Introduction and Allegro for Strings, op. 47

Edward Elgar's Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Op. 47, was composed in 1905 for performance in an all-Elgar concert by the newly formed London Symphony Orchestra. It is a string concertante piece scored for string quartet and string orchestra, Elgar wrote it to show off the players' virtuosity. For its structure he drew on the 18th-century concerto grosso form.

The work was an immediate success in Britain, where it has remained a favourite in concert and on record. Orchestras outside Britain programme the piece rarely, although it has been recorded by orchestras from the US, Germany, Slovakia, Austria and the Netherlands, and conducted for records by, among others, Arturo Toscanini, Charles Munch, Bernard Haitink, Tadaaki Otaka, Pinchas Zukerman and Semyon Bychkov.