Symphony No. 1 in A flat major, Op. 55 / Sea Pictures, Op. 37

"Vernon Handley's eloquent account of the First Symphony, restrained yet generously abandoned, is one to treasure. But the plum is Janet Baker's Sea Pictures...Her glorious, rich contralto voice, soaring and floating, is made for this music." The Observer, 9th May 2010

"Handley's heart, Elgar-attuned, is in the right place - as is his stick...his passionate account of this wonderful movement [the adagio] is very fine. And the work's dramatic coda is superbly done. Janet Baker is in glorious voice in Sea Pictures." Sunday Times, 9th May 2010

This release is a tribute to VERNON HANDLEY'S long and valued association with the London Philharmonic Orchestra extending back over 45 years.

A very special relationship exists with the music of Edward Elgar as the London Philharmonic Orchestra is often referred to as 'Elgar's Orchestra'. The LPO also had a special association with Vernon Handley and this release in a small way acknowledges Handley's contribution to the Orchestra's life. It marks the first re-issue onto a single disc of the acclaimed recording of Dame Janet Baker's Sea Pictures from a concert recorded by Capital Radio in 1984 and a landmark premiere release from the same concert of Elgar's Symphony No.1. When the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Elgar Society were planning a concert to mark the 50th anniversary of Elgar's death, Vernon Handley was the natural choice of conductor. Handley's feeling for English music was second to none, and his rapport with Elgar's music in particular is clear in these performances recorded live at the anniversary concert. Sea Pictures evokes contrasting images of the sea from ve poems sung here by Dame Janet Baker, a peerless interpreter of the work. Elgar's first Symphony is one of Elgar's finest works for orchestra - hailed after its première as 'the greatest symphony of modern times'. Here in this recording Handley conducts a wonderfully paced reading of the Symphony and the LPO have performed and recorded this symphony countless times, rarely with more refinement and assurance than heard here for the first time in this live recording.

Includes scholarly CD notes by Elgar expert and past Chairman of the Elgar Society, Andrew Neill.