Tibor Varga, André Navarra: Elgar

The Strad Issue: April 2026

Description: A dive into the Elgar archive is a mixed affair

Musicians: Tibor Varga (violin) André Navarra (cello) Bamberg Symphony Orchestra/Jan Koetsier; Munich Philharmonic Orchestra/Fritz Rieger

Works: Elgar: Violin Concerto; Cello Concerto

Catalogue number: SOMM ARIADNE5047

As a great European composer, Elgar deserved the best Continental interpreters, yet in the 1930s Casals was accused of not sounding English enough in the Cello Concerto and Busch got similar treatment from scribes who forgot that the Violin Concerto was written for Kreisler.

After the war it was different. The British loved Casals’ 1945 recording with Boult; in 1953 Tortelier taped the Cello Concerto with Sargent and in 1957 Navarra did it with the Hallé under Barbirolli. The live performance on this CD was given at the Herkules-Saal, Munich, on 29 November 1956.

In both recordings Navarra is quite far forward; everything is a mite tidier in the studio version; and Barbirolli, who had played the work himself, is more confiding in the undulating first subject of the opening movement.

The timings of the two performances are virtually identical and Navarra’s slightly grainy tone and beautiful portamento are lovingly deployed in both accounts: slow or fast, he means every note.

Tibor Varga was a terrific violinist in a certain style, but in the Elgar concerto, recorded live in Bamberg on 19 December 1957, he relies too much on Hubay vibrato from the word go. He treats the work merely as a virtuoso piece, and I miss the little heart-stopping moments that you get from Menuhin and Boult.

Although Varga’s phrasing is pleasing throughout, the radio tape imparts a slight metallic tinge to his tone and for me there is too much fervour, not enough Innigkeit.

Recording engineer Lani Spahr has made both performances sound as good as they can be, I suspect; but one way and another, this disc is not essential except for die-hard adherents of the soloists.

TULLY POTTER