Elgar’s second recording of his Symphony No. 2, made only eighteen months after the previous, acoustic set had been released, coincided with the innovation of electrical technology and the opportunity to mark the composer’s seventieth birthday on 2nd June 1927. Both the Symphony and the equally famous recording of the Cello Concerto offer unique insights from being composer-conducted. The tumultuous energy of the opening of the symphony’s first movement, the refusal to indulge the second movement and Elgar’s natural command of the art of transition, so crucial in this of all his works, add significantly to the poignancy and emotional thrust of the work as a whole. Taken at a quicker pace than most modern recordings, the Cello Concerto is a far cry from the sentimental resignation frequently associated with it in recent times.