- The Elgar Reimagined CD is released on Friday 4th February 2022 and is a Lyrita Recorded Edition
- It features Raphael Wallfisch on cello alongside the English String Orchestra, conducted by Kenneth Woods, performing arrangements of Elgar’s works by David Matthews and Donald Fraser
In 2019 the English Symphony Orchestra were asked to host the official 100th Anniversary performance of the Elgar Cello Concerto under the auspices of the Elgar Society and the Elgar Festival. The concert took place in Elgar’s birthplace of Worcester and the concerto was performed by Raphael Wallfisch on cello.
Following the concert in Worcester Cathedral, Wallfisch met composer Donald Fraser, whose choral arrangement of Elgar’s Sea Pictures was featured in the same programme. Wallfisch approached Fraser and asked if he could arrange a few of Elgar’s shorter works for cello and strings, and over the following year the project expanded in scope to reveal the final eleven-movement suite on this CD. Other works include several standalone miniatures from Elgar’s catalogue, such as the much-loved Salut d’Amour and Chanson de Matin, and excerpts from larger works including Nimrod from the Enigma Variations, and transcriptions from other concert pieces, like the Romanza, originally for bassoon and symphony orchestra.
Available to pre-order now from: https://www.eso.co.uk/product/elgar-reimagined/