Hyperion Records

Exceptionally, the senior composer represented in the present collection needs no introduction, for Edward Elgar (1857–1934) was Britain’s greatest symphonist. But he never disdained light music and composed many charming little pieces in the genre. Born in Worcester, he was active largely in the west of England before gaining widespread fame in his forties with the ‘Enigma’ Variations. Elgar went on to write two symphonies and his Violin Concerto before, in 1914, he composed the gentle Carissima for small orchestra.

from notes by Andrew Lamb © 1997