The performances of the songs are ardent, warm and full of conviction. As ever Roderick Williams sounds completely on the composer’s side. But after Falstaff it’s all too clear that they really aren’t top drawer Elgar. A fine effort all round, recording very much included, but perhaps not the ideal present for an Elgar-phobic.

This is Andrew Davis’s third recording of Elgar’s Falstaff. It is, not to beat about the bush, a superbly perceptive traversal, evincing a strength of purpose, emotional candour and meticulous attention to detail that give it the edge over its notable predecessors...All told, a terrific anthology, and absolutely not to missed.

This is top Elgar, the Funeral March being particularly impressive. I confess I had not even thought about Elgar as a song writer but the selection we have here in orchestral garb are without exception a delight. Full of nostalgia but
always with attractive melodies, albeit short-breathed compared to the Elgar of Gerontius and all the other masterly oratorios.

Williams has just the right voice for the three restrained Op 59 songs, while the two of Op 60, orchestrated by the composer, burst with power and nobility. All of the vocal contributions are sterling… to end the disc with the 49- second Smoking Cantata is pure genius.

The two movements from Grania and Diarmid, full of fantasy and feeling, receive top- notch treatment. Roderick Williams is on equally fine form in the collection of orchestral songs that complete the disc…the eloquence of his singing can’t be faulted.