Elgar Symphony No. 2 discography

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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 seventeen years, until Sir Adrian Boult made the first of his five recordings of the symphony in 1944. Since then there have been many more new recordings, the majority played by British orchestras with seven of them recorded by the London Philharmonic.

Contents

Recordings by date

ConductorOrchestraRecord companyDate
The composerRoyal Albert Hall OrchestraHMV1924
The composer London Symphony Orchestra EMI1927
Sir Adrian Boult BBC Symphony Orchestra EMI1944
Sir John Barbirolli Hallé Orchestra EMI1954
Sir Adrian Boult London Philharmonic Orchestra Nixa 1956
Sir Adrian Boult Scottish National Orchestra Waverley1963
Sir Malcolm Sargent BBC Symphony OrchestraBBC1964 (live)
Sir John BarbirolliHallé OrchestraEMI1964
Sir John BarbirolliBoston Symphony OrchestraMusic & Arts1964 (live)
Sir Adrian BoultLondon Philharmonic Orchestra Lyrita 1968
Sir Georg Solti London Philharmonic Orchestra Decca 1972
Daniel Barenboim London Philharmonic Orchestra CBS 1973
Sir Adrian BoultLondon Philharmonic OrchestraEMI1976
Sir Alexander Gibson Scottish National Orchestra RCA 1977
James Loughran Hallé OrchestraEnigma1979
Yevgeny Svetlanov USSR Symphony Orchestra EMI1979 (live)
Vernon Handley London Philharmonic OrchestraEMI (CFP label)1980
Bernard Haitink Philharmonia Orchestra EMI1984
Bryden Thomson London Philharmonic Orchestra Chandos 1986
Giuseppe Sinopoli Philharmonia Orchestra DG 1989
Leonard Slatkin Philharmonia OrchestraRCA1989
Yehudi Menuhin Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Virgin 1991
Jeffrey Tate London Symphony OrchestraEMI1991
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 OrchestraDecca1994
Sir Colin Davis London Symphony OrchestraLSO Live2001 (live)
Sir Mark Elder Hallé OrchestraHalléJuly 2003
Richard Hickox BBC National Orchestra of Wales Chandos2005
Owain Arwel Hughes National Youth Orchestra of Wales Divine Art2006
Sir Andrew DavisPhilharmonia OrchestraSignum2007 (live)
Vladimir Ashkenazy Sydney Symphony Orchestra Exton2008 (live)
Kirill Petrenko Berliner Philharmoniker Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall2009 (live: DVD via subscription)
Tadaaki Otaka NHK Symphony Orchestra King International2009 (live)
Sakari Oramo Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra BIS2013
Daniel Barenboim Staatskapelle Berlin Decca2014 (live)
Vasily Petrenko Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Onyx2017
Edward Gardner BBC Symphony Orchestra Chandos2018

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

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References