The only other CD account of the First Symphony is from Neeme Jarvi and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra on BIS/Conifer, though it can only be a matter of time before EMI release the Karajan/HMV version in this format, already available in Japan. Likewise, the only Seventh on CD is the Ashkenazy/Decca listed above, though I gather there are plans afoot to transfer the 1968 Karajan/DG. I also understand that the recent Berglund/HMV version coupled with the Fourth Symphony will find its way onto the new medium.
When I replayed this recording by the SNO under Sir Alexander Gibson, I wondered whether I had not been a little too negative in my first review, for there is plenty of enthusiasm in No. 1 and there is no doubt that Sir Alexander is an echt Sibelian through and through. Moreover, the actual sound is first rate by any standards, extremely vivid and present. However, the pitch discrepancy at letter S in the first movement of the First Symphony is still worrying, and in the long run the playing does fall short of real distinction. The Seventh is wanting in tension and power. Stunning though the Chandos recording is, I would be cautious in recommending No. 1 in preference to the Jarvi, and No. 7 is certainly not to be preferred to the Philharmonia/Ashkenazy, even though the Decca, coupled with a powerful account of Tapiola, offers the shorter playing time.'