Although John Barbirolli made several commercial recordings during his seven years as conductor of the Philharmonic- Symphony Orchestra of New York (as the New York Philharmonic was then formally known), the Barbirolli Society offers us a unique oportunity with this issue of an off-the-air recording of a Wagner concert, performed in Carnegie Hall in November 1938. It comes as a valuable reminder of an important period of his career, one moreover which has come to be regarded, superficially and misleadingly, as a failure. The orchestra was immediately won over by Barbirolli’s personality and remained devoted to him. If these tough players – once known as ‘Murder Incorporated’ – had not liked him and respected his musicianship, it would have been impossible for the manager Arthur Judson, within five days of JB’s first concert, to have begun to mention a permanent appointment. On 7 December 1936, after five weeks’ work with the orchestra, the board offered him a three-year contract and this was renewed in 1940 for a further two years, by which time the war was a complicating factor. JB himself was overwhelmed and wrote to his future wife Evelyn Rothwell on 11 December 1936: ‘The orchestra played tonight as something I have dreamed of. . . The emotion of the orchestra at my appointment is something too touching for words. I can’t believe I am worthy of all this.’ The orchestra’s first horn player spoke of ‘the joy’ of making music with Barbirolli.