Elgar and Farr

The concept behind this release is to compare and contrast two cello concertos written a century apart, 1919 and 2017, and both imbued with echoes of World War I. There’s nothing wrong with the concept but from the buyer’s point of view once the point is made, the recording has only the quality of the music and performances left to offer…

Elgar

Sea Pictures has endured for more than a century as the most loved orchestral song cycle in English music and perhaps the only one that appeals consistently to continental audiences, so it is not as surprising as it might be to have two new recordings in as many months…

Elgar

This recording has already won enough plaudits and prizes to fill a suitcase, which just goes to show that my colleague critics are not all the cloth-eared fools that others take us for. I’m going to go much further than them, though, and say that this is the best recording of Elgar’s Violin Concerto ever…