Gone are the days when collectors could go out and buy Toscanini's RCA LP of these two symphonies, a difficult pair to bring off in tandem, it seems. The sound of the mono recording was not up to much, but he got both works off the ground pretty well. Nowadays there is nothing that is strongly to be recommended, though there are decent and occasionally interesting readings of the two symphonies on other couplings, including the Toscaninis (No. 1 with No. 3 and No. 2 with No. 7), a Bruggen account of No. 1 on Philips (coupled with Mozart's Symphony No. 40) and the Norrington/EMI performances (No. 1 with No. 6 and No. 2 with No. 8).
The Wyn Morris performances are serviceable but not much more. He generally takes a lighter view of the First than the Second Symphony which is plausible, though there is quite a jump from his decorous account of the slow movement of the First, taken with decent briskness, to his rather romantic view of the slow one of the Second. And where that most recalcitrant of quick movements, the Allegro con brio of the First, is rather hustled and driven, the finale of the Second is allowed acres of space in the second-subject groupings. As often in this Pickwick series, the LSO playing oscillates between the nearly superb and the nearly routine, though it is in general perfectly satisfactory.
The recordings on the present disc, though, leave something to be desired. Perspectives vary too much. Some wind solos are clear and bright, but wind-led or wind-supported tuttis can often seem more distant and aurally blank. String sound is similarly variable, often rather hard.'