I am very impressed with the Bakels/Bournemouth VW 9th; although I am not
that fond of the rest of the set to date, moreover I've had serious doubts
about the 9th since the first recording of it appeared 40 years back.  By
contrast, I was much taken with the 8th both when Munch played it quite
early on with the BSO and on hearing it with Barbirolli and the NY Phil in
the 1958-59 season.

Bakels' recording on Naxos (as the British critics always say, "Splendid
value for money...") makes a very convincing case for this enigmatic piece,
enough so that I'll end up spending far more than I saved for a score of
it.

Joel Lazar
Conductor, Bethesda MD
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