Elgar - Symphony No. 1 & Enigma Variations - Barbirolli Society: SJB1017 - 2 CDs

Release Date: 12th Oct 2009
Catalogue No: SJB1017
Label: Barbirolli Society

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

British Music - up to 25% off

Special offer ends: 08/05/2024

Elgar: Introduction & Allegro for strings, Op. 47

Recorded 11 & 12 December 1956 Free Trade Hall
Hallé Orchestra
Sir John Barbirolli

Elgar: Elegy for strings, Op. 58

Recorded 11 & 12 December 1956 Free Trade Hall
Hallé Orchestra
Sir John Barbirolli

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

Recorded 11 & 12 December 1956 Free Trade Hall
Hallé Orchestra
Sir John Barbirolli

Elgar: Introduction & Allegro for strings, Op. 47

Recorded 29 May 1947 Kingsway Hall, London HMV C3669-70 (2EA10670/3)
Hallé Orchestra
Sir John Barbirolli

Elgar: Elegy for strings, Op. 58

Recorded 4 January 1947 Houldsworth Hall, Manchester HMV B9567 (0ER973)
Hallé Orchestra
Sir John Barbirolli

Elgar: Enigma Variations, Op. 36

Recorded 23 October 1947 Kingsway Hall, London HMV C7702-5 (2EA11926/31)
Hallé Orchestra
Sir John Barbirolli

About
Explore

About

Barbirolli made his first recording of the First Symphony for Pye in December 1956. He had recorded the Second for HMV in 1954. The First was recorded in one day (with the Introduction and Allegro) in the Free Trade Hall and one senses in this very fine interpretation the sweep and immediacy of a live performance – there is no suggestion here of stitched-up tapes and inserted re-takes. JB’s Hallé was at its peak around this period and he made the recording with the centenary of Elgar’s birth the following June very much in the front of his mind. Michael Kennedy believes the performance of the Adagio is even more moving than in his 1963 Philharmonia version. He first conducted No.1 in 1933 with the Scottish Orchestra but did not return to it until the 1954-5 Hallé season in Manchester. It was also the last Elgar work he conducted, at Ely and King’s Lynn in July 1970. The symphony is part of Hallé history because Hans Richter, to whom it was dedicated, conducted the first performance at a Hallé concert in Manchester on 3 December 1908 and JB made it the climax of the orchestra’s centenary concert on 30 January 1958 when Colin Mason wrote that “the performance was not four movements but a single symphonic poem, haunted all through by the tempo and mood of the opening march theme. It may be doubted whether Richter himself did better for the work than this.” We can hear how right he was from this disc.

Offer,Elgar - Symphony No. 1 & Enigma Variations

2 CDs

Contents

Download queue