Album

No, these 2006 recordings featuring mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly with Simon Wright conducting the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Chorus are not the finest recordings of Elgar's "Sea Pictures" and "The Music Makers" ever made. Those honors go to Janet Baker and John Barbirolli's incredibly moving 1965 recording of "Sea Pictures" and Baker and Adrian Boult's amazingly effective 1966 recording of "The Music Makers." But these are still very fine performances that deserve to be heard by anyone who loves the music. Why? Because Connolly is clearly one of the finest of contemporary English mezzos and she brings more conviction, as well as more beauty of tone, to these works than anyone since Baker. Try any of the "Sea Pictures," but especially the rapt inwardness of "Sabbath Morning at Sea": here is a singer who truly, deeply, profoundly believes in the glorious music and, somehow, the trivial words, and the result is ineffably touching. Although Wright is a much more than adequate conductor who leads the Bournemouth forces in performances of delicacy and strength with plenty of color and lots of dramatic intensity, it is Connolly's singing that makes this disc well worth hearing by anyone who loves the music. Naxos' sound is clean but somewhat recessed and lacking in depth.

© James Leonard, All Music Guide

CD 1
Sir Edward Elgar Composer The Music Makers, ode for alto, chorus, organ, and orchestra, Op.69 Work 39:25 Simon Wright Conductor, Greg Beardsell Chorus/Choir Director, Bournemouth Symphony Chorus Chorus/Choir, Sarah Connolly Mezzo-Soprano, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Orchestra
1	1.Prelude	3:32			$0.99
2	2.We are the music makers	2:08			$0.99
3	3.With wonderful deathless ditties	1:51			$0.99
4	4.We, in the ages lying	4:17			$0.99
5	5.A Breath of our Inspiration	4:29			$0.99
6	6.They had no Vision Amazing	3:32			$0.99
7	7.And therefore to-day is thrilling	4:21			$0.99
8	8.But we, with our Dreaming and Singing	3:36			$0.99
9	9.For we are Afar with the Dawning	2:49			$0.99
10	10.Great Hail! We Cry to the Comers	8:50			$1.49
Sir Edward Elgar Composer Sea Pictures (song cycle), for alto, organ, and orchestra, Op.37 Work 23:09 Simon Wright Conductor, Greg Beardsell Chorus/Choir Director, Bournemouth Symphony Chorus Chorus/Choir, Sarah Connolly Mezzo-Soprano, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Orchestra
11	1.Sea slumber-Song	5:52			$0.99
12	2.In Haven (Capri)	1:55			$0.99
13	3.A Sabbath Morning at Sea	5:50			$0.99
14	4.Where Corals Lie	3:35			$0.99
15	5.The Swimmer	5:57			$0.99