If Vaughan Williams's Ninth Symphony was coolly received at its premiere on 2 April 1958 the fault was not that of the conductor, Sir Malcolm Sargent, or the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, as is now revealed by Pristine Audio's issue of that first performance. 

 

The composer had paid for extra rehearsal time, and the RPO sounds fully prepared. Sargent holds the work together with great skill, and he brings out its brooding power and dark undertones very eflectively. 

 

Fortunately the performance is preserved in very good mono sound, which is more than can be said for the second work on the disc, Vaughan Williams's London Symphony, played in a December 1945 performance by the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Dimitri Mitropoulos. 

 

The 1936 revised version of the score is played, but Mitropoulos spuriously introduces the Westminster chimes, first heard near the beginning of the work's opening Lento section, at the end of the Epilogue. 

 

The symphony is brilliantly played by Toscanini's orchestra, and Mitropoulos directs a powerful interpretation which sometimes lacks finesse - as in the over-brassy last movement - and poetry, as in what should be a mysterious sounding second movement. 
 

Better sound quality would no doubt put the performance in a better light, but the basically rather poor definition is further undermined by pitch fluctuations
 

(® PASC234,77mins).

Pristine's second volume of live recordings made by Sir Thomas Beecham and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra during the second world war contains performances of Dvorák's Cello Concerto and Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3, Scottish, from October 1943. 
 

Both these works are new to Sir Thomas's discography, but neither is given complete, since the end of the Concerto's first movement is missing and there are three short gaps in the Scottish Symphony. 
 

Mischel Cherniavsky s account of the solo part in the Concerto is extraordinarily wayward, but Beecham attentively follows his fluctuations of tempo, and he conducts with great conviction, as if he thoroughly approved, which he surely didn't. 
 

The Symphony is a tantalising essay in what might have been, since apart from the gaps the Seattle orchestra shows its second-class status, and the recording is not very ingratiating. 
 

Yet the disc is worth hearing, for the Mendelssohn gives at least an impression of a typical Beecham performance, with its magical phrasing, light airy rhythms and vivacious spirit
 

(® PASC238, 77mins).

Tosca (mono ® PAC0047, 107mins), with Scarpia sung by the wonderful Apollo Granforte, who is the main reason for acquiring this two-disc set if you haven't already got it. 
 

His interpretation of the Chief of Police is brilliant, from his first entrance to his demise at the end of Act 2. 
 

Running close second is Carmen Melis in the title role, for her dramatic voice really gets into the part. This is apparently her only complete recorded opera on disc. 
 

Less interesting is Piero Paulis singing of Cavaradossi who sounds rather inadequate in the role. Carlo Sabajno holds the forces of the Milan La Scala Chorus and Orchestra together well. 
 

The actual recording - in a new transfer from the Italian HMV 78s by Ward Marston - is really rather good considering its age. The sound is immediate with a close balance on the voices; there's a dry acoustic and limited frequency range, but all this is normal for a performance from this era. I noticed a touch of peak distortion from time to time, but not as much as I expected. 
 

Some good, painstaking work has been done here. Naturally, there have been many classic recordings of Tosca since this one, together with improved recording technology, but if you like singers from this golden era then this release could be for you.

These reviews are taken from the Downloads section of Classical Music Quarterly, formerly Classic Record Collector magazine.

The magazine can be obtained by subscription in its print edition, or as a PDF download from the CRQ website, where a sample back-issue can be freely downloaded: