In No 7 Gamba takes a more urgent approach than does Andrew Penny in his account for Naxos. With weightier orchestral sound, helped by a full, atmospheric Chandos recording, Gamba is even more compelling, though in that first movement the ragtime march halfway through loses some of its grotesquerie at a faster speed. At a more flowing speed in the slow movement Gamba is warmer than Penny, less chilly. One consistent advantage of Gamba's faster speeds is that the extra challenge to the orchestra brings out an element of daring, almost always an advantage in writing that's surreal in its sharp juxtapositions of ideas and mood, with Mahlerian references to popular music. That's specially true of the Giubiloso third movement of No 9. Penny and his Irish players by comparison seem almost too well-behaved, though the transparency of the sound lets you hear the heaviest textures clearly.
The final Mahlerian slow movement of the Ninth is also warmer, weightier and more measured with Gamba than with Penny, though both sustain the slow, spare writing superbly, with Gamba bringing an extra velvety warmth to the final movements of consolation. The Oboe Concerto makes a welcome supplement on that second disc, with Gamba and his excellent soloist, Jennifer Galloway, bringing out the wit and biting jauntiness of earlier Arnold.