Elgar Cello Concerto discography

Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto received its first complete recording in 1928. A truncated version had been recorded under the composer's supervision, using the acoustic recording process, but it was not until the introduction of electrical recording in the mid-1920s that large orchestral works of this kind could be adequately put on disc. All the recordings up to 1965 were monaural. The first stereophonic recording, by Jacqueline du Pré, the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir John Barbirolli, has remained in the catalogues continuously since its first release, and is still used by many as a touchstone.^[1] Several British cellists have recorded the work, but the majority of recordings are by European and American soloists.

Recordings by date

Soloist	Orchestra	Conductor	Label	Date
Beatrice Harrison	London Symphony Orchestra	Sir Edward Elgar	HMV	1928
W H Squire	Hallé Orchestra	Sir Hamilton Harty	Columbia	1930
Pablo Casals	BBC Symphony Orchestra	Sir Adrian Boult	EMI	1945
Anthony Pini	London Philharmonic Orchestra	Eduard van Beinum	Decca	1950
Paul Tortelier	BBC Symphony Orchestra	Sir Malcolm Sargent	EMI	1954
André Navarra	Hallé Orchestra	Sir John Barbirolli	Pye	1957
Mstislav Rostropovich	Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra	Natan Rakhlin	Revelation	1958[2]
Mstislav Rostropovich	Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra	Gennadi Rozhdestvensky	Russiandisc	1964[3]
Jacqueline du Pré	London Symphony Orchestra	Sir John Barbirolli	EMI	1965
Pierre Fournier	Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra	Alfred Wallenstein	DG	1967
Jacqueline du Pré	BBC Symphony Orchestra	Sir John Barbirolli	Testament	1967[4]
Jacqueline du Pré	Philadelphia Orchestra	Daniel Barenboim	CBS	1970[5]
Paul Tortelier	London Philharmonic Orchestra	Sir Adrian Boult	EMI	1973
Robert Cohen	London Philharmonic Orchestra	Norman Del Mar	EMI	1980
Lynn Harrell	Cleveland Orchestra	Lorin Maazel	Decca	1981
Heinrich Schiff	Staatskapelle Dresden	Sir Neville Marriner	Philips	1985
Yo-Yo Ma	London Symphony Orchestra	André Previn	Sony	1985
Julian Lloyd Webber	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra	Yehudi Menuhin	Philips	1986
Ralph Kirshbaum	Scottish National Orchestra	Sir Alexander Gibson	Chandos	1987
Felix Schmidt	London Symphony Orchestra	Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos	Carlton Classics	1988
Steven Isserlis	London Symphony Orchestra	Richard Hickox	Virgin	1988
Alexander Baillie	BBC Philharmonic	Sir Edward Downes	Conifer Classics	1989
Mischa Maisky	Philharmonia Orchestra	Giuseppe Sinopoli	DG	1990
Truls Mørk	Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra	Michel Tabachnik	Lyrinx	1990
Robert Cohen	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra	Sir Charles Mackerras	Argo	1991
Maria Kliegel	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra	Michael Halász	Naxos	1992
János Starker	Philharmonia Orchestra	Leonard Slatkin	RCA	1992
Torleif Thedéen	Malmö Symphony Orchestra	Lev Markiz	BIS Records	1992
Arto Noras	Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra	Jukka-Pekka Saraste	Finlandia	1994
Shauna Rolston	Calgary Symphony Orchestra	Mario Bernardi	CBC Records	1995
Yoohong Lee	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra	Yehudi Menuhin	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra	1995
Paul Tortelier	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra	Sir Charles Groves	ASV	1998
Pieter Wispelwey	Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra	Jac van Steen	Channel Classics Records	1999
Truls Mørk	City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra	Sir Simon Rattle	Virgin	1999
Anne Gastinel	City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra	Justin Brown	Naïve	2004
Arto Noras	Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra	Jukka-Pekka Saraste	WEA Apex	2006
Heinrich Schiff	Hallé Orchestra	Sir Mark Elder	Hallé	2006
Natalie Clein	Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra	Vernon Handley	EMI	2007
Jamie Walton	Philharmonia Orchestra	Alexander Briger	Signum	2008
Sol Gabetta	Danish National Symphony Orchestra	Mario Venzago	RCA	2010
Paul Watkins	BBC Philharmonic	Sir Andrew Davis	Chandos	2011
Antonio Meneses	Northern Sinfonia	Claudio Cruz	Avie	2012
Alisa Weilerstein	Staatskapelle Berlin	Daniel Barenboim	Decca	2012
Zuill Bailey	Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra	Krzysztof Urbański	Telarc	2013

Critical opinion

The BBC Radio 3 feature "Building a Library" has presented comparative reviews of all available versions of the concerto on three occasions, and recommended as follows:

• 11 February 1984, reviewer, Michael Kennedy:
  • Jacqueline du Pré (1965)^[6]
• 27 April 1991, reviewer, Jerrold Northrop Moore:
  • Julian Lloyd Webber^[7]
  • Steven Isserlis^[8]
  • Beatrice Harrison^[9]
  • Paul Tortelier (1998)^[10]
• 14 February 2004, reviewer, Richard Morrison:
  • Jacqueline du Pré (1965)^[11]
  • Truls Mørk (1999)^[12]
  • Yo-Yo Ma^[13]

The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music, 2008, gave its maximum four star rating to the 1965 du Pré/Barbirolli recording of the concerto. It awarded three stars (representing "an outstanding performance and recording") to the recordings by Casals, Gastinel, Harrell, Harrison, Isserlis, Ma, Mørk, Noras, Rostropovich (1964), Schiff (2006), Thedéen, and Tortelier (1973).^[14]

Notes

1. March, p. 424
2. Live recording, issued 1998
3. Live recording, issued 1994
4. Live recording, issued 2006
5. Live recording, issued 1976
6. Building a Library BBC Radio 3, accessed 24 October 2010
7. Building a Library BBC Radio 3, accessed 24 October 2010
8. Building a Library BBC Radio 3, accessed 24 October 2010
9. Building a Library BBC Radio 3, accessed 24 October 2010
10. Building a Library BBC Radio 3, accessed 24 October 2010
11. Building a Library BBC Radio 3, accessed 24 October 2010
12. Building a Library BBC Radio 3, accessed 24 October 2010
13. Building a Library BBC Radio 3, accessed 24 October 2010
14. March, pp. 424–26

References

• March, Ivan (ed). The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music 2008, Penguin Books, London, 2007. ISBN 978-0-14-103336-5