Neither of last year's fine recordings of Elgar's Piano Quintet quite matches up to this 20-yearold performance by the late John Ogdon and the Allegri. Ogdon's playing is both more imaginative and poetic than Bingham's (Meridian) or Roberts's (also EMI), and the Allegri playing has a vigour and sweep that shows how near to orchestral is Elgar's treatment of the string quartet. The balance is excellent, as in most EMI recordings of this date, and the tempos are right. Also, the rest of the disc is exceptionally interesting and attractive. The performance of the Violin Sonata seems to me to catch exactly the work's elusive nature (and is all the more poignant now in view of David Parkhouse's recent death). Ogdon also plays three solo piano works, including the curious Concert Allegro of 1901, performed by Fanny Davies and then withdrawn though not discarded. It does, however, sound like a work-inprogress rather than a finished composition.'