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Many thanks for pointing this out to me. This has always been one of the more problematic of Cantelli records (besides being one of this earliest) but it's nice to hear a transfer that has some space and a certain amount of warmth. The Philharmonia was not a 'severe' orchestra but the R&J can make them sound that way. Like Furtwängler's Bruckner 9 the top and bottom balances are very adrift. DG in Japan came up with the novel idea in the late 1960s of imposing stereo on the Furtwängler and it worked in a peculiar way (only on LP). I've often wondered what this Cantelli R&J would sound like if that was done to it.

I have usually despaired with EMI's transfers of their old 1940s and 1950s recordings - the Cantelli and Karajan/Philharnonia ones being amongst the worst offenders (the Furtwängler/Menuhin Beethoven VC is another). Oddly, the Columbia ALP pressings have been amongst some of my best experiences, especially of the Menuhin recording (although this exists in 'stereo' in Japan). The ALP of the Cantelli R&J was my introduction to this recording - but it has never been matched on a CD.

The tragedy of almost no Cantelli stereo was brought home a few years back when I came across a previously unissued Ravel Daphnis & Chloe excerpt with the Philharmonia that was also done as a test in stereo. It's barely 8 minutes of music but it's astonishing. Cantelli's attention to instrumental colour and balance is just phenomenal in stereo. Celibidache/Stuttgart is quite similar.