Elgar: Enigma Variations, Serenade for Strings, Cockaigne Overture

The BBC Symphony Orchestra has a long, distinguished history of performing Elgar’s music and stamps its authority firmly on this selection of his orchestral pieces. The main work is the Enigma Variations, where conductor Andrew Davis vividly etches the musical detail of Elgar’s “friends pictured within”, each variation a portrait of an acquaintance of the composer. The “R.B.T.” variation has a wry humour, “Troyte” bustles impressively and in the famous “Nimrod” variation Davis distils exactly the type of stiff-upper-lip nobility Elgar intended. The Cockaigne Overture, “In London Town”, is meat and drink to an orchestra based in the city, and Davis elicits all the swagger and street-level detail in Elgar’s loving portrait of the British capital. The Serenade for Strings is a more intimate piece and is affectionately shaped by Davis and the BBC players.