Album

A decade before the release of this disc in late 2007, two of the three pieces on it were still undiscovered. It was well known in Elgarian circles that, though he had toyed with a symphony for several years in the early '30s, the composer had on his deathbed explicitly forbidden anyone from tinkering with the sketches. And it was just about unknown that the composer had also tinkered with sketches of a Sixth Pomp and Circumstance March. Despite what was known and unknown, musicologist Anthony Payne believed there was enough in the sketches for him to elaborate a full-length symphony. The Elgar Will Trust agreed, and Elgar's Third Symphony was premiered in London in 1998—and greeted with a standing ovation. After the success of the Third, Payne and the Trust turned to the sketches for a Sixth Pomp and Circumstance March, and it was premiered in 2006, once again to great acclaim.

This Chandos disc with Richard Hickox leading the BBC National Orchestra of Wales contains the fourth recording of the Third—Andrew Davis, Paul Daniel, and Colin Davis' having preceded it—plus the premiere recording of the Sixth Pomp and Circumstance March, as well as a recording of Payne's orchestration of So Many True Princesses Who Have Gone and Elgar's Memorial Ode for his friend Queen Alexandra originally scored for chorus and band. It also might be the best performance of the Third yet recorded. Andrew Davis' has the joy of discovery, Paul Daniel's the strength of enthusiasm, and Colin Davis' the power of conviction, but Hickox's takes all that for granted. As far as Hickox is concerned, the battle is over and Payne's Elgar's Third, like Sussmayer's Mozart's Requiem or Cooke's Mahler's Tenth, has won its right to exist. The heroic themes, the questing developments, the heartwarming melodies, the dark pessimism, and the sublime optimism that make Elgar himself are all present. While it is surely not what Elgar would have written—too much of the music still in his head when he died—this Third performs the impossible trick of sounding just like Elgar at his best.

The same could be said of the Sixth Pomp and Circumstance March and the choral-orchestral So Many True Princesses Who Have Gone. Though the march is not in the same league as the first five and the Ode is not up to The Dream of Gerontius, they both sound like Elgar, just not Elgar at his best. For Elgar devotees, this disc will be mandatory.

© James Leonard, Rovi

CD 1
Sir Edward Elgar Composer Symphony No.3 (incomplete; completed by Anthony Payne) Work 55:35 BBC National Orchestra of Wales Orchestra, Lesley Hatfield Orchestra Leader, Richard Hickox Conductor
1	1.Allegro molto maestoso	15:33			$2.49
2	2.Scherzo: Allegretto	9:51			$1.49
3	3.Adagio solenne	15:08			$2.49
4	4.Allegro	15:03			$2.49
Sir Edward Elgar Composer Queen Alexandra Memorial Ode ('So many true princesses who have gone'), for chorus and military band Work Adrian Partington Singers Chorus/Choir, BBC National Orchestra of Wales Orchestra, Lesley Hatfield Orchestra Leader, Richard Hickox Conductor
5	Queen Alexandra Memorial Ode ('So many true princesses who have gone'), for chorus and military band	6:46			$0.99
Sir Edward Elgar Composer Symphony No.3 (incomplete; completed by Anthony Payne) Work Adrian Partington Singers Chorus/Choir, BBC National Orchestra of Wales Orchestra, Lesley Hatfield Orchestra Leader, Richard Hickox Conductor
6	Symphony No.3 (incomplete; completed by Anthony Payne)	7:54			$1.49