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2. Elgar- Serenade in E minor 1
3. Elgar- Serenade in E minor 2
4. Elgar- Serenade in E minor 3
5. Elgar- Elegy
6. Elgar- Sospiri
7. Vaughan Williams- Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis
8. Vaughan Williams- Fantasia on ‘Greensleeves’
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By Tom Gauterin
Format:Audio CD
Of the many CDs of English music that I have in my collection, this is without any doubt the best. I think it contains the finest performances ever given of every work on it and it’s very probably Barbirolli’s best recording, too. The two major pieces on the disc, the Tallis Fantasia and the Introduction and Allegro, demonstrate the huge range of effects that the players were capable of. The Introduction and Allegro is both polished and immensely fiery, with the quartet of soloists perfectly integrated with the rest of the strings. The fugue- which Elgar called "a devil… with all sorts of japes and counterpoint" is played with complete clarity, quite an achievement given the apparent thickness of Elgar’s scoring. The piece certainly benefits from Barbirolli’s own practical experience; being a professional cellist before he began conducting, he knew exactly what was possible from the instruments and the huge range of dynamics and bowing styles used here show that he exploited that knowledge to the full in the making of this recording. The earlier Serenade, while slighter but in no way lacking in substance, displays many mature Elgarian signs and is dispatched with similar elan to the larger work. It sounds suitably gentle yet with the suggestion of something darker beneath the surface, as do the two short Elgar pieces, the Elegy and Sospiri. As the booklet notes say, these pieces don’t last for ten minutes put together, yet Barbirolli instils an unmistakeable sense of heartbreak in both of them. The Tallis Fantasia, however, requires a very different approach, far more reticent than the openly emotional one required for Elgar’s music. Again, Barbirolli catches the sense of mystery and ecclesiastical grandeur to perfection and the effect of the quietest possible pianissimos is magical. Vaughan Williams’s wife said that this was much the best recording ever made of the piece and it isn’t hard to see why; the double quartet and soloists are perfectly balanced against the larger group of players and this adds immeasurably to one’s appreciation of Vaughan Williams’s scoring with specific antiphonal effects in mind. This performance is the perfect example for explaing Howells’s comment that strings were capable of producing "sonority without noise;" here, they make a very beautiful sound indeed and they are certainly helped by the recording quality. It certainly belies its 1962 vintage! In short, this is an indispensable CD. It belongs in any serious collection, for it contains performances that have never even been approached of some of the finest works by two of England’s greatest composers- all overseen by a conductor who remains unbeatable in this repertoire.