01. - 03. Symphony No.6 in B minor, op.54 [32'48]
London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Adrian Boult
04. - 08. Symphony No.9 in E-flat major, op.70 [25'27]
London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Sargent
Everest EVC9005 (recorded November 1958 and September 1960; this CD release 1995)
(flac and covers, no booklet; not my rip - many thanks to the original uploader)
Recording venue: Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London
Recording engineer and Producer: Bert Whyte
Bert Whyte's wonderful recordings to 35mm magnetic film for Everest have had something of a chequered history when reissued on CD and digital download - with various issues stemming from intermediate master tapes of variable quality. Fortunately, this rip from CD is as good as you are going to get at 16 bit. This short-lived series of releases by Vanguard Classics were fine remasters with well-filled discs.
Both performances and recordings are excellent and I don't think that it is just that Sir Malcolm's Symphony No.9 was how I first heard the work in the early 1960s that it remains my favourite recording of all - with Sir Adrian's equally venerable recording of Symphony No.6 not far behind. Boult's opening largo is particularly mesmerising and Sargent's No.9 is full of humour and beautifully pointed textures - definitely pre- Volkov's Testimony. Interestingly, Boult was criticised for slow tempos in No.6 but compared with many more recent releases (including the highly-rated Petrenko and Jurowski) he is quite swift.