Elgar: Coronation March, Op. 65

“The music… is from start to finish authentic middling Elgar, highly enjoyable and well worth revival. Gerald Finley shines as St George in 'The Rule of England', however embarrassing the words. …the remarkable 1911 Coronation March, perhaps the least joyous coronation march ever written, confirms itself in this performance as a masterpiece that is on a par with any movement from the symphonies.” BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2009 *****

“Sir Andrew directs with contagious relish, no little charisma (witness the glinting spectacle of the "March of the Mogul Emperors") and instinctive ebb and flow, the BBC PO and Sheffield Philharmonic Choir acquitting themselves in kind with admirable skill and commitment. Both vocal soloists are excellent (Gerald Finley projects marvellously in "The Rule of England)... With its gloriously ample sonics and attractive artwork, this set should find favour with every Elgar devotee.” Gramophone Magazine, January 2010

“To George Hurst, a seasoned Elgarian, goes the credit for the cogency of the whole concept.” BBC Music Magazine

"[Pomp and Circumstance] is still a heck of a tune, given the full treatment here by James Judd and the New Zealand Symphony, along with 10 more equally rousing Elgar marches.” The Observer

“Most cherishable of all is a Sea Pictures with Janet Baker and Vernon Handley, a live recording from 1984 that was rescued from the Capital Radio archives; it's a wonderful alternative to the much-loved LSO/Barbirolli version. Baker's voice is still gloriously rich, and the live occasion inspires a performance of great urgency and intensity. A wonderfully rich collection that all Elgarians should try to hear.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2007

“... the other performance conducted by Handley is a gem ... a live performance of Janet Baker singing Sea Pictures .... Baker is on radiant form passionately engaged and in superb voice too…” International Record Review, June 2007

“....special interest attaches to a previously unreleased recording of the Sea Pictures by Janet Baker …” The Observer, April 2007

“What a brilliant idea of the LPO to gather together Elgar recordings from many different sources, some rare and unexpected. They range from the composer's recordings with the newly founded LPO to Sir Charles Mackerras and Vernon Handley in the 1980s. Most Elgarians will know the great majority, but it is many years since the Campoli recording of the Violin Concerto, fresh and urgent, was freely available.
The nobility in 'Sabbath Morning at Sea' is heart-stopping, from full-throated richness down to a hushed pianissimo on 'brooded soft on waters deep', and the attack in 'The Swimmer' is thrilling. Handley beautifully conjures up the surge of the sea in the brilliant orchestration.
Sir Adrian Boult is the principal contributor to the set in recordings from a number of labels.
The excellent transfer gives wonderful body to the mono recording of the Violin Concerto while Falstaff, Boult's 1956 Nixa recording, has a restricted frequency range but still reveals plenty of detail, the close chilling. It is good, too, to have Paul Tortelier's warm and steadily paced reading of the Cello Concerto, and Handley's noble CfP version of the Second Symphony is valuable for the use of organ to reinforce the bass at a key point in the finale. Mackerras's Imperial March, made for Reader's Digest, is a rarity, and his other contribution, a 1985 Enigma Variations (EMI Eminence), brings an unusually slow 'Nimrod'.
It is good to have Elgar's own beautiful account of the Serenade for Strings, spacious in the slow movement, and his Froissart. From the 1930s, too, an excellent Coronation March by Sir Landon Ronald sounds wonderfully rich for the period. Solti's Decca recordings have tingling clarity and brilliance, warmth and panache.
A wonderfully rich collection that all Elgarians should try to hear. Praise must go to the transfer engineers.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“With Colin Davis, Mark Elder, Andrew Davis and others promoting it, Elgar’s music is in good hands. Yet perhaps nobody has known so well as the composer himself how it should go — how passionately, how freely — as this collection of the complete electrical recordings he made between 1926 and 1933 magnificently shows...Elgarians owe EMI so much.” Sunday Times, 26th June 2011 ****

“It’s surprising how few allowances need to be made for the scratchy mono sound. Elgar was a skilled conductor of his own work, and what’s refreshing is how swift and urgent an interpreter he was...The two symphonies have rarely sounded less parochial and more like fin de siècle European classics...This set is a revelatory bargain - once you start dipping in you can't stop.” Graham Rickson, The Arts Desk, 16th July 2011