By comparison with the recent Guildhall Strings anthology (RCA, 3/92) which duplicates the Holberg Suite, the Two Elegiac Melodies and the Nielsen Little Suite, the sound here is wanting in bloom—not surprisingly since almost a quarter of a century separate them. The Guildhall disc also includes the Sibelius Romance in C and Dag Wiren's Serenade but not Rakastava. It is well worth the extra outlay though this is not to say that readers attracted by the present disc will necessarily be disappointed. Leslie Jones gives totally honest, straightforward accounts of these pieces and the playing is all the more affecting for being plain and unadorned. On their first appearance on LP John Warrack noted their unfussiness, and the directness of utterance that does the music ''better justice than many a more sensational performance''. He also complained of a certain wiriness in the upper strings, which has not been completely tamed. Unlike some recent reissues (such as Barbirolli's stunning 1956 EMI Phoenixa Vaughan Williams Eighth Symphony or some of the Mercury issues), you would never be deceived into thinking this was made at any other time than it was. All the same there is something very likeable about the music-making: it is totally shorn of glamour—and all the better for it. All the same it is not possible to suggest that this anthology takes precedence over the alternatives now available at various price levels.'