BBC Symphony Orchestra
(Leader, Paul Beard)
Conductor, Sir Adrian Boult

Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe and Elgar's Second Symphony were completed within a year of each other (the former in 1912, the latter in 1911) and are both scored with consummate skill for large orchestras. Yet their styles offer a sharp contrast. Ravel, like certain French painters, makes use of the 'pointillist ' method; his effects are obtained, for the most part, by an accumulation of tiny, cunningly placed strokes, the result being sparkling and delightful, all the more so since, through the intricate web of sound, there runs an exquisite, tender thread of sentiment.

Elgar employs a broader brush. His Symphony, dedicated to the memory of Edward VII, paints in glowing colours the splendour of an epoch that now belongs to history. At the same time, however. the work is a portrayal, almost unbearably poignant at moments, of a spiritual pilgrimage in which, after sorrow and the heat of conflict, the 'immortal garland' (of which Milton speaks) is finally won.
(Harold Rutland)