Elgar: Symphony No. 1 & In the South (Live)

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The Naxos firm's ICA imprint is devoted to historical live performances, most of which are older than these 2012-­2013 performances by the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and its leader, Antonio Pappano. Yet the recording qualifies for the designation on several counts. Recorded live in Rome, these performances of Elgar's Symphony No. 1 in A flat major, Op. 55, and of the tone poem In the South, Op. 50, catch the orchestra right at the point when it began to achieve Pappano's plan of an Italian ensemble to match the world-class ensembles of Central Europe. More broadly, they mark the growing revival of Elgar's work throughout the sphere of Western concert music. It wasn't so long ago that Elgar was heard mostly in Britain, but that's changing fast thanks to performances like these. Is this "Italian" Elgar? Not specifically, yet in Pappano's hands there are places that carry the feel of a Verdian scene in addition to the collection of Brahmsian and Wagnerian influences that Elgar made his own. Sample the last part of the slow movement, with its quiet strings carrying the new theme through with a magical suppressed energy. For many, the big climaxes of the outer movements, especially the finale, will be reason enough to acquire this reading, which puts you in touch with why people were excited about Elgar in the first place. The tone poem In the South, Op. 50, perhaps chosen for its Italian program, does not quite have the forward drive of the symphony, and the recorded sound from Rome's Auditorium Parco della Musica is just adequate, but with this recording both Elgar (anew) and the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia come of age.

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