 50th anniversary of Elgar’s death, Vernon Handley was the natural choice of conductor. Handley’s feeling for English music was second to none, and his rapport with Elgar’s music in particular is clear in these performances recorded live at the anniversary concert. Sea Pictures evokes contrasting images of the sea from ve poems sung here by Dame Janet Baker, a peerless interpreter of the work. Elgar’s first Symphony is one of Elgar’s finest works for orchestra – hailed after its première as ‘the greatest symphony of modern times’. Here in this recording Handley conducts a wonderfully paced reading of the Symphony and the LPO have performed and recorded this symphony countless times, rarely with more refinement and assurance than heard here for the first time in this live recording.

Includes scholarly CD notes by Elgar expert and past Chairman of the Elgar Society, Andrew Neill.

Before its sensational première in 1908, Hans Richter, the work’s dedicatee and first conductor, acclaimed Elgar’s Symphony No. 1 as ‘the greatest symphony of modern times’.

Although Falstaff is often treated merely comically, Elgar’s virtuosic tone poem presents him and Prince Hal with a psychological insight truly worthy of Shakespeare.

On these historic and thrillingly realized recordings, made between 1930 and 1932, there really is no match for the composer’s insight and instinctive way with his own works, especially when conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, of which he had been principal conductor from 1911 to 1913.

“Elgar’s recordings of his own music have come to be regarded as one of the great achievements of gramophone history.” MusicWeb International