This splendid two-disc collection brings together most of the Elgar recordings that Barbirolli made with the Halle Orchestra at its peak in the early post-war period, not just in the late ’40s for HMV, but in the mid-’50s, when for a time they had a contract with Pye. These are generally more urgent readings than those he made later, often more passionate, and freer in rubato. All richly merit their reissue here by Dutton.
Most cherishable of all, for me, is Barbirolli’s glorious 1956 recording for Pye of the First Symphony, a performance which even Barbirolli rarely matched for its passionate intensity. Recorded in a single day, December 11, it is more spontaneous in its expressiveness than his remake with the Philharmonia for HMV in 1962. On LP it had limited currency over the years, and appeared on CD for only a very short time on the briefly revived Nixa label. Here at last it appears in full-bodied and immediate stereo sound, transforming what we had before.
Interpretatively, it is typical of Barbirolli in its expressive freedom, with speeds often on the broad side, notably in the heavenly Adagio, as deeply felt as Elgar’s own recording of 26 years earlier, but more spacious. It seems totally in period that the opening phrase brings an upward portamento on the violins, where a slur is marked. In the first movement, Barbirolli provides a unique – and satisfying – solution to the problem of the transition from 2/2 time to 3/2 at fig 17 in the score (disc 1, track 4, 6'25''). Where Elgar’s own recording makes it plain that he intends the minim pulse to stay the same, the marking in the score misleadingly suggests a sudden speeding-up; Barbirolli, nevertheless, broadens, so enhancing the impact of the climactic phrases following, marked tutta forza – at full force. His control of Elgarian climax there and through all four movements, notably in the finale, is unerring, and the brass is richly caught.
That comes on the first of the two discs, together with stereo versions of the Introduction and Allegro and Elegy recorded with the Symphony in December 1956. They make a fascinating contrast with the mono versions of those same two works made for HMV in 1947 and included on the second disc – never previously available in any format since their original issue on 78. The stereo versions are fuller-toned, but the 1947 reading of the Introduction and Allegro – the third of the six he recorded over the years – is, in its relative spareness, even more athletic and incisive, despite moments of breathlessness in the fugue.
The 1947 mono version of the Enigma Variations also makes an intriguing contrast with both his later recordings; it is at once more urgent and more volatile than either the 1956 Halle version for Pye or the best-known version, that of 1962 for EMI, with the Sinfonia of London and the Allegri String Quartet. Both Halle versions have soloists from the orchestra less prominently balanced, and rightly so. Incidentally, this ‘Barbirolli Elgar Album’ includes not only a highly informative note by Michael Kennedy, but a valuable Barbirolli/Elgar discography, complete with dates but no identification of orchestras. No Elgarian should miss this unique issue.'