I love the Elric saga. it has everything and on so many levels
but to appreciate Elric and the writings of Moorcock, you have to read as many of the other Eternal Champion books as possible but leave the actual Eternal Champion/Erekose saga till last then read them all again
I'm not quite sure I'd go that far, really... I read a few of the Elric stories first, then (oddly)
Phoenix in Obsidian (
The Eternal Champion I couldn't find at the time), then a few others of Moorcock's work, and then back to
The Eternal Champion and onward from there.
Of course, I began reading them around 1972, and he's added quite a bit to it since then, which I've (generally speaking) picked up and read as they came out. To me, one of the best things about Moorcock's concept is that, because the multiverse is the way it is, you can come in at almost any point, and you'll have a different but equally valid view of the various things he's dealing with; and the more you read of them, of course, the more fully you appreciate it, and the richer it becomes.
I do have a preferred reading order, but that's a personal thing, because I think it builds things thematically into an interesting structure culminating with the final books of the cycle (though not his most recent, obviously, as the actual books that end the cycle were done back around the early 1970s).
But ... the way you propose is an interesting way to approach it and, as I said, certainly a valid one; I would only differ in that I think it's not
necessary to fully appreciate them, but would be quite a good way, nonetheless.
I think, for myself, reading
The Eternal Champion first actually works very well at introducing a lot of the themes and concepts he deals with, and works quite nicely as a way to discover the multiverse....
At any rate, it's always nice to run into more fans of the man's work, especially those who've read widely in it and can discuss it more intensively....