Complex, multi-faceted, subtly changeable Elgar…Gardner is a master of transitions: the gradual transformation of scherzo to slow movement is only the most striking, but there are plenty of others. And what’s most marvellous is the way Gardner, having opened out so many different vistas, draws them all together into a single coherent statement…I’ve rarely heard a performance of this Symphony in which the human triumphs over the monumental so convincingly

The BBCSO under Edward Gardner keeps a grip on the composer’s lavish detail.

[these readings] can and should be applauded for their lucidity and clarity and insightful honesty. There is a major talent at work here – of that there can be no doubt

The British conductor is a seasoned Elgarian, and he coaxes playing of special splendour here from the brass and strings, which reveal richer sonorities in the saturated textures and brilliant contrapuntal writing.

Edward Gardner definitely puts refinement before moment-by-moment impact in his first venture into Elgar on disc. His treatment of the Introduction and Allegro…is notable more for its clarity and carefully graded textures than for its bracing athleticism, though it does finally deliver a real punch in the peroration. Gardner adopts a similar slow-burn approach to the First Symphony

Here the BBC Symphony Orchestra is joined by the Doric Quartet, and the result is certainly excellent…Edward Gardner shapes the work [Introduction and Allegro] beautifully.

Edward Gardiner has been a dedicated Elgarian since the beginning of his career, and this reading, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, is strikingly mature…traditional in the best sense: brisk, with no exaggerated tempi or dynamics, and especially good at not becoming becalmed in the long first movement, and in the finale

a finely nuanced recording of the Introduction and Allegro. In the symphony, Gardner’s feeling for pace and for colour really are top drawer, more measured than some performances but never losing sight of the overall shape of the work, never letting tension slip

Edward Gardner leads a lyrical and bracing account [of the Introduction and Allegro], vying nostalgic reverie with intense drive, Is dotted and Ts crossed yet with plenty of bittersweet ardour and impulsive vitality. The First Symphony is just as impressive. Gardner directs a flowing if flexible account that is very listenable and is particularly revealing of detail, dynamics and sonority.

Edward Gardner presides over a dashingly articulate, enviably integrated and deeply-felt account of Elgar's mighty A flat major symphony featuring the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the very top of its game