Elgar's 3rd Symphony, commissioned by the BBC, was left unfinished in 1932. Anthony Payne's elaboration of the sketches into full-scale symphonic form realized the potential of Elgar's conception, bringing the rich fragments to life.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

For more than two decades before he achieved fame and financial security as England' foremost composer, the young Edward Elgar earned a living as a violinist and violin teacher.

Framed by Edward Elgar’s deeply personal Violin Sonata and the bravura fireworks of his Mazurka, this programme is a fascinating look at British music for violin and piano at the turn of the last century. Popular pieces such as Delius’s haunting Serenade can be found alongside premiere recordings such as that of Frank Bridge’s attractive Con moto or Cyril Scott’s contemplative Versperale.

The organ was a formative part of Edward Elgar’s musical upbringing, and for a time he was organist at St George’s Catholic Church in Worcester. The symphonic scale and distinctive themes of the First Sonata contrast with the more liturgical atmosphere of the Vesper Voluntaries, while the rousing Second Sonata is an arrangement of Elgar’s Severn Suite for brass. This album comprises Elgar’s original works for organ as well as the complete arrangements made by the composer himself and those made by four distinguished contemporary organists.

Elgar, E.: Enigma Varations / Lutoslawski, W.: Concerto for

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Following the success of The Dream of Gerontius in 1900 and The Apostles in 1903, Edward Elgar was commissioned to produce another large oratorio for a 1906 music festival. + The Kingdom continues the narrative of the lives of Jesus’ disciples, depicting the community of the early church, Pentecost, and the events of the next few days. + The Kingdom is considered one of his greatest choral works, fully deserving its ranking alongside Gerontius. + Recorded in 1989, and also featuring Sursum Corda and Sospiri, this Chandos re-release honors the legacy of the late English conductor Sir Richard Hickox.

Classical Music

The three great chamber works, the String Quartet, Piano Quintet, and Violin Sonata, were among the very last works that Elgar wrote, composed during an intensive and productive period in 1918 and 1919 whilst living at Brinkwells in Sussex, and under the twin shadows of the horrors of the Great War and the terminal illness of his wife, Alice. The String Quartet was dedicated to the original Brodsky Quartet (the name subsequently taken by the current group when they arrived as students at the Royal Northern College of Music) and was championed by this new Brodsky Quartet from the off, sitting alongside Delius’s Quartet on their debut recording (1984). It has remained a cornerstone of their repertoire ever since. The Brodsky Quartet took the opportunity of the centenary year of both works to perform the String Quartet alongside the Piano Quintet with their frequent co-performer Martin Roscoe, and this recording is a result of that commemoration.

Classical Music