One of the very few Beecham recordings that I have always found disappointing‚ lacking his characteristic fizz‚ is his 1955 version of Balakirev’s First Symphony (EMI‚ 6/62 – nla). Here is a work‚ still underappreciated‚ with its ambitious structure based on strong‚ memorable themes‚ and with its ravishingly beautiful slow movement‚ that seems to be perfect for drawing out the great conductor’s magic qualities. Yet what we get on the EMI disc is a safe studio run­through with the RPO. The striking differences in this radio recording with the BBC Symphony Orchestra‚ made a year after the EMI version‚ prove the point perfectly. From first to last the tension is keener in a performance with all the warmth‚ thrust and sparkle missing from the earlier recording. The mixture of ruggedness and animal excitement in the powerful first movement and the vigorous finale‚ the delicate‚ almost Mendelssohnian fantasy in the Scherzo and above all the sensuous beauty of the slow movement with its themes ripe for a musical on the lines of Kismet are all brought out just as one would expect with Beecham. Though the recording is in mono only‚ it is clear and well­balanced‚ never getting in the way of enjoyment. The fill­ups are valuable too. Beecham treats the four movements from Rimsky­Korsakov’s Golden Cockerel as the most colourful sequence of lollipops‚ culminating in a thrustful‚ swaggering account of the ‘Wedding March’‚ in some ways the most exciting of all Rimsky’s grand processional pieces. It makes a very welcome addition to the Beecham discography. And it is good‚ too‚ to have the ‘Polovtsian Dances’ in this live Festival Hall performance from 1954‚ with adrenalin flowing the more freely thanks to the presence of an audience‚ even if it does not quite match the fervour of Beecham’s classic Leeds Festival performance of 1934 (Dutton‚ 6/94). The chorus helps too‚ even though the women’s intonation is not flawless.