Marriner recorded the Holberg Suite with the Academy at the beginning of the seventies for Argo (ZRG670, 11/70) in a warmly lyrical reading. The new version, undoubtedly spirited, with brisk tempos for the outer movements (and the ''Gavotte-Musette'' also rather fast) I find less appealing. The ''Air'', previously strikingly gracious, is now slightly histrionic. The playing is excellent and the recording fresh and clear, but a little more relaxation would have been acceptable. The two Lyric Pieces are most beautifully played, the music's evocation perfectly caught. Barry Davis provides a memorably cor anglais solo to introduce the first, ''Evening in the mountains'', and is no less eloquent in Sibelius's ''Swan of Tuonela'' and in the haunting central section of the ''Ballade'' from Karelia.
Indeed, it is this splendid cor anglais playing one remembers, for otherwise the ''Ballade'' is a trifle subdued and neither the ''Intermezzo'' nor the ''Alla marcia'' are out of the ordinary; the first sounding rhythmically rather deliberate and the second lacking the exuberant elan that Beecham brought to it. ''The swan of Tuonela'' too, is rather lacking in tension. A disappointing record, though the sound is very good.'