While not for one moment relinquishing my admiration of or gratitude to the late Bryden Thomson's Bax recordings, this Lyrita reissue is most welcome. Neither of Thomson's recordings of the two symphonies is quite so generously coupled, for one thing, and the coupling of Bax's first and last symphonic thoughts makes a good deal of sense. Both recordings still sound very well, and both performances are excellent, solving the 'finale problem' not quite as convincingly as Thomson in the case of Fredman's First, a shade more so than Thomson in that of Leppard's Seventh. In fact if this were a comparative review I'm not at all sure that I wouldn't prefer Leppard to Thomson in the Seventh, while in the First you could argue that Fredman is as successful as Thomson in those parts of the First in which it is possible for a conductor to succeed: the malign power of his first movement and the powerful eloquence of his second are both very impressive. But returning to Leppard's Seventh, with the almost Elgarian breadth that he draws from the theme of its finale's variations, was an even more absorbing experience. If Thomson finds rather more variety, more ambiguity in the earlier movements it is Leppard who can persuade you that the finale has a touch of real nobility to it, and that it is a satisfying conclusion after all.'