Artistic Judgement: Exceptional      Technical Judgement: Exceptional   (Dynamics: 5  Soundstage: 5   Timbre: 5     Detail: 5)

“A very impressive traversal of the Second Symphony.”

Orchestral Choice

Performance *****      Recording *****

“… purposeful yet detailed account … The recordings are ideally suited to Gardner’s approach: warm-toned, but clear, so that all the strands and facets in Elgar’s complex orchestral texture are clear …”

“Good performances, transparent and detailed, of an attractive Elgar program.” *****

“…a performance of real heft and drama. The bonus is a sympathetic reading of one of Elgar’s most performed works: the Serenade for Strings."

“The recording quality of this Elgar disc is superb… Gardner is a superb Elgarian ...The long, expanse of the first movement of the Second Symphony is gorgeous… this is a tremendous performance that breathes nobility and confidence… The Serenade for Strings is the perfect complement… A lovely performance.” *****

“Gardner brings a fresh eye to detail (of which Elgar provided so much) and a flair for tapping the extremes of the music’s potential, while keeping a consistent sense of where the symphony is going… The score is headed with a quote from Shelley, “Rarely, rarely, comest thou, Spirit of Delight” — and few performances catch so ebulliently the joy of the music as this one, but Gardner also daringly slows the pace at times to encompass a visionary sense of passing time. This is one of those occasions when the BBC Symphony Orchestra plays above itself and a spacious Chandos recording provides a splendid bloom to the orchestra’s sound. A warm-hearted performance of the Serenade for Strings completes a desirable disc.” ****

“Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony Orchestra follow last year’s impressive account of Elgar’s First Symphony with an equally thoughtful and refined version of the Second … As with the First, Gardner adopts a slow-burn approach to the symphony, which if anything serves him even better in this troubled and psychologically complex score than it did in its more straightforward predecessor…”