Just picked up Elgar's 2nd with Davis/BBC at Tower Outlet for $4.99.  I
haven't listened to this symphony in a few years, and I must confess that
back then it didn't make much sense to me, my expectations having been
impacted by very recent love affairs with the "Enigma Variations," and
the "Symphony #1."

If there is anyone that proves that there is, (was), still plenty of
good music to be written in Eb major, it is Elgar.  His music sounds so
conservative yet so fresh at the same time.  I'm sure this is old hat for
many of you, but I have to point out how taken I am by the depth and
poignancy of the slow mov't, (punctuated by the soft bass drum strokes
w/harp); and the delicious mystery of the "night music" first introduced in
the middle of the first mov't--esp.  the part underpinned with bass drum.

If I may, while the 1st symphony sounds very Germanic/Brahmsian but still
completely English, (if this makes sense); the 2nd, (to me), has a Russian
feel to it.  The night music reminds me of the mysterious central section
of the third mov't of Rachmaninoff's "Symphonic Dances," while the trombone
lines and brass punctuation remind me of Tchaikovsky.

Great stuff!

John Smyth