Special offer. Elgar Remastered
By Lani Spahr
Beatrice Harrison (cello), Princess Victoria H.R.H. (piano), Yehudi Menuhin (violin), New Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonic Festival Choir, Sir Edward Elgar, Lawrance Collingwood
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, December 2016, Orchestral Choice
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The Times Records of the Year, 2017
So many details in the First Symphony stand out as never before.
Special offer. Elgar Remastered
By Lani Spahr
Beatrice Harrison (cello), Princess Victoria H.R.H. (piano), Yehudi Menuhin (violin), New Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonic Festival Choir, Sir Edward Elgar, Lawrance Collingwood
Purchase product
Awards:
-
BBC Music Magazine, December 2016, Orchestral Choice
-
The Times Records of the Year, 2017
So many details in the First Symphony stand out as never before.
About
A unique opportunity awaits the musician and listener with an interest in historical performance, and Elgar's Cello Concerto in particular. Our new release this month makes available to you on a four-CD set, valuable pressings from Sir Edward Elgar's personal library. It contains hitherto unheard discs - virtually the complete 1928 studio sessions of the Cello Concerto as well as many unused takes of major orchestral works and famous miniatures. This veritable Aladdin's Chest belongs to Arthur Reynolds, a keen collector of original Elgar recordings and photographs. The only person allowed access to Elgar's library was the musician and master recording engineer of historic reissues, Lani Spahr. Miraculously, Lani discovered that various HMV sessions were possibly recorded with a completely separate microphone/cutter arrangement. These double sets of discs were identified by their matrix numbers and after countless hours of painstaking work he was able to, in many instances, synchronize the various sides into a stereo image. We now not only have an insight into the sessions themselves but we are now provided with astonishing sound, revealing a new depth not only to the existing issued recordings, but to new performances of various miniatures and, more importantly, the Cello Concerto and Symphony No.1 assembled from previously unheard test pressings.
Contents and tracklist
- Beatrice Harrison (cello)
- New Symphony Orchestra
- Sir Edward Elgar
- Recorded: 23 March and 13 June 1928
- Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London, United Kingdom
- BBC Symphony Orchestra
- Sir Edward Elgar
- Recorded: 11 April 1933
- Recording Venue: Studio No.1, Abbey Road, London, United Kingdom
- BBC Symphony Orchestra
- Sir Edward Elgar
- Recorded: 11 April 1933
- Recording Venue: Studio No.1, Abbey Road, London, United Kingdom
- New Symphony Orchestra
- Sir Edward Elgar
- New Symphony Orchestra
- Sir Edward Elgar
- New Symphony Orchestra
- Sir Edward Elgar
- Recorded: 13 June 1928
- Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London, United Kingdom
- Recorded: 13 June 1928
- Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London, United Kingdom
- Recorded: 13 June 1928
- Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London, United Kingdom
- Recorded: 23 March and 13 June 1928
- Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London, United Kingdom
- Recorded: 22 December 1919 and 16 November 1920
- Recording Venue: Hayes, England, United Kingdom
Awards and reviews
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BBC Music MagazineDecember 2016Orchestral Choice
-
The Times Records of the Year2017
December 2016
So many details in the First Symphony stand out as never before.
August 2019
Elgar himself invariably led orchestras to the very heart of the matter and they obviously adored him. The LSO play their hearts out in a recording long enjoying legendary status. Somm’s vivid new transfer presents valuable alternative takes from the same sessions.
31st July 2016
The electrical recordings of the late 1920s are also glorious interpretations which reveal him as a passionate and intense conductor...the sheer impact of the First Symphony in all its cleaned-up detail is overwhelming.
Musical Opinion April 2017
incredibly valuable four-CD set…To hear the 1928 recording of the Cello Concerto in genuine stereo, to hear an alternative performance of the First Symphony…and a rich selection of shorter items, cannot be described as other than revelations…Its significance cannot be overestimated.