Bond No. 9

Performers: Eileen Farrell (Soprano (Vocal)), Jan Peerce (Tenor (Vocal)), Nan Merriman (Mezzo-Soprano (Vocal)), NBC Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Norman Scott (Bass (Vocal)), Robert Shaw Chorale (Choir, Chorus)

Listeners for whom technical precision is most important will find much to complain about in this performance. Though the Berlin musicians were supreme virtuosos, they still made mistakes in the high-pressure atmosphere; for example, the horn's famous early entrance just before the climax of the slow movement. Those listeners are advised to seek out recordings of the work by Herbert von Karajan , for whom perfection was always the goal. But listeners who come to the Ninth hoping to be stirred may...

Album review: While by no means the only recording one should hear of Vaughan Williams' Ninth Symphony, anyone who knows and loves that ecstatic yet enigmatic work owes it to themselves to hear this recording. Indeed, anyone who knows and loves any of the music on this disc owes it to themselves to hear this recording. The reason, of course, is that the conductor is Leopold Stokowski, one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century and an indefatigable advocate of then-new music, and the orchestra...