From SOMM Recordings comes another release in their warmly received series Elgar from the Archives, drawn from the remarkable collection of producer and restoration engineer Lani Spahr, containing over 5,000 historic Elgar recordings. Reviewing the first volume of the series, Stuart Millson, a Contributing Editor to The Brazen Head, wrote, "Again, sound-supremo, Lani Spahr has done a wonderful job of "French-polishing" this (English) music." Volume 4 of the series presents the Concert Overture In the South (Alassio), Op. 50 and Symphony No. 1 in A flat major, Op. 55.The volumes in the Elgar from the Archives series feature both British artists and equally laudable performers from other countries, and In the South is a 1954 release featuring the Symphony Orchestra of Radio Leipzig. The ensemble is conducted by Gerhard Pfluger (1907-1991) who was born and educated in Dresden and had the misfortune to come to maturity during the years of National Socialism, the destruction of much of Germany, and the establishment of the German Democratic Republic. He joined the Nazi party in 1940, and from 1946, as a member of the East German communist party, he held conducting positions in Rostock and Weimar in addition to Leipzig. Against this backdrop, for an East German orchestra and conductor to issue the work of a British composer was not only rare but courageous.Elgar was enjoying a family holiday in Italy during the winter of 1903 to 1904, and he was supposed to be working on a long-planned symphony. However, the resort town of Alassio on the Italian Riviera proved to be too alluring, and it inspired him to write a concert overture instead that captured the local atmosphere. He later recalled how, one beautiful afternoon in the Vale of Andora, " in a flash, it all came to me. In that time I had composed the overture - the rest was merely writing it down."Elgar did get around to completing his First Symphony in 1908, and it had it's premiere in Manchester on 3 December that year with Hans Richter conducting the Halle Orchestra. It was, as The Musical Times described it, an "immediate and phenomenal success." On the evening of 30 January 1958, the City of Manchester celebrated the centenary of the Halle Orchestra with a concert that was both broadcast and televised, and it is this live recording that is presented here. The orchestra was led by Sir John Barbirolli, their Principal Conductor from 1943 to 1970. Michael Kennedy, biographer of Elgar and Barbirolli, said of the performance, "In their finest hour, the Halle and it's conductor found the best in each other to do honour to their own traditions."