Here’s a welcome companion release to ICA Classics’ recent restoration (8/12) of Boult’s blistering Elgar First from the 1976 Proms. Captured by the BBC microphones in July of the following Proms season, this was Sir Adrian’s very last performance of the Second Symphony, a work he recorded on no fewer than five occasions and first conducted (with the LSO) in March 1920 – indeed, the latter Queen’s Hall concert was pivotal to the symphony’s subsequent rehabilitation and prompted the composer to write to the budding maestro with sincere gratitude (‘I feel that my reputation in the future is safe in your hands’).

Back to the present version, though, and what treasure-trove it comprises. Not only do the BBC SO play with heartfelt commitment for their beloved founder and former chief but the 88-year-old Boult directs with unerring grip and thrusting vigour. Certainly, the slow movement flows with greater purpose than in his final commercial recording (EMI) but, truth to tell, the whole performance simply beams with wisdom, authority and selfless dedication. As one listens spellbound to the sublime epilogue, a more raptly moving leave taking would be hard to imagine.

So where’s the rub? Well, the boomy, cavernous sound leaves a lot to be desired, with some curiously shrouded, furry string timbre at low levels especially betraying an element of over-processing that unfortunately also takes its toll on the Wagner coupling. Recorded live at the BBC SO’s Maida Vale home in December 1968, this is a marvellously paced, wholly idiomatic and memorably vibrant account of the Overture and Venusberg Music from Tannhäuser that serves as an instructive reminder that, prior to his employment by the BBC in 1929, Boult was frequently engaged to conduct opera.

Summing up, then: if you can contend with the problematic sound, there’s heaps to admire here on purely artistic grounds.