Recently I have begun buying titles in Sony's British Import series "Sir Thomas Beecham: The Original CBS Recordings" and I must say I am enjoying them very much. Virtually all of the CDs in this line feature performances from the early 1950s, but not only are some of them the conductor's best accounts of a given work, many of the selections are pieces TB never even made in stereo. Case in point, these 1951-52 renditions of Beethoven's 6th & 8th Symphonies are the conductor's only studio recordings of these works. Unfortunately, Beecham's Beethoven doesn't match his masterful readings of the late Mozart and Haydn Symphonies, but they are still quite good. The mono sound is of the highest quality and his Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is, as always, first rate. In all, "Sir Thomas Beecham: The Original CBS Recordings" is a delightful series and I look forward to purchasing (and reviewing) more of them.
