Compiled from four live performances in 2005 and 2007, this hybrid SACD almost gives the impression of a single concert, so high is the quality of the music and so consistent are the performances by Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra. The album features Sir Edward Elgar's perennial favorite, the Enigma Variations, Op. 36, and the popular Introduction and Allegro for string quartet and string orchestra, Op. 47. Davis' interpretations are classic and uncontroversial: he has a natural feeling for the Enigma ...
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Compiled from four live performances in 2005 and 2007, this hybrid SACD almost gives the impression of a single concert, so high is the quality of the music and so consistent are the performances by Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra. The album features Sir Edward Elgar's perennial favorite, the Enigma Variations, Op. 36, and the popular Introduction and Allegro for string quartet and string orchestra, Op. 47. Davis' interpretations are classic and uncontroversial: he has a natural feeling for the Enigma Variations' witty vignettes and subtle craft, and he brings across an appropriately pensive mood in the Introduction and Allegro that conveys its fin de siècle sweetness without lapsing into sentimentality. Yet as fine as these patched-together performances are, the sound quality of this package is a little uneven: Enigma comes off quite well in this DSD recording, and the multichannel reproduction makes the LSO seem fully present, varied in expression, clear in articulation, and...
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