Royal Scottish National Orchestra

'Little tantalizes with a winning combination of heartfelt passion and engaging simplicity that radiates beguiling warmth.'                       Classic FM Magazine

'...This release has given enormous pleasure, a highlight of 2010.' Classicalsource.com 

'...Little brings a profoundly idiomatic nostalgia to this secretive, yearning, wistful yet passionate music. The extras make it an Elgarian must-have.' Sunday Times 

'...Andrew Davis brings out all the natural swagger in these patriotic themes and is helped not just by virtuoso playing by the RSNO but by recording that is outstandingly vivid even by Chandos's high standards.' Gramophone (Editors' Choice)

'...For sheer beauty of tone and expressive nostalgia, Tasmin Little and Sir Andrew Davis out-Elgar their rivals.'     The Sunday Telegraph

'... a superb new recording from Tasmin Little that goes right to the top of the class.'  The Mail on Sunday

'...This release celebrates 100 years since the first performance, and includes, on a separate track, the special cadenza - with heavenly harp flourishes - used in the first recording in 1916. This is a fascinating document for Elgar-lovers, but Little's performance, wistful, poetic and powerful, with sympathetic accompaniment from Davis and the RSNO, demands attention in its own right.' The Observer

Tasmin Little's recording of the Elgar's Violin Concerto was released to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the work's first performance. In concert Tasmin is especially associated with Elgar's Violin Concerto: in 2007, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sir Edward Elgar, she performed the concerto on a major tour to Southeast Asia and Australia, and she has also performed it extensively in London - at the BBC Proms, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, and with the Philharmonia Orchestra in the Royal Festival Hall. What makes this recording especially interesting is that she has included the cadenza used in the work's first recording, which was made in 1916 with Marie Hall. For that occasion, Elgar ‘beefed-up' the cadenza by, amongst other things, adding harps to counter the sonic limitations of the acoustic recording process. For those used to hearing the standard version, the result makes for fascinating listening, and the recording will prove a valuable addition to the Elgar discography. The cadenza has been tracked separately as Tasmin Little has also recorded the concerto's familiar cadenza.

The Violin Concerto is complemented by the charming Interlude, for violin and orchestra, from The Crown of India, and the rarely recorded but imposing Polonia, an inventive and colourful score using genuine polish material, which was commissioned by the Polish conductor Emil Mlynarski in 1915 and dedicated to Ignacy Jan Paderewski, the pianist-composer and, later, Prime Minister of Poland.