Boult’s
memorable wartime Elgar Second has already appeared on
a previous release from Beulah; some reviewers at the time,
while praising the performance, spoke adversely of the
relatively high level of surface noise. I am not sure if
this re-release incorporates a re-mastering, but to my
ears the noise is far from distracting. The recording is
given a warm, full-bodied transfer, with a good sense of
spatial perspective, a vast improvement on the etiolated
1980s HMV Treasury transfer.
Boult
set down five recordings of the work. Three of these were
with the LPO (1956, 1968 and 1976) and another with the
Scottish National Orchestra in 1963. This wartime version
with his own BBC orchestra was his first, and the first
of the symphony since the composer’s own, made in 1927.
Until its reissue on LP and then CD some twenty years ago
its virtues had seemingly been forgotten; a pity, for it
is inspired throughout. Listen to Boult and the BBC Symphony
in the opening movement, where a purposeful opening tempo
is maintained throughout, alternating with passages of
remarkable rubato and flexibility. This was obviously a
piece that Boult and his forces had well under their collective
skins. His subsequent recordings, for all their respective
merits and improved sound, did not always recapture the
pioneering spirit of this first traversal. The central,
dark passage in the development is made to sound particularly
sinister here, before the music sweeps along to its glorious
recapitulation.
Boult
paces the elegiac
Larghetto admirably, balancing
to perfection the passionate and stoical elements in the
music. The recording conveys Elgar’s carefully graded dynamics,
so carefully realised in this performance, to register
to moving effect. The peroration of the movement is glorious,
and none the less so for being hard-won. The Scherzo in
Boult’s hands becomes something of a powerhouse; Andrew
Keener speaks in his booklet notes of the performance’s “anger” and
one can see what he means. The central “malign influence” passage
is reminiscent of Holst’s
Mars in its insistent
drumming; Boult and the orchestra push the recording technology
to the very limit, from which it emerges with flying colours.
In
the Finale, where Elgar’s argument can sound diffuse in
lesser hands, Boult’s grip on the structure never loses
its concentration. We move from the purposeful opening
statement through Elgar’s sequential development passages
- which can sometimes outstay their welcome - before the
music settles back for the home run, as it were. Here Boult
draws the musical threads together to deeply satisfying
effect, and the performance ends on a note of resolution.
Filling
the disc on this occasion is Boult’s fine, elegiac 1937
recording of Elgar’s
Sospiri and a new addition
to the Boult discography, a 1944 Bedford BBC Studio production
of
In the South. The latter has remarkable fire,
drive and passion and a sound quality that is astonishing
given the circumstances. Don’t miss it!
Those
who love the symphony may already be familiar with this
wonderful performance. If you are new to Elgar, or to Boult,
I would urge you to listen to this. Boult and the BBC Symphony
project Elgar’s “passionate pilgrimage of the soul” with
consistent inspiration. Unforgettable.
Ewan McCormick
see also review by Christopher
Howell (as part of box set 14PD15)
BBC Symphony
Orchestra/Sir Adrian Boult 
