Beinum/LPO: Elgar Wand of Youth Suites Nos. 1 & 2 - Decca LXT 5279, lovely copy

Jacket NM / LP EX / UK pressing This beautiful LP – a superb collector’s copy – from Decca (LXT 5279, English pressing, orange/silver label, mono only – no stereo edition exists, lamianted flipback jacket) features conductor Eduard van Beinum and the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s wonderfully evocative accounts of the Suties Nos. 1 and 2 from Edward Elgar’s The Wand of Youth. Of Australian Decca’s re-issue of these performances in the “Eloquence” series, the great critic Peter J. Rabinowtiz wrote for Fanfare: “Set down during the transition from 78s to 33s, these were groundbreaking recordings. At the time, Elgar was rarely taken up by non-British conductors. In fact, Elgar recordings by anyone were still scarce…Fair enough, but aside from their historic status, how do they hold up? Remarkably well. Eduard van Beinum was just starting his brief tenure as principal conductor of the London Philharmonic, but there’s a palpable sense of communication in these high-energy readings, which o