Elgar Symphony No. 1 discography
# Elgar Symphony No. 1 discography

The first recording of Edward Elgar's Symphony No 1 was made by the London Symphony Orchestra in 1930, conducted by the composer for His Master's Voice (a label absorbed into the EMI recording group the following year). The recording was reissued on long-playing record (LP) in 1970, and on compact disc in 1992 as part of EMI's "Elgar Edition" of all the composer's electrical recordings of his works.

After 1931, the work had no further gramophone recordings until Sir Adrian Boult's 1950 recording (see below). During the 1950s there was only one other new recording of the symphony, and in the 1960s there were only two. In the 1970s there were four new recordings. In the 1980s there were six, and the 1990s saw twelve. Ten new recordings were released in the first decade of the 21st century.

## Recordings by date

| Conductor | Orchestra | Label | Recording date | Release date |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| The composer | London Symphony Orchestra | EMI | 20–22 November 1930 | 1931 |
| Sir Adrian Boult | London Philharmonic Orchestra | EMI | 1949 | 1950 |
| Sir John Barbirolli | Hallé Orchestra | Pye | 1954 | 1957 |
| Sir John Barbirolli | Hallé Orchestra | Barbirolli Society | 30 January 1958 (live) | |
| Sir John Barbirolli | Philharmonia Orchestra | EMI | 1962 | 1963 |
| Sir Adrian Boult | London Philharmonic Orchestra | Lyrita | January 1968 | 1968 |
| Constantin Silvestri | Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra | BBC Legends | 25 July 1968 (live) | 2006 |
| Sir John Barbirolli | Hallé Orchestra | BBC Legends | 1970 (live) | 2002 |
| Sir Georg Solti | London Philharmonic Orchestra | Decca | February 1972 | 1972 |
| Daniel Barenboim | London Philharmonic Orchestra | CBS | 1974 | 1974 |
| Sir Alexander Gibson | Scottish National Orchestra | RCA | 1976 (?) | 1976 |
| Sir Adrian Boult | BBC Symphony Orchestra | BBC Radio Classics | 1976 (live) | 1995 |
| Sir Adrian Boult | BBC Symphony Orchestra | BBC Music Magazine | 28 July 1976 (live) | 2006 |
| Sir Adrian Boult | London Philharmonic Orchestra | EMI | September 1976 | 1977 |
| Vernon Handley | London Philharmonic Orchestra | EMI | 1979 | 1980 |
| James Loughran | Hallé Orchestra | ASV | | 1981 |
| Bernard Haitink | Philharmonia Orchestra | EMI | 1983 | 1983 |
| Sir John Pritchard | BBC Symphony Orchestra | BBC Radio Classics | 1983 (live) | 1996 |
| Vernon Handley | London Philharmonic Orchestra | LPO | 23 February 1984 (live) | 2010 |
| André Previn | Royal Philharmonic Orchestra | Philips | 1985 | 1986 |
| Sir Colin Davis | BBC Symphony Orchestra | RCA | 13 May 1985 (live) | 1996 |
| Bryden Thomson | London Philharmonic Orchestra | Chandos | October 1985 | 1986 |
| Yehudi Menuhin | Royal Philharmonic Orchestra | Virgin | | 1989 |
| Sir Charles Mackerras | London Symphony Orchestra | Decca | April 1990 | 1991 |
| Leonard Slatkin | London Philharmonic Orchestra | RCA | 1990 | 1991 |
| Sir Neville Marriner | Academy of St Martin in the Fields | Collins | | 1991 |
| David Zinman | Baltimore Symphony Orchestra | Telarc | January 1991 | 1992 |
| James Judd | Hallé Orchestra | Pickwick | | 1991 |
| Sir Andrew Davis | BBC Symphony Orchestra | Teldec | 1991 | 1991 |
| Giuseppe Sinopoli | Philharmonia Orchestra | DG | 1991 | 1992 |
| Jeffrey Tate | London Symphony Orchestra | EMI | 1991 | 1992 |
| Tadaaki Otaka | NHK Symphony Orchestra | King International | 20 November 1991 (live) | 2017 |
| George Hurst | BBC Philharmonic | Naxos | April 1992 | 1993 |
| Julian Clayton | Chetham's Symphony Orchestra | Olympia | | 1995 |
| William Boughton | English Symphony Orchestra | Nimbus | June 1995 | 1995 |
| Tadaaki Otaka | BBC National Orchestra of Wales | BIS | 1995 | 1996 |
| Stephen Somary | Thüringen Philharmonie (Suhl) | Claves | 1996 | 1996 |
| Bramwell Tovey | National Youth Orchestra of Scotland | NYOS | August 1997 | 1998 |
| Sir Colin Davis | Dresden Staatskapelle | Hänssler Profil | 1998 | 2006 |
| Sir Colin Davis | London Symphony Orchestra | LSO Live | 2001 (live) | 2002 |
| Sir Mark Elder | Hallé Orchestra | Hallé | July 2002 | 2003 |
| Sir Roger Norrington | Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra | Hänssler | 27–29 October 1999 (live) | 2000 |
| Jeffrey Tate | Melbourne Symphony Orchestra | ABC | 24–25 June 2005 (live) | 2006 |
| Richard Hickox | BBC National Orchestra of Wales | Chandos | May 2006 | 2006 |
| Martyn Brabbins | Flemish Radio Orchestra | Glossa | September 2006 | 2007 |
| Sir Andrew Davis | Philharmonia Orchestra | Decca | 4 March 2007 (live) | 2010 |
| Sir Andrew Davis | Philharmonia Orchestra | Signum | 12 April 2007 (live) | 2010 |
| Vladimir Ashkenazy | Sydney Symphony Orchestra | Exton | 2008 | 2009 |
| Edo de Waart | Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra | MSO Classics | 2014 | 2014 |
| Vasily Petrenko | Royal Liverpool Philharmonic | Onyx | 2010 | 2015 |
| Tadaaki Otaka | Sapporo Symphony Orchestra | Fontec | 8-11 November 2012 (live) | 2013 |
| Hilary Davan Wetton | National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain Main Orchestra | | 2015 |
| Daniel Barenboim | Staatskapelle Berlin | Decca | 19 & 21 September 2015 | 2016 |
| Sir Antonio Pappano | Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia | ICA Classics | 2012 (live) | 2016 |
| Edward Gardner | BBC Symphony Orchestra | CHANDOS | 2016 | 2017 |
| Joseph Wolfe | Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra | Livenotes | 21-22 April 2017 (live) | 2017 |
| Tadaaki Otaka | Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra | Exton | 17-18 & 22 January 2019 (live) | 2019 |

## Critical opinion

BBC Radio 3's "Building a Library" feature, a comparative review of all available recordings, has considered the symphony three times since 1982, recommending as follows:

* 23 January 1982, reviewer, Andrew Keener:
   * London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult (1977)
   * London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley
* 23 April 1994, reviewer, Jerrold Northrop Moore:
   * BBC Philharmonic, George Hurst
   * London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Edward Elgar
* 17 March 2007, reviewer, David Owen Norris:
   * Dresden Staatskapelle, Sir Colin Davis

The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music, 2008 edition, awarded its maximum four star rating ("a really exceptional issue on every count") to Solti's LPO set (coupled with the Second Symphony) and Barbirolli's final 1970 recording (coupled with the Introduction and Allegro). The Guide's three star rating ("an outstanding performance and recording") was given to both of the EMI recordings by Boult, and to Colin Davis (LSO Live), Hurst, Elder, and Handley.

