Elgar Violin Concerto discography

Edward Elgar's Violin Concerto was first recorded complete in 1929. Truncated versions had been recorded in 1916 using the acoustic recording process, the technical limitations of which necessitated drastic rearrangement of the score. Electrical recording, introduced in the 1920s, gave a greatly improved dynamic range and realism, and the two leading English record companies, Columbia and His Master's Voice (HMV) both made recordings of the concerto that remain in the catalogue. The first was made for Columbia by Albert Sammons with the New Queen's Hall Orchestra conducted by Sir Henry Wood. Elgar's own recording with the young Yehudi Menuhin followed three years later. Since then there have been more than twenty-five further recordings, featuring British and international performers.

Recordings by date
SoloistOrchestraConductorLabelDate
Albert Sammons unnamed Sir Henry Wood Columbia 1916
Marie Hall unnamed Sir Edward Elgar HMV 1916
Albert Sammons New Queen's Hall Orchestra Sir Henry Wood Columbia 1929
Yehudi Menuhin London Symphony Orchestra Sir Edward Elgar HMV 1932
Jascha Heifetz London Symphony Orchestra Sir Malcolm Sargent HMV 1949
Alfredo Campoli London Philharmonic Orchestra Sir Adrian Boult Decca 1954
Yehudi Menuhin New Philharmonia Orchestra Sir Adrian Boult EMI 1966
Aldo Ferraresi Orchestra Sinfonica RAI Milano Pietro Argento RAI 1966
Yehudi Menuhin London Philharmonic Orchestra Sir Adrian Boult BBC 1969
Hugh Bean Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Charles Groves EMI 1972
Pinchas Zukerman London Philharmonic Orchestra Daniel Barenboim CBS 1976
Kyung-Wha Chung London Philharmonic Orchestra Sir Georg Solti Decca 1977
Ida Haendel London Philharmonic Orchestra Sir Adrian Boult EMI 1978
Itzhak Perlman Chicago Symphony Orchestra Daniel Barenboim DG 1981
Igor Oistrakh Moscow State Symphony Orchestra Valentin Zhuk Olympia 1984
Nigel Kennedy London Philharmonic Orchestra Vernon Handley EMI 1984
Ida Haendel BBC Symphony Orchestra Sir John Pritchard BBC 1986
Dmitry Sitkovetsky Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Sir Yehudi Menuhin Virgin 1990
Dong-Suk Kang Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra Adrian Leaper Naxos 1991
Salvatore Accardo London Symphony Orchestra Richard Hickox Collins Classics 1991
Pinchas Zukerman St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Leonard Slatkin RCA 1992
Kyoko Takezawa Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Sir Colin Davis RCA 1993
Leland Chen Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra Lord Menuhin Upbeat 1994
Nigel Kennedy City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Sir Simon Rattle EMI 1997
Hilary Hahn London Symphony Orchestra Sir Colin Davis DG 2004
Philippe Graffin Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Vernon Handley Avie 2006
James Ehnes Philharmonia Orchestra Sir Andrew Davis Onyx 2007
Gil Shaham Chicago Symphony Orchestra David Zinman Canary 2008
Nikolaj Znaider Dresden Staatskapelle Sir Colin Davis RCA 2010
Thomas Zehetmair Hallé Orchestra Sir Mark Elder Hallé 2010
Tasmin Little Royal Scottish National Orchestra Sir Andrew Davis Chandos 2010
Catherine Manoukian Staatskapelle Weimar Stefan Solyom Edel 2013
Rachel Barton Pine BBC Symphony Orchestra Andrew Litton Avie 2018
Ning Feng Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Carlos Miguel Prieto Channel Classics Records 2018
Nicola Benedetti London Philharmonic Orchestra Vladimir Jurowski Decca 2020
Triin Ruubel Estonian National Symphony Orchestra Neeme Järvi Sorel Classics 2020

Critical opinion

The BBC Radio 3 feature "Building a Library" has presented comparative reviews of all available versions of the concerto on three occasions, and recommended as follows:

  • 15 October 1994, reviewer, Michael Kennedy:
    • Kyoko Takezawa, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis[1]
    • Yehudi Menuhin, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Edward Elgar[2]
  • 10 July 1999, reviewer, Iain Burnside:
    • Albert Sammons, New Queen's Hall Orchestra, Sir Henry Wood[3]
    • Pinchas Zukerman London Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim[4]
  • 14 January 2012, reviewer, Martin Cotton:
    • Yehudi Menuhin, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Edward Elgar
    • Thomas Zehetmair, Hallé Orchestra, Sir Mark Elder[5]

The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music, 2008, gave its maximum four star rating to none of the recordings of the concerto. It awarded three stars (representing "an outstanding performance and recording") to the recordings by Graffin, Heifetz, Kang, Kennedy (1984 and 1997), Menuhin (1932 and 1966), and Sammons (1929).[6]

Notes
  1. Takezawa "Building a Library" BBC Radio 3, accessed 24 October 2010
  2. Menuhin "Building a Library" BBC Radio 3, accessed 24 October 2010
  3. Sammons "Building a Library" BBC Radio 3, accessed 24 October 2010
  4. Zukerman "Building a Library" BBC Radio 3, accessed 24 October 2010
  5. "Elgar Violin Concerto" BBC podcast, 14 January 2012
  6. March, pp. 425–28

References
  • March, Ivan (ed). The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music, Penguin Books, London, 2007. ISBN 978-0-14-103336-5
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