The music on this disc is as exquisite and beautifully crafted as anything by Ravel or Fauré. Indeed, the Nursery Suite of 1931, Elgar's last completed work and a nostalgic look back at the dreams of youth, might well be described as an English counterpart to Le tombeau de Couperin or the incidental music for Pelleas et Melisande. The best-known work on the disc, the Serenade for Strings, dates from 1892, and the program includes pieces from the first and second decades of the 20th century as well: "Dream Children" (1902), another wistful tribute to youthful innocence; "Sospiri" (1914) and the poignant "Elegy" (1909), both for strings; the Romance for Bassoon and Orchestra (1909-10); and the gently passionate nocturne "In Moonlight" (1903-04), originally conceived as the interlude to In the South. Here in a nutshell, then, is almost 40 years of Elgarian reverie, beautifully served up by the English Chamber Orchestra under the sympathetic guidance of Paul Goodwin. Best-known as one of the world's foremost Baroque oboists, Goodwin shows himself to be a gifted interpreter of this music, and one unafraid of expressing its sentimental mix of ardor, rapture, melancholy, and attenuated grief. The recording is first-rate. --Ted Libbey
