CD: Elgar: Symphony No 1; Organ Sonata (arr. Jacob)

Richard Hickox is one of Britain's leading Elgar interpreters, so it's surprising he has not recorded the First Symphony until now. This performance has many of the same outstanding qualities as his account of the Second Symphony with the BBC NOW that appeared on Chandos two years ago, especially the wonderful sense of coherence that Hickox gives to the whole span of the four movements, his ability to integrate every section of the outer movements into a convincing whole, and the lustrous orchestral playing.

Hickox's speeds tend to be on the slow side - though his account of the first movement is marginally faster overall than Mark Elder's equally fine Hallé performance - but his choices are almost always vindicated, and the majestic return of the stealthy opening theme at the climax of the finale carries the sense of finality that it should. Gordon Jacob's 1947 faultlessly idiomatic orchestration of Elgar's Organ Sonata is an enterprising choice of fill-up, but turns out to be a bit of an anticlimax, because the original is not one of Elgar's greatest works.