Three of these five items last appeared on a four-LP HMV set devoted to Boult’s classic post-war Elgar recordings with the LPO (4/83). Testament deserve our gratitude for their restoration on CD (and one hopes that all the remaining performances – most notably a marvellous First Symphony – will appear in due course). This is the first – and, by general consent, the best – of Sir Adrian’s three recordings of Falstaff. It dates from November 1950 and certainly enshrines a far more involving experience than does his final (1973) version (EMI, 3/74 – nla). Perhaps things take a little time to warm up, for there’s a sudden marked rise in tension from 1'00'' into track 2 (a different take, presumably). High spots thereafter include Boult’s exhilarating handling of the Gadshill robbery episode, a pair of wonderfully touching dream interludes as well as a grand Coronation procession.
At the same time, there’s no gainsaying a degree of reserve about Boult’s clear-sighted direction – not in itself unappealing, of course, but the red-blooded fervour and sheer humanity that Elgar himself and Barbirolli bring to this score is perhaps not as evident here. Nor is the orchestral response as meticulously honed as that of Rattle’s CBSO (the LPO of the period were, it’s only fair to state, not in the best of corporate health). None the less, it remains a considerable achievement, though I’d also very much like to reacquaint myself with Sir Adrian’s second version from 1956 (6/57, a vintage Boult/Elgar period – his unassailable second recording of the Second Symphony dates from the same year). EMI currently own the rights to those early stereo Nixa tapes, I believe. How about a reissue or two?
Anyway, back to the anthology in hand. Both the Nursery Suite (an entrancing performance, full of poetic grace, good humour and affectionate nostalgia) and Dream children were recorded in 1955. The LPO’s playing here is wonderfully responsive and characterful. Never previously issued in any form is the Fantasia and Fugue in C minor – an eloquent affair, recorded at the same time (October 1949) as the aforementioned classic interpretation of the First Symphony – while the wholly idiomatic, noble rendering of the dark-hued Third Pomp and Circumstance March is taken not from the June 1955 account of the complete set but derives from sessions just over two years earlier (when the main work recorded was the Wand of Youth Suite No. 1).
All in all, a highly desirable Elgar collection, impeccably transferred (by Paul Baily at Abbey Road) and splendidly annotated by Michael Kennedy.'