The Music Makers is one of Elgar's most poignant and troubled utterances which movingly incorporates material from some of his greatest compositions, and it can hold its head high. Simon Wright steers a commendably clear-sighted course and coaxes an idiomatic response from his Bournemouth forces. Sarah Connolly proves scarcely less raptly responsive than Baker (for Boult), singing with glorious radiance, security and richness of tone; her delivery of the final line ('And a singer who sings no more') is deeply affecting.
Connolly also steps up to the mark in the SeaPictures (which follows after too short a gap). Hers is a gripping, intelligent display, combining keen poetic and dramatic instinct with clarity of diction, all technical challenges effortlessly surmounted.
A performance to hear alongside the classic Baker recording