Elgar: the 2nd Symphony

[ahinton]

If you have the time & inclination to start such a thread HS, you have a ready & willing audience I'm sure

Thirded!

[pastoralguy]

PLEASE, HS!! That would be great.

Fourthed!!

[ahinton]

PLEASE, HS!! That would be great.

Fourthed!!

He's already started it!

[Hornspieler]

I have transferred this post to its proper thread.

My apologies to all who may have been confused

HS

[Hornspieler]

Thanks Caliban. I had already made the transfer.

HS

[Nick Armstrong]

Thanks Caliban. I had already made the transfer.

HS

I saw, and deleted my post!

[Barbirollians]

Silvestri's studio recording of In the South is a classic and only Barbirolli's live recording comes close for me .

[secondfiddle]

.... who learnt his trade as Assistant Conductor to Silvestri in Bournemouth.

I have Silvestri's recorded broadcast of Symphony Nº 1 (unfortunately in mono). The tapes were borrowed from Bristol by Robert Simpson and when they were eventually returned were sadly wiped on the orders of BBC London on the grounds of economy() but I did manage to secure a personal copy before the philistine act took place.

Silvestri was a great interpreter of Elgar's music and his recording of Alassio (which the BBC did keep and made available on BBC Legends) demonstrated the fact that you don't have to be a native of a country to be a great interpreter of that country's music.

HS

Regarding Honspieler's comments on Silvestri's Elgar, isn't it the other way round? Silvestri's Elgar 1 has been issued by BBC Legends but not In the South, although I have a broadcast performance under Silvestri of that work. The only Silvestri In the South on disc is, I think, his wonderful commercial one.

[verismissimo]

IMO, Solti's recordings of the (two extant) Elgar Symphonies are the best since Elgar's own (or Boult's Second from 1944: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6JTn1pSIPI): real fire in these performances, especially the opening of the Second. I don't think he did anything better in the recording studio.

Encouraged by Mandryka and ferney, I invested. Absolutely superb. Just as I remember him in Elgar with the LPO at the Festival Hall all those years ago.

[Mandryka]

Encouraged by Mandryka and ferney, I invested. Absolutely superb. Just as I remember him in Elgar with the LPO at the Festival Hall all those years ago.

Mine arrived yesterday. Stunning performances, in stunning sound. The Cockaigne Overture is a great bonus, too. :)

[Barbirollians]

Mine arrived yesterday. Stunning performances, in stunning sound. The Cockaigne Overture is a great bonus, too. :)

I do not have Solti's Elgar symphonies but he was a fine Elgarian as his accompaniment of Kyung Wha Chung in the Violin Concerto amply illustrates.

If pushed I should actually choose Boult's live Proms performance of No 1 and his 1944 BBC recording of |No 2 as my favourites of all but Barbirolli's 1960s recordings run them very close , I also have a great deal of time for Handley's CfP versions .

[Northender]

I do not have Solti's Elgar symphonies but he was a fine Elgarian as his accompaniment of Kyung Wha Chung in the Violin Concerto amply illustrates.

If pushed I should actually choose Boult's live Proms performance of No 1 and his 1944 BBC recording as my favourites of all but Barbirolli's 1960s recordings run them very close , I also have a great deal of time for Handley's CfP versions .

As have I!

[cloughie]

[/U]

As have I!

Handley very much in the Boult mould, Thomson in the Barbirolli!

[amateur51]

I do not have Solti's Elgar symphonies but he was a fine Elgarian as his accompaniment of Kyung Wha Chung in the Violin Concerto amply illustrates.

If pushed I should actually choose Boult's live Proms performance of No 1 and his 1944 BBC recording as my favourites of all but Barbirolli's 1960s recordings run them very close , I also have a great deal of time for Handley's CfP versions .

Many thanks for the reminder about Boult's BBC recording, Barbirollians

[Gordon]

Mine arrived yesterday. Stunning performances, in stunning sound. The Cockaigne Overture is a great bonus, too. :)

That sound is from Kingsway Hall of course where Decca - Kenneth Wilkinson on the knobs - made many fine recordings like these and the violin concerto. There is an Alassio as well from these sessions.

Not sure that Solti's muscular energy suits all facets of these pieces but they certainly belong among his best works in the studio.