Classical Companion

BBCSO/Boult (1940)
EMI/Warner 9035672 (17CDs)
The Fantasia's second recording, in evocative but not-too-antique mono, swifter and more passionate than Boult's later traversals.

Sinfonia of London/Barbirolli
EMI/Warner 2079922 (2CDs)
An unmissable one-off, slow but fiery and Italianate, in classic Kingsway Hall 1960s stereo which holds up well in remastering.

Bournemouth SO/Silvestri
EMI/Warner 2161462 (2CDs)
The best of the 'outsider' perspectives, making full use of the Winchester Cathedral acoustic without drowning in it.

BBCSO/Davis
Warner 0927495842
Even more than Boult, led with an insider's grasp of the work's particular century-crossing idiom, and superbly played.

RLPO/Manze
Onyx ONYX4212
Another conductor equally at home in both 16th and 20th-century worlds, with a cooler, rapt vision of their encounter.

BPO/Rattle
Euroarts 2059428 (DVD)
Ardent BPO strings and the gilded hall of Prague Castle make an unlikely but persuasive home for the Tallis Fantasia on tour.