I wrote‚ at some length‚ about the Giulini performance‚ unearthed here by BBC Legends‚ for The Financial Times in 1968. I could – just – have been at the Toscanini reading in New York‚ being at the time a lad of 11 evacuated to that city. Believe it or not‚ I have an even earlier memory of my parents and my grand­parents heading off to the 1939 Queen’s Hall performance‚ now on BBC Legends‚ while I was irked at being left at home to listen – I think‚ but cannot be sure – on the wireless. Enough of self­indulgent autobiography‚ except to say that I feel the same about the Giulini version now as I did when I wrote about it 34 years ago. Its obvious sincerity of purpose and reverence before the masterpiece is upended by the well­known watery acoustics of St Pauls. The BBC engineers of the day could do little to obviate that drawback so that the echo provides an unwanted reverberation over what should be precise. I wrote at the time that it was like listening to a piano performance with the sustaining pedal held down throughout. As Giulini’s reading is already slow to a fault‚ and his very average soloists are too distantly placed‚ it hardly matches the extraordinary drama of the soul depicted by Beethoven‚ especially as depicted in Toscanini’s electrifying performance. The older Italian’s overall timing is faster by only three minutes‚ but by virtue of his more rhythmically exact‚ and instrumentally and vocally precise traversal of the score it has a much greater sense of immediacy and elevation. When Rob Cowan wrote here so cogently about the 1939 performance he described it‚ quite rightly‚ as a triumph‚ and preferred it to the 1940 reading. On the other hand‚ John Steane – in his chapter on the work in Choral Music on Record (CUP: 1991) – with no 1939 discs by him‚ heaped praise on 1940‚ commenting – inter alia – that ‘all elements seem in equilibrium’ and that ‘the total effect…is not adequately represented by references to “electricity”’. In deciding between these views one is comparing two readings of such overwhelming conviction and power that either will come as a revelation to the newcomer to work and/or conductor. If I lean ever so slightly to 1940 it is because the sound is marginally better‚ the singing of the Westminster Choir even more inspired than that of the BBC Choral Society and the Carnegie Hall soloists by a small margin superior the their Queen’s Hall counterparts mainly due to the presence of the irreplaceable Björling and Kipnis. Zinka Milanov is common to both‚ but in more confident form on the later occasion. Listen to this quartet at ‘Et incarnatus’ in the Credo or in the whole of the Benedictus and you will hear singing fit for the gods both in tone and expression‚ not forgetting the subtle use of portamento‚ out­of­fashion today. As for the chorus‚ hear the end of the Gloria and you must realise why Toscanini‚ in this work‚ is supreme. Although this Italian issue should not be at full price‚ given fairly primitive sound‚ it is worth every penny for anyone wanting to encounter what must be one of the greatest accounts ever of this challenging work. Toscanini’s 1953 version on RCA‚ though in better sound‚ is by general consent a less commanding performance with inferior soloists. If you must have Giulini‚ you would be better off with EMI’s budget Rouge et Noir issue of his later‚ studio recording. The BBC Legends issue spreads over onto a second CD (the 1940 Toscanini is complete on one)‚ but it does add an urgent Edinburgh performance of a Schubert work Giulini loved. In the historic stakes‚ where the Beethoven is concerned‚ don’t overlook the even earlier‚ 1937 live Beecham account on Somm: it comes a close second to Toscanini.