Composer: Frederick Delius, Edward William Elgar, Herbert Norman Howells, Ralph Vaughan Williams
Orchestra: Sinfonia of London
Conductor: John Wilson
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Chandos
Catalogue: CHSA5291
Release: 2023
Size: 1.15 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Howells: Concerto for string orchestra
02. I. Allegro, assai vivace
03 .II. In Memoriam, E.E. (1934) and M.K.H. (1935)
04. III. Allegro vivo
05. Delius: Late Swallows
Elgar: Introduction & Allegro for strings, Op. 47
06. I. [Introduction.] Moderato
07. II. Allegro – Nobilmente
08. III. Allegro (Tempo I)
This keenly anticipated album from Sinfonia of London and John Wilson features two of the greatest British works for string orchestra: Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, and Sir Edward Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro. Elgar’s ground-breaking work, commissioned for the newly formed London Symphony Orchestra and premièred in 1905, is inspired by the baroque concerto grosso, and features a solo string quartet contrasted with the full symphonic string section. These orchestral forces were also adopted by Herbert Howells in his Concerto for String Orchestra, from 1938. Delius’s Late Swallows is the only piece not originally composed for string orchestra; it was arranged (from the slow movement of Delius’s String Quartet) by his amanuensis, Eric Fenby. Recorded in Surround Sound and available as a Hybrid SACD, and digitally in Spatial Audio.