Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé – A tribute to the recorded legacy
by Philip Harrison

Although over the years I have amassed a fair collection of Hallé records including those made under Sir John Barbirolli, I have still not yet saved enough pennies to be able to finally purchase the grand 109 CD boxset that Warner put out a few years ago: The Complete Warner Recordings. The best things in life are worth waiting and striving for though, and one day I know I will.

My concert going experience started in the very early 90s in the latter reign of Stanislaw Skrowaczewski with concerts by the Hallé in Manchester’s Free Trade Hall. I was there when Kent Nagano first arrived with his innovative (and sometimes expensive) programming. Nagano was there at the helm when we all decamped over to the Bridgewater Hall in 1996. I even got to go into the shell of the building with a hard hat on to choose my seat the preceding summer! In 2000, Mark Elder, aged fifty-three, arrived as the new chief conductor of the orchestra, then in a period of financial peril. He had first conducted the Hallé in the 1980s (Belshazzar’s Feast, Glagolitic Mass, Mahler 3 even). After the announcement of his appointment, I heard him do Tippett’s The Mask of Time. I knew he was the right man for the orchestra from that very moment. Mark Elder (knighted in the birthday honours of 2008) stepped down from the Hallé in 2024. His directorship had lasted twenty-four years, one fewer than Barbirolli’s. I don’t believe that was unintentional but speaks volumes of his style and class.

Despite not having the Barbirolli records in their newest remastered glory, I do have most of that rich legacy in formats from 78s to mono and stereo LPs and CDs. Likewise, I have collected most of Sir Mark Elder’s records, most (though not all) of which came out on the Hallé’s own record label. Readers may be surprised to learn that I believe Elder’s recorded legacy with the Hallé exceeds (in terms of volume) that of his illustrious predecessor and I would respectfully argue at least matches it in terms of quality. There are over sixty titles in all and some of those are multi-CD sets. Both Elder and Barbirolli can also be heard in an archive of live recordings too. Dutton, working with The Barbirolli Society and labels like BBC Legends started restoring Sir John’s concert works with the Hallé many years ago. We probably now have as much as we are going to get. Mark Elder’s concerts many of which were broadcast on the BBC are mostly still in the archives of private collectors (like me) who made off-air recordings. Both conductors conducted a significant repertory that they did not record in the studio, Sir Mark Elder notably so.

MusicWeb International reviewed most of Sir Mark Elder’s discography with the Hallé. In this little article I offer a reminder of its highlights and list some items he performed in concert with the orchestra too that I believe may one day see the light of day, if there are enough of us who want to hear them. I have divided the records into four categories: Elgar, Opera, Composer-led projects and a miscellaneous section.

Elgar on disc
I bet most people would associate Sir Mark and the Hallé primarily with the music of Elgar. He gave the first symphony in his very first concert as music director in October 2000. Elder took the Hallé to the BBC Proms 21 times and Elgar featured in several of the concerts. Like Barbirolli, Elder always felt an affinity with the composer, and both men made some stunning recordings of his music that will endure. Here are the main works Elder left us with, all of which are on the Hallé label.

There are also smaller additional works by Elgar on these records too. The main omissions for me are Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf and Caractacus, neither of which I remember Elder doing but which he would have surely been superb in. I don’t think he ever did the Coronation Ode or The Black Knight either. In December 1998 at the Bridgewater Hall, after conducting the Prelude to Act 1 of Parsifal, Sir Mark and the composer Anthony Payne gave a memorable illustrated talk on his reconstruction of the Third symphony. Elder conducted it after the interval. I adore the Elgar/Payne 3 and regret that it seems after this early encounter they do not seem to have returned to it.

Opera on disc
Sir Mark Elder has always been an opera man. On leaving Cambridge he auditioned at Covent Garden but in the end accepted an offer from Edward Downes to be his apprentice at Australian Opera. It was there he learned his trade. He led ENO through the 1980s and has enormous experience over a huge span of repertory. I have seen very many productions he has led at Covent Garden and Glyndebourne since 1990, and it was always a sure thing he would bring the opera to the Hallé. It must be said that Nagano before him had some experience in the theatre too. In 1997 Nagano presided over a superb Billy Budd featuring Thomas Hampson and he took the orchestra to Salzburg the following year for Messiaen’s masterwork Saint François d’Assise, a work he was eminently qualified to lead. Both these operas were recorded. Elder in Manchester will perhaps best be remembered in opera for his Wagner though. Der Ring des Nibelungen and Parsifal (BBC Proms only) were memorably presented before us. Sir Mark’s great work with Opera Rara also involved the Hallé, albeit not too often.

In May 2003 at the Bridgewater Hall, Mark Elder and the Hallé gave a couple of performances of Verdi’s Falstaff. The cast included Susan Chilcott, Felicity Palmer, Alice Coote, Camilla Tilling and the immenso Falstaff of Ambrogio Maestri. One of the performances was transmitted. I remember a Cavalleria rusticana, bleeding chunks (whole acts quite often) of Wagner, as well as other things too. In 2019 they did Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust with the brilliant David Butt Philip and in May 2022 came Madama Butterfly featuring Eri Nakamura. The BBC took the Berlioz but not the Puccini.

Composer-led projects on disc
Sir Mark completed two symphony cycles with the Hallé and a series that featured Debussy’s core orchestral works coupled with new orchestrations of his piano preludes by Colin Matthews.

No Tapiola on record unfortunately, even though he did this and many other things by the Finnish composer in the concert hall. There exists similarly, more Vaughan Williams in off-air tapings: Sancta Civitas, Toward the Unknown Region etc. The four CDs of Debussy are nice mementos of the work of the Hallé/Elder partnership in French repertory. You will look in vain for Pelléas though, alas.

Miscellaneous discs
Below are a sample of other notable records made by the Hallé under Sir Mark Elder:

The Planets was actually the first record, made in March 2001. I include it here primarily for that reason. It incorporated Colin Matthews’ Pluto. It is only fair here to state that the Hallé had played the Holst piece, with its additional planet, in concert at the Bridgewater Hall under Nagano the previous May. It was the last time I saw him conduct the orchestra. I have chosen the other three composers as I think Sir Mark brought a special insight into their works. I don’t believe Elder and the Hallé ever did a full Nielsen cycle, but I am sure he conducted a few more symphonies than the two recorded. Similarly in Shostakovich I heard him do symphonies 1-10 and 15, I think. Can you think of anyone else who would play Coates’ Calling all Workers as an encore to the mighty tenth?

Elder programmed Mahler in Manchester quite a bit. My diaries show he did all the symphonies (including Das Lied von der Erde) except for 7. I think I have tapings from the radio broadcasts of most of these, though not all. Before the days of “on demand” audio, if a concert was broadcast live and one was attending, it could prove problematic to make sure someone back at home pressed “record” at the right time, and whilst the radio was tuned to the right station. I missed plenty due to what I can only describe as communication or technical issues. C’est la vie.

For reasons of space, I must leave out an extended discussion of many other treasures on the Hallé label. If you look however, you will find lots more great British music. Pieces by Delius, Holst, Britten, Bax, Bridge and Butterworth. There is also a disc each for Strauss and Stravinsky, both of whom I remember him serving very well in a range of works. The orchestra’s work in newer music can also be sampled on at least five NMC CDs and a couple of Colin Matthews records on the home label.

Unrecorded repertory
Like all great orchestra-conductor partnerships over the years, even those blessed like this one with a record company willing to record and release material throughout the relationship, there are many pieces that go unrecorded. Here are some of the ones that got away (I have already mentioned many others in the sections above):

That Wonderful Town really did live up to its billing. I remember it very fondly. There were so many other highlights in the period though. From that very first Mask of Time in 2000 and Prokofiev’s Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution in 2002, Walton’s Henry V the same year, an all-Russian program in 2005 that included Borodin 1 and Rachmaninov’s The Bells. To the Meistersinger Act 3 of 2013 and that sublime Damnation of Faust in 2019. I didn’t attend any of the concerts in Manchester in the last couple of seasons but heard some of their highlights on the radio. Earlier this month I managed to tune in to Sir Mark conducting Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony at the Royal Festival Hall with the LPO. It was a superb performance, even eclipsing the Hallé version. If you are very quick you might just catch it on BBC Sounds.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my little piece in tribute to a wonderful legacy on record. Who knows, in twenty years perhaps it will be boxed up like the Barbirolli legacy now is and someone younger than I will be saving up to acquire it, just as I am now with JB. It will be money well spent.

Philip Harrison

See this link to recordings on the Hallé label