We have discussed this work already some time ago, and most people
especially Roger Hecht were quite positive about this reconstruction (?)
by Anthony Payne.  Now as there is a new recording of this on Naxos
(Bournemouth Symphony) I dared to pick it up myself and have a listen.
If this work is now Elgar with a bit of Payne or Payne with a bit of Elgar
its nevertheless a very nice piece of music and for me (not being an expert
on Elgar) it sounds very much like Elgar. Maybe its not as dramatic or
bombastic as Elgars previous symphonies, but it has some kind of relaxed
beauty and grandeur one would expect from a last work of a composer. Highly
recommended! By the way I think I read somewhere that Payne did some
changes in the score for this recording (compared to the older one on NMC).
Is this true?

Achim Breiling