Kubelik's recording of Mahler's Eighth Symphony did not receive too many accolades when it first appeared on LP in 1971. A general lack of excitement was the principal complaint and it would be hard to deny this, especially in view of Solti's high-voltage Decca performance, still the best available recording of this work. Even so, this excellent transfer to CD suggests that there were positive virtues besides the superb balance which the DG engineers provided. Kubelik does not view the work as a blockbuster. I do not know a more persuasive intepretation of Part 1, the ''Veni Creator Spiritus'', where the music's spiritual qualities are not submerged in a welter of hard-driven polyphony. In Part 2 the refinement of the orchestration points clearly to the supreme achievement of Das Lied von der Erde a year or two later. The pity is that the solo singing sounds strained, particularly that of the women, and neither chorus nor orchestra has wholly conquered the massive difficulties. The disc is well indexed—DG seems to lead the field in this very important respect.'