Elgar's choral music - deleted

[Barbirollians]

I have just finished reading Michael Kennedy's Portrait of Elgar . Not very cheery stuff but very well written and rather fascinating .

Having always struggled rather with The Apostles and The Kingdom - though converted to Gerontius by Heddle Nash and Sargent rather than Boult or Barbirolli I thought I should give some of his other shorter choral works a go only to find that EMI appear to have deleted them all - unless you want to buy enormous boxes . This appears to have happened across its British Composers series . A shame that duplication now appears to be compulsory .

Any alternative recordings that forum members could recommend of say The Black Knight or Spirit of England ?

[salymap]

I have just finished reading Michael Kennedy's Portrait of Elgar . Not very cheery stuff but very well written and rather fascinating .

Having always struggled rather with The Apostles and The Kingdom - though converted to Gerontius by Heddle Nash and Sargent rather than Boult or Barbirolli I thought I should give some of his other shorter choral works a go only to find that EMI appear to have deleted them all - unless you want to buy enormous boxes . This appears to have happened across its British Composers series . A shame that duplication now appears to be compulsory .

Any alternative recordings that forum members could recommend of say The Black Knight or Spirit of England ?

I'm pleased that someone with your user-name appreciates Heddle Nash and Sargent, as do I, who grew up with their performances of Gerontius. Likewise, I've struggled with Apostles and Kingdom, although I'm sure the fault is mine.

Perhaps Elgar's other choral music is justout of fashion at the moment - it will probably b rediscovered in the future. Sorry, can't help with recordings of them but someone will, I'm sure.

[mathias broucek]

Chandos? There's certainly a nice Black Knight with Hickox.

[Northender]

Surprisingly (?) Europadisc seems to offer only 'The Spirit of England' and 'Coronation Ode' (RSNO/Gibson) at present, on CHAN 6574 (£5.25 plus postage unless you spend £30 or more in all).

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The Chandos series of Elgar Choral works with Richard Hickox is well worth investigating, including The Black Knight, Caractacus and The Light of Life. There's also The Crown of India with Sir Andrew Davis.
The Hickox Caractacus is, in my opinion, vastly superior to the EMI/Groves.

[Barbirollians]

The Chandos series of Elgar Choral works with Richard Hickox is well worth investigating, including The Black Knight, Caractacus and The Light of Life. There's also The Crown of India with Sir Andrew Davis.
The Hickox Caractacus is, in my opinion, vastly superior to the EMI/Groves.

Cheers EA . I see that Boult's Dream of G is going very cheap on Amazon coupled with the Music Makers with Dame Janet . I like Hickox's VW records so may well give him a go . I see he also recorded some for EMI also now confined to large boxes .

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I bought the large 30 CD EMI box, even though I had the majority of the recordings already. But it was still the cheapest way to do it.

[AmpH]

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Dutton/CDLX7172

This is an enjoyable, if relatively lightweight disc, with a version of The Spirit of England on it.