First recorded digitally in the late '80s for Chandos with
Vernon Handley leading the
Ulster Orchestra, C.V. Stanford's symphonies were recorded again in the late 2000s for Naxos by
David Lloyd-Jones leading the
Bournemouth Symphony. The first disc in the series is this coupling of the Symphony No. 4 in F major and the Symphony No. 7 in D minor.
Lloyd-Jones, the conductor who has made so many fine Naxos recordings of English modernist music for Naxos -- one thinks of his recordings of Alwyn, Bax, and Rawsthorne -- proves equally adept at English romantic music. While he can do nothing to excise the echoes of Schumann, Mendelssohn, and above all Brahms from these scores,
Lloyd-Jones and the
Bournemouth make the best possible case for Stanford's integrity, sincerity, and obvious compositional skill. Here, the large-scale Fourth from 1888 is a masterfully written work that comes close to profundity in the Andante molto moderato, while the lighter Seventh from 1911 is an almost neo-Classical work of consummate poise and balance. While neither work is especially original, both will fascinate listeners who already know the symphonies of
Elgar. Naxos' 2006 digital sound is rich, warm, and detailed.