In its time the ESO has worked with many distinguished Elgarians. I will never forget seeing Michael Tippett in 1985, guiding them with passionate intensity through the Introduction and Allegro in Malvern Priory; other conductors in their roster included Yehudi Menuhin and Vernon Handley. They have always been based in the heart of Elgar country and there is an undeniable poignancy in hearing his music recorded live in Worcester Cathedral during the ESO’s 2023 Elgar Festival. This very building could be used to trace the contours of his career from the beginning – when in 1869 he mischievously added a line for the violins in Handel’s Messiah – to his last Three Choirs Festival in 1932, which included the First Symphony.

At that event he would have conducted on a platform built up against the West End windows, whereas photographs suggest that this 2023 account was recorded in the middle of the Cathedral with the orchestra on the floor. Tim Burton’s sound is well detailed and sometimes feels as if we are sitting within the band, but the strings are generally under-nourished and frequently drowned by the brass, who nevertheless play splendidly throughout. Kenneth Woods directs with a broad sweep and among the best moments is the tumultuous ‘Roman section’ of the overture In the South, which comes across with power and gusto. His grasp of tempos in the symphony is less compelling overall and the music often turns from solemn march to mundane plod.

Although the ESO are not in the first rank of British orchestras, they play here with conviction and sincerity, and the album is perhaps best thought of as the document of a memorable occasion for those who were present; it cannot, however, compete with the finest versions available. When I compiled the Gramophone Collection on Symphony No 1 (8/19) I found the best modern version to be Edward Gardner’s for Chandos with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. But beating everybody hands down was Adrian Boult’s final Proms performance in 1976 – a live account, like this one, but one that captures every aspect of the complex score with electrifying perfection.