A NEW recording of the original ending to one of Elgar's best-loved pieces has been hailed as good news by the Elgar Birthplace Museum.

Spokesman Chris Bennett said the Hall Orchestra recording of the finale to the Enigma Variations changed the work dramatically.

"There's millions of people around the country who will never have heard of this original ending in this way," he said.

Elgar composed an alternate longer ending in 1899 on the advice of his friend August Jaeger, who inspired the ninth variation, Nimrod, and the original was almost forgotten.