I can only recall a handful of Wood reissues during the whole of the LP era, and even when historic material started to come out on CD there was hardly any of Sir Henry's work available. However, last autumn Dutton Laboratories issued his performances of works by Vaughan Williams, including the London Symphony (10/93). Through that splendid production younger collectors could at last get some idea of his sterling qualities. Since then there has been a fairly useful Beulah disc (1/94), but only through this latest Dutton release do we at last have the chance to appreciate Sir Henry's art over a wide range of important repertoire.
The impression left is that of a highly disciplined, objective interpreter, who brought music to life with tremendous vitality and clarity. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 is played with the British Symphony Orchestra's full complement of strings, but tempos are brisk and there is nothing heavy about the playing, which is clean, robust, and very strong rhythmically. Haydn's Farewell Symphony is given quite a modern-sounding performance, with lean, clear textures, excellent attack, particularly in the first movement, some expressive but stylish playing in the Adagio, and everywhere plenty of warmth and wit. Sir Henry conducts the Unfinished Symphony's first movement in a vital, quite dramatic fashion. The basic tempo is brisk, but there is room for a certain amount of expression. In the Adagio it's true that the music does cry out for more affectionate phrasing, whereas Wood conducts in a slightly dry, rhythmically direct fashion. This, I think, is his one weakness, for often (but not always) in highly expressive music he fails to mould and caress phrases with sufficient imagination and feeling.
Beethoven's Fifth suits him well and he gives a fiery, but balanced and clear-cut account of the work, with concentration and urgency maintained at a high level. Bruckner's early overture receives a highly committed, energetic reading, and in her Litolff item Irene Scharrer plays with cheerful vitality. Particularly valuable is the Dvorak rehearsal sequence, which shows Sir Henry's brisk, economical and effective method in preparing a work. He seldom stops the orchestra, but is continually giving instructions and advice over the music as it plays. Only by such methods could he have prepared long Prom programmes with one rehearsal! As it happens, I felt that the Symphonic Variations receive a less than ideal performance, since some of the slower variations are taken too fast, and cry out for more atmosphere and feeling. The same defects tend to recur in the Brahms Haydn Variations, but the reading is certainly taut and well integrated.
Michael Dutton has somehow conjured uniformly excellent sound from some variable and sometimes unpromising source material, and this set is an invaluable addition to our knowledge of a great British musical figure.'