Falstaff (Elgar) - Recordings

Recordings

Though concert performances have been comparatively rare, the work has been well served in recordings. There were no fewer than 20 recorded versions of the work by 2007. The composer's own 1931/1932 recording with the London Symphony Orchestra, produced by Fred Gaisberg of HMV, was widely praised both at the time of its release and when it was remastered for LP and then for CD. Sir John Barbirolli's 1964 Hallé recording on HMV was chosen by BBC Radio 3's Record Review as the recommended version, even over the composer's own. In 2007, the classical music magazine Gramophone compared 20 recorded versions of Falstaff and selected Barbirolli's recording as "the essential choice" and "one of the pinnacles of the Elgar discography."

Sir Adrian Boult was closely associated with the work and made three recordings of it. His final version, set down in 1973, was praised by critics for emphasising the "symphonic'" aspect. In 1978, Vernon Handley and the London Philharmonic Orchestra recorded a version for Classics for Pleasure that Gramophone praised for its "spacious yet purposeful conception" and "meticulous fidelity to the letter and spirit of the score and architectural splendour." In 2005, the BBC also recommended a Naxos recording by David Lloyd-Jones and the English Northern Philharmonia, and in 2007 Gramophone marked it as the "bargain choice" recording of Falstaff.