The early 1960s were comparatively fallow years in Boult's recording career, but by 1969, when he achieved the age of 80, interest in his art had quickened, and he spent much more time in the studios. While he relished the opportunity to increase his legacy of recordings, he also expressed mild regret that this new activity had not taken place ten years earlier, when he was physically stronger.
The performance of the Tragic Overture indicates what he meant, for in company with Brahms's Third Symphony (EMI CDM7 69203-2, 7/88), this was an unscheduled addition to the end of a taxing programme of sessions during August 1970, and in common with the last two movements of the Third Symphony there is evidence that Boult was not on very best form. The performance is finely conceived and well executed, but the tension is not so high as in the First Symphony, recorded at the beginning of a group of sessions in March 1972. Here Boult's insight and mastery of structure, his surely struck balance between classical objectivity and expressive warmth, make for a richly satisfying performance. The recordings are very good.'