**** (Recommended Disc)        Sound: 4/5       SACD Sound: 4/5

“…This is a splendid release. Recording the BBC Symphony in Watford Colosseum makes for an ideal soundstage. And Edward Gardner may just be Britain’s next Adrian Boult.”

“… Gardner demonstrates an unerring sense of how the tricky transitions work in this piece [Sym No. 2] and his appreciation of its harmonic delights is self-evident. And he has the seasoned instincts of the BBC Symphony Orchestra ensuring a naturalness and spontaneity through all the phrasing… The Serenade for Strings is a lovely, understated bonus, the gorgeous slow movement blossoming at its heart without a trace of emotional excess…”

*** (Good Album)

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…”