Elgar Symphony No. 2 discography

Edward Elgar's Symphony No 2 was first recorded complete in 1927 by His Master's Voice (later part of the EMI group) conducted by the composer. (Elgar had conducted a truncated version by the old acoustic process in 1924.)[1] This recording was reissued on LP record and later on compact disc. There was no further recording for eighteen years, until Sir Adrian Boult made the first of his five recordings of the symphony in 1945. Since then there have been more than twenty-four new recordings.

Recordings by date

Conductor Orchestra Record company Date
The composer Royal Albert Hall Orchestra HMV 1924
The composer London Symphony Orchestra EMI 1927
Sir Adrian Boult BBC Symphony Orchestra EMI 1945
Sir John Barbirolli Hallé Orchestra EMI 1954
Sir Adrian Boult London Philharmonic Orchestra Nixa 1956
Sir Adrian Boult Scottish National Orchestra Waverley 1963
Sir Malcolm Sargent BBC Symphony Orchestra BBC 1964 (live)
Sir John BarbirollI Hallé Orchestra EMI 1964
Sir Adrian Boult London Philharmonic Orchestra Lyrita 1968
Sir Georg Solti London Philharmonic Orchestra Decca 1972
Daniel Barenboim London Philharmonic Orchestra CBS 1973
Sir Adrian Boult London Philharmonic Orchestra EMI 1976
Sir Alexander Gibson Scottish National Orchestra RCA 1977
James Loughran Hallé Orchestra Enigma 1979
Yevgeny Svetlanov USSR Symphony Orchestra EMI 1979 (live)
Vernon Handley London Philharmonic Orchestra EMI 1981
Bernard Haitink Philharmonia Orchestra EMI 1984
Bryden Thomson London Philharmonic Orchestra Chandos 1986
Giuseppe Sinopoli Philharmonia Orchestra DG 1989
Leonard Slatkin Philharmonia Orchestra RCA 1989
Yehudi Menuhin Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Virgin 1991
Jeffrey Tate London Symphony Orchestra EMI 1991
Andrew Davis BBC Symphony Orchestra Teldec 1992
André Previn London Symphony Orchestra Philips 1993
Sir Edward Downes BBC Philharmonic Naxos 1994
Sir Charles Mackerras Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Decca 1994
Sir Colin Davis London Symphony Orchestra LSO Live 2001 (live)
Richard Hickox BBC National Orchestra of Wales Chandos 2005
Owain Arwel Hughes National Youth Orchestra of Wales Divine Art 2006
Sir Andrew Davis Philharmonia Orchestra Signum 2007 (live)
Sir Mark Elder Hallé Orchestra Hallé 2008
Vladimir Ashkenazy Sydney Symphony Orchestra Exton 2008 (live)

Critical opinion

BBC Radio 3's "Building a Library" feature has broadcast comparative reviews of all available recordings of the symphony on three occasions since the 1980s. The recommendations were as follows:[2]

The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music, 2008, gave its maximum four star rating to the Decca recording by Solti and the London Philharmonic, coupled with the First Symphony, and the EMI recording by Handley with the same orchestra.[3]

In September 2011, Gramophone in a comparative review of all recordings of the work recommended those by the composer, Thomson, Elder, and, as first choice, Boult (1968).[1]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Lewis, Geraint. "Symphony for a King", Gramophone, September 2011, pp. 46–50
  2. ↑ Index to reviews BBC Radio 3, accessed 24 October 2010
  3. ↑ March, pp. 431 and 433

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/23/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.