These discs will never replace modern recordings of Elgar's music for 'normal listening', but as items of historical interest they are superb. Given the conditions under which these early recordings were made and accepting the obvious shortcomings, this set sounds much better than I had expected.
Through these discs we get to glimpse a world that has long past. My favourite in this respect is 'Fringes of the Fleet', written for the Music Hall in the middle of WW1 and recorded by the original cast - brilliant! To all who love Elgar's music and have an interest in his pioneering role in the early recording industry, this set, with its truly excellent notes by Andrew Neill, is a real treasure.