Details: Among the first releases on the Halle recording label, established in 2003, were Elgar's Symphonies Nos 1 and 2. This recording revisits those works nearly 20 years later, and mark the culmination of Sir Mark Elder's tenure as Music Director The First Symphony was premiered in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, in 1908 by the Halle and it's Music Director, Hans Richter to whom the symphony is dedicated. It is a work of astonishing musical and structural mastery which was greeted with worldwide acclaim, receiving one hundred performances in it's first year. The musical material demonstrates Elgar's skill at melody and transformation and presents a wide emotional range. By contrast the Second Symphony, with it's deeply personal 'pilgrimage of a soul', initially received a more muted reception. However, it came into it's own after the end of the first world war when the tone of remembrance and tribute possibly reflected the national mood, in what is now considered to be one of Elgar's finest works.