Conducted by Sir Adrian Boult
Elgar's ' Falstaff ' is a one-movement work divided into four main sections. The first, designed as a courtly and genial conversation with Prince Henry, shows us the knight in ' a green old age. frank, gay, corpulent, loose, unprincipled, and luxurious. The second takes us to the town, the tavern, and gay adventures, followed by an interlude in which Falstaff dreams of his boyhdod as a page to the Duke of Norfolk. The third section shows Falstaff going off to the wars, followed by a second interlude, a quiet movement in Shallow's orchard. The last section, an epilogue, begins as a triumphal march and ends with a picture of the tragic decay and death of the greatest and most lusty-hearted roysterer in literature.