Towards the end of 1933, a critically ill Edward Elgar realized that he could not finish his "Third Symphony". It is not entirely clear whether and to what extent he considered others capable of completing this symphony. He was rather gloomy with his friend WH Reed. The symphony consisted only of loose fragments that no one else could ever forge together. The sketches had better be destroyed. In
… the meantime, Anthony Payne has made an attempt to further elaborate the sketches of this unfinished one. The result can be heard in a performance by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Davis (aax5014). At the same time, a CD was released on which Anthony Payne explains his reconstruction orally on the basis of various music fragments (aax5013). (HJ)more