Artist: BBC Symphony Orchestra, Edward Gardner
Album: Elgar: Symphony No. 2 & Serenade
Genre: Classical
Release Date: 2018
Audio Format:: FLAC (tracks) 24 bit, 96 kHz
Duration: 01:06:41
Total Tracks: 7
Total Size: 1,03 GB

Tracklist:

01. BBC Symphony Orchestra & Edward Gardner – Symphony No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 63: I. Allegro vivace e nobilmente (17:51)
02. BBC Symphony Orchestra & Edward Gardner – Symphony No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 63: II. Larghetto (14:07)
03. BBC Symphony Orchestra & Edward Gardner – Symphony No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 63: III. Rondo (08:07)
04. BBC Symphony Orchestra & Edward Gardner – Symphony No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 63: IV. Moderato e maestoso (15:03)
05. BBC Symphony Orchestra & Edward Gardner – Serenade in E Minor, Op. 20: I. Allegro piacevole (03:07)
06. BBC Symphony Orchestra & Edward Gardner – Serenade in E Minor, Op. 20: II. Larghetto (05:49)
07. BBC Symphony Orchestra & Edward Gardner – Serenade in E Minor, Op. 20: III. Allegretto (02:35)

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Following a highly-praised recording of Symphony No. 1 last year, Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony present here an electrifying interpretation of Elgar’s Symphony No. 2, with the addition of one of his most performed works: the Serenade for Strings.

Having now become experts in British repertoire with highly lauded series of Walton and Britten, they reveal all the aspects of Elgar’s masterpiece in this surround sound recording. Symphony No. 2 is richly orchestrated and skilfully constructed, drawing on hugely varied resources of harmony, rhythm and melody, and making considerable use of thematic transformation as a unifying technique.

While the Symphony No.2 is one of the greatest products of Elgar’s maturity, the Serenade in E minor for Strings is perhaps the most charming product of his youth. In this three-movement piece dominated by a deeply passionate Larghetto, the strings of the BBC Symphony superbly encapsulate all the emotions offered by this graceful work: tender, lyrical and intense.Elgar’s epigraph to his Second Symphony, from Shelley, “Rarely, rarely comest thou, Spirit of Delight!”, can be taken two ways: with the emphasis on “rarely”, or in the sense “yet it does come”. Gardner’s vigorous reading favours the latter meaning. His finale is powerfully positive — the abrasive development played down, the conclusion radiant. – Sunday Times, 27th May 2018