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In fairness to hi-fl addicts I should make clear straightaway that this is not a new recording. Although it has not been issued previously in this country it appears to have come out originally on 78s some time before 1953. With this in mind you will hardly expect the most realistic sound that...

I complained that in the mono version Oistrakh was too near the microphone, but for some reason the stereo disc is much better balanced, and I enjoyed it very much indeed. Oistrakh still sounds a little out of tune here and there (it is of course the same performance), but comparing his playing...

I must have been in a very uncharitable mood when I reviewed the stereo version of this disc in January. Playing it again, in comparison with the new mono issue, I still find the too-too-French brass wind tone rather offputting, and the acoustic somewhat dead; but the general sound is...

This is a definite bargain in the light classical field: it offers ten-inch rather than a twelve-inch measure of music (about 26 minutes), but at a price below the cheapest ten-inch disc. The Carmen Suite-the familiar Suite No. 1, with a few additionsis excellently played, with vital rhythm and...

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Dorati's sensitive and meticulous performances of these works, which are excellently recorded. That of L' Arlesienne has, of course, to compete with Beecham's, which T.H. declares to be unapproachable; I haven't heard that disc, but I'm willing to take his word...

I welcomed this performance when the stereo version appeared, as a good, vital reading that might be a most acceptable one to live with. It isn't the most powerful on record nor the most lyrical, but van Beinum steers a successful course between and I enjoyed hearing his performance again.

BRAHMS. Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73. Royal Philharmonic Orch- estra conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham, Bart., C.H. H.M.V. (Z) ALP1770 (12 in., 30s. plus 9s. 9d. P.T.).