01. The Kingdom, op.51 - Prelude [9'31]
02. - 04. Violin Concerto in B minor, op.61* [48'01]
05. The Dream of Gerontius, op.38 - Prelude [10'22]
06. The Dream of Gerontius, op.38 - The Angel's Farewell# [6'58]
Thomas Zehetmair- violin*; Alice Coote- mezzo#; Halle Orchestra conducted by Mark Elder
Halle HLL7521 (CD issued 2010)
(digital download; flacs, cover, inlay and booklet scans)
Recorded at Bridgewater Hall Manchester in March 2005, May 2008* and July 2008#
Recording engineer: Simon Eadon; Producer: Andrew Keener
The main work here, the Violin Concerto is given a fine reading by soloist, conductor and orchestra. Zehetmair seems to get closer to the heart of the work than many recent recordings and Elder offers a direct and unhistionic orchestral response which I like vary much. Whilst my allegiance to Hugh Bean's wonderfrul recording with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Charles Groves for EMI / Classics for Pleasure made in 1973 remains undiminished, of more recent issues this remains very high on the list.
The recording of the Prelude to The Kingdom was made four years before their recording of the complete work and the Prelude to The Dream of Gerontius and the Angel's Farewell were made at the same time as their recording of that complete work. The latter is Elgar's own arrangement without chorus of Softly and Gently and beautifully sung by Alice Coote. (The latter is also claimed to be a world premiere recording although there is some suggestion that Elgar actually only arranged it for orchestra alone - at the behest of Henry Wood.)
Download from MEGA.