Vasily Petrenko in Elgar

Like so many post-Wagnerian composers at the end of the nineteenth century and the very beginning of the twentieth, Edward Elgar often wrote music that was a bit too long. I have always loved (most of) Elgar's music, but have often wished it would get a move on in a performance.

Not the least admirable aspect of the new recording of Elgar's first symphony by the extraordinarily talented Vasily Petrenko is that the music really does get a move on in all four movements, to great benefit of the work as a whole. Elgar's music does not take to wallowing, and I really enjoyed this recording. Apart from Petrenko, the Liverpool Philharmonic also covers itself in glory, and the recording team (Onyx) does credit to the whole. When I next want to listen to Elgar's first symphony, this is the recording, of the six I possess, that I'll reach for. I'm just hoping Petrenko goes on to record the second symphony, and to accompany a top soloist in the violin concerto.

The Russians may be a bit fallible when it comes to politics and economics, but when it comes to music they are formidable, as witnessed by the number of Russian pianists, violinists and conductors who keep coming forth. Two of my favourite modern conductors (a small band) are Valery Gergiev and Vasily Petrenko, both from well within the Russian orbit. This is the first time I have heard Petrenko in non-Russian repertoire, apart from an off-air recording of him accompanying Alina Ibragimova (another Russian) in a Mozart concerto. Count me as a fan.