Elgar Rediscovered: An Anthology of Forgotten Recordings

A unique opportunity awaits the musician and listener with an interest in historical performance, and Elgar's Cello Concerto in particular. This new release makes available to you on a four-CD set, valuable pressings from Sir Edward Elgar's personal library. It contains hitherto unheard discs - virtually the complete 1928 studio sessions of the Cello Concerto as well as many unused takes of major orchestral works and famous miniatures. This veritable Aladdin's Chest belongs to Arthur Reynolds, a keen collector of original Elgar recordings and photographs. The only person allowed access to Elgar's library was the musician and master recording engineer of historic reissues, Lani Spahr. Miraculously, Lani discovered that various HMV sessions were possibly recorded with a completely separate microphone/cutter arrangement. These double sets of discs were identified by their matrix numbers and after countless hours of painstaking work he was able to, in many instances, synchronize the various sides into a stereo image. We now not only have an insight into the sessions themselves but we are now provided with astonishing sound, revealing a new depth not only to the existing issued recordings, but to new performances of various miniatures and, more importantly, the Cello Concerto and Symphony No.1 assembled from previously unheard test pressings.