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,Reviews The Gramophone, December 1970, p. 120 and on compact disc in 1992 as part of EMI's "Elgar Edition" of all the composer's electrical recordings of his works.Reviews, Gramophone, December 1992, p. 92

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.Gramophone archive

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 1950Originally issued on 78 r.p.m. discs. Transferred to LP in 1953. Issued on CD (Testament) in 2001. Sir John Barbirolli Hallé Orchestra Pye 1954 1957Issued on CD (Dutton) in 2000. 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 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 2009Edo de WaartMilwaukee Symphony OrchestraMSO Classics20142014 Vasily Petrenko Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Onyx 2010 2015Tadaaki OtakaSapporo Symphony OrchestraFontec8-11 November 2012 (live)2013 Hilary Davan Wetton National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain 2015Daniel BarenboimStaatskapelle BerlinDecca19 & 21 September 20152016 Sir Antonio Pappano Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia ICA Classics 2012 (live) 2016 Edward Gardner BBC Symphony Orchestra Chandos 2016 2017Joseph WolfeHyogo Performing Arts Center OrchestraLivenotes21-22 April 2017 (live)2017Sir Mark ElderHalléHallé20182024 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)Boult recording "Building a Library" BBC CD Review archive, 23 January 1982 London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon HandleyHandley recording "Building a Library" BBC CD Review archive, 23 January 1982 23 April 1994, reviewer, Jerrold Northrop Moore: BBC Philharmonic, George Hurst Hurst recording "Building a Library" BBC CD Review archive, 23 April 1994 London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Edward Elgar BBC CD Review archive, 23 April 1994 17 March 2007, reviewer, David Owen Norris: Dresden Staatskapelle, Sir Colin DavisDavis recording "Building a Library" BBC CD Review archive, 17 March 2007

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.March, pp. 431–32

References March, Ivan (ed). The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music, Penguin Books, London, 2007.

Notes