While Elgar’s idiom is quintessentially English in tone, it was based on deep technical understanding of Austro-German orchestral tradition. That said, it’s possible to feel that the total effect sounds too abstractly symphonic, perhaps missing the affection of Elgar’s musical portrait-painting.īBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins (2016) Hyperion CDA68101 No other recording combines unportentous grandeur with sensibility as this one does.Īmong countless memorable touches are the searching melancholy of the Enigma theme itself, the beautifully balanced violin-and-cello counterpoint to the woodwind melody in ‘C.A.E.’ (Alice, Elgar’s wife), the almost keening intensity of ‘Nimrod’, and Boult’s pacing of the ‘E.D.U.’ finale, with its carefully judged holding-back of the ‘C.A.E.’ theme’s recall before the rousing conclusion. The recorded sound of his last one, made in 1970, impressively conveys the focused lustre that he was able to conjure from the orchestras he conducted. Sir Adrian Boult knew Elgar personally, which gives special authority to his recordings of Enigma. London Symphony Orchestra/Adrian Boult (1970) Warner Classics 764 0152 More great recordings of Elgar's Enigma Variations: Bernard Haitink's 'Mahler 3' wins 2018 Recording of the Year.Sir Mark Elder wins Recording of the Year for Elgar's 'Apostles'.We named the Hallé Orchestra as one of the best orchestras in the world There’s a separately recorded bonus of Elgar’s original finale to the work, whose abrupt final bars Jaeger and Richter persuaded him to expand after that history-making first performance. The emotional charge that builds through all this is genuinely moving. The variation sequence that follows offers one delight after another – the poise of the opening woodwind in ‘R.B.T.’ (Richard Townshend) a hushed beginning to ‘Nimrod’ (Alfred Jaeger, Elgar’s publisher), making the music’s growth towards its exalted peroration all the more memorable and a wonderfully poignant contribution from the cellos in ‘B.G.N.’ (Basil Nevinson, Elgar’s cellist colleague). The orchestra’s way with the Enigma theme sets a benchmark, with the strings beautifully shaded and balanced. Sir Mark Elder’s interpretation with the Hallé, recorded live in Manchester in 2002, is as good as you can get. Then again, achieving an exceptional one isn’t straightforward either: the range of musical portraits is so varied, with orchestral imagination to match, that finding a near-ideal touch with each one can be elusive.
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Hallé Orchestra/Mark Elder (2002) Hallé CD HLL 7501īesides coming through the ranks as a professional violinist, Elgar played several other instruments fluently, and his knowledge here engendered a work so securely written for every section of the orchestra that it’s almost impossible for a performance to come off badly. The best recording of Elgar's Enigma Variations: Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé Orchestra
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