Daniel Barenboim & Staatskapelle Berlin - Elgar: Symphony No. 1 (2016) [Hi-Res]

Daniel Barenboim continues his acclaimed Elgar series with the landmark first symphony. These new issues mark the first time that indefatigable maestro Barenboim has returned to recording Elgars Symphonic works since the 1970s.

Barenboim clearly shows his re-kindled love of Elgar in this dramatic account of the first Symphony, a new recording which benefits from 40 years of performance experience since his first recording of the repertoire. The New York Times and The Guardian selected Barenboims recording of Elgars Symphony No. 2 as a 2014 recording of the year.

Elgar spent a decade thinking about his first large-scale symphonic work, and finally sat down to begin writing in 1907. On completion (in late 1908) it was greeted with unprecedented acclaim: an immediate and phenomenal success (Musical Times); receiving an estimated one hundred performances worldwide the following year.

The Daily Mail, under the headline The Musical Event of the Year, went on to write: It is quite plain that here we have perhaps the finest masterpiece of its type that ever came from the pen of an English composer.

The premiere was so successful that Elgar was called to the stage to acknowledge rapturous applause not just after the work had been performed, but within the piece itself after the third movement (now widely considered to be the most perfect and lyrical of all Elgars output. [The Elgar Society])

This recording is the latest step in maestro Barenboims Elgarian journey with the Berlin Staatskapelle, following on from well-received performances of Elgars Dream of Gerontius, the cello concerto (recorded live with Alisa Weilerstein for Decca), and Elgars Second Symphony about which the Guardian wrote - The surging, unquenchable energy of this account is obvious from the opening bars, which are borne on an irresistible flood of sound from the Berlin Staatskapelle...

This album was recorded live at Berlins renowned Philharmonie, with the Berlin Staatskapelle and leading Elgarian record producer Andrew Keener.

Barenboim is a passionate Elgarian, counting The Dream of Gerontius as one of his favorite works. As a young man he worked regularly with Sir John Barbirolli, one of the greatest of all Elgar conductors and who was Jacqueline du Pres partner in the classic EMI recording of the Cello Concerto.

Barenboims latest Decca release follows his hugely successful Beethoven project of 2012, 2013s Verdi Requiem, and Elgars Second Symphony in 2014.

„If anyone can make a case for Elgar outside Britain, and without special pleading, it s Daniel Barenboim, returning to conduct this British composer s works. With his dark-tone orchestra, this is an argument for Elgar as inheritor to Brahms.“ (New York Times)

Staatskapelle Berlin
Daniel Barenboim, conductor