As DSG observes in his notes for the generously full Biddulph compilation, Koussevitzky’s 1945 world premiere recording of the Appalachian Spring Suite is not without its attendant quirks, not least some surprisingly suspect ensemble: for example, Koussevitzky’s frisky launching of the Bride’s solo (track 5 on Biddulph, or from 13'14'' into track 1 on the Dutton CD) momentarily seems to catch his incomparable Boston strings quite unawares. But any such minor reservations are swept aside by the abundant character and glowing serenity of Koussevitzky’s direction (the coda is almost unbearably moving). Mark Obert-Thorn’s restoration for Biddulph is truthful and uncomplicated. Mike Dutton’s rival transfer yields both a quieter background and a greater dynamic range, but there’s also a curious hollowness about the finished article, allied to a slightly synthetic feel to the string timbre in any softer music.
The other item common to both reissues is the stirring 1946 account of Lincoln Portrait with Melvyn Douglas as speaker. Again, it’s the Biddulph CD that serves up the more cleanly focused, natural sound picture. Obert-Thorn’s ‘no-frills’ restoration for Biddulph of Koussevitzky’s thrilling world premiere recording from 1940 of Howard Hanson’s dark-hued, very Nordic Third Symphony (an interpretation, suffice to say, of towering grip and inspirational fervour) similarly scores over the new Dutton. Elsewhere, Obert-Thorn’s new transfer of Koussevitzky’s affectionate, atmospheric 1938 recording of El salon Mexico is a marginally more full-bodied yet rather less ‘open’-sounding affair than his own earlier refurbishment for Pearl. Biddulph also give us Koussevitzky’s eloquent 1945 rendering of Randall Thompson’s setting (from two years previously) of words by Thomas Jefferson, The Testament of Freedom (whose opening measures RC once described to me as “Parry with a Stetson”), as well as a couple of Sousa marches, Semper Fidelis and The Stars and Stripes Forever (the latter set down in 1946, the year after Toscanini’s famous NBC account).
Most fans of this legendary partnership will doubtless have already invested in the earlier Biddulph collection mentioned above, containing the Hanson Third as well as music by Faure (three wonderfully affecting numbers from Pelleas et Melisande), Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky and Liadov; for them, this new companion collection will be self-recommending. Dutton’s Essential Archive release does, however, contain some incontestably great music-making and is also most competitively priced.'