Roger Hecht replied to my post:

>......I generally prefer the Lyritas to the Thomson recordings throughout
>their Bax series.  (It included 1, 2, 5, 6, 7).  Some critics, in reviewing
>these records mostly from the 70s often say their sound isn't as good as
>today's digital.  Well, I haven't heard the Lyrita CD reissues.  I know
>them only from the LPs, but those LPs are sonic classics.

I only have the CD of Bax 1 and 7, but they sound wonderful as do other
Lyrita CD reissues I've managed to grab.  The label appears to be in
hibernation or worse.  Can anyone shed some light?

>Incidentally, on the subject of Rubbra, there is a terrific recording of
>the wonderful Fourth Symphony with Handley on BBC Classics, available from
>Berkshire cheap. I think it is the best of the three extant recordings
>(Hickox and Del Mar are the others). Get it while you can.

One of the many mysteries of CM is why Handley hasn't done more recording
- he's a sort of Sir Adrian Boult of the 90s.  IMHO, his Arnold symphonies
more than hold their own against the other cycles, and his Bantock and
Simpson series are quite magnificent.  I guess we should be grateful for
what he *has* recorded.

Richard Pennycuick
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