Inscribed to ‘Glorious John with love and admiration from Ralph’‚ Vaughan Williams’s Eighth Symphony received its first play­through in Manchester’s Free Trade Hall in February 1956. In June‚ some six weeks after the first public performance‚ Barbirolli’s memorable première recording with his trusty Hallé was vividly captured for posterity by the visiting Mercury production team. It is a joyous performance that has rightly long been regarded as a cornerstone of both the composer’s and conductor’s discography. True‚ the Hallé strings lack something in silky refinement by the side of‚ say‚ Haitink’s exquisitely pure­toned LPO‚ but Barbirolli’s abundantly characterful conception has far more of a twinkle in its eye than the Dutchman’s (the latter’s Scherzo alla marcia seems positively po­faced by comparison)‚ and the finished article radiates an unstinting enthusiasm and glowing humanity that one encounters all too rarely in the studio. The following year‚ these same artists turned their attention to RVW’s A London Symphony‚ and it’s hard to think of another account (certainly not JB’s own 1967 successor for EMI) that begins to match it for heartfelt spontaneity‚ infectious application and sheer temperament. If Boult’s imperious 1952 Decca version and Handley’s exemplary RLPO remake for Eminence both evince perhaps just that crucial bit extra symphonic fibre‚ neither can quite match Barbirolli’s in terms of devastating emotional candour‚ compassionate warmth and wistful nostalgia. This is a great performance of a great symphony‚ no doubt about it. Mike Dutton’s transfers are the same as those on the 1992 EMI Phoenixa reissue (6/92 – nla); the remasterings have been expertly realized. Quite frankly‚ music­making of such life­enhancing fervour should never be out of the catalogue – speaking of which‚ how about a new lease of life for Barbirolli’s towering Enigma from June 1956 (7/57 – nla)?