Thank you for the recommendations, people. I think I'll pick up the Previn set, which is diabolically cheap from the Amazon (but, of course, over triple the price if bought from one's local purveyor of Compact Discs). The set I had listened to previously was the Haitink - it must have been just after its release in 2004. I have just now discovered it rather inexplicably on my iPod. I'm three movements into the 6th Symphony at the moment, and at first listen I'm inclined to agree with Ron about Haitink - it's rather bland. You can sort of hear that there's more there to be explored, but he just doesn't. I frequently have this problem with Haitink, though, so maybe I'm just projecting past experiences...

I don't think you can go far wrong with the RCA Previn set, Robert, for the reasons Ron has outlined. The criticism of Haitink's "tendency to relate everything to a central European tradition" is a perceptive one, though maybe that will have some impact in making RVW better known in Europe? I find it encouraging that of the four modern post-Boult cycles available, 2.8 of them are by foreign conductors (Bakels being at the helm for four out of five of the BSO Naxos discs). I don't have the Naxos set (I'm sure it's only a matter of time) but have heard good things about it.

The likelihood of Chandos completing the Hickox cycle with the LSO is some way off, I'm afraid. I had an email from them today advising that there's little prospect of No.9 or the Sinfonia Antartica being recorded in the 2008/9 season, due to cost considerations. They have investigated alternatives (I had wondered if they had made any plans to tape live performances with the Philharmonia) but they still wish to record them with the LSO.

I did too, I had Boult's 4 and 6 on a tape ripped off from a library LP. Then I bought his Sinfonia Antartica on an Ace of Clubs LP. When I got a CD player, among the first CDs I bought were Boult's 4 & 6 (dating from '68/'67) and the nice Mr Preview's 7 & 8 - but I've only ever got to know 4, 6 and 7. I don't really know the rest at all - even 8. However I've borrowed Boult's 8 & 9 dating from '68/'69 from a library and also a score for 8, so I've just been listening to it in an attempt to get to know it. I'll have another go with my own CD later. I got lost near the end of the first movement (around figure 17) so I had to rewind and try to work out what was happening.

I stand in awe of Ron's list of recordings of 5

I listened to the 8th last night - I have it on a BBC Legends Stokowski issue coupled with Shostakovich 5 - and enjoyed it very much.

In O Thou Transcendent, Ursula VW told how she told RVW she had never heard Turandot, so they went to Covent Garden to hear it.  RVW was so entranced by the gongs, he put them in No 8.  Ursula said orchestral managers have been cursing her ever since, as gongs are so expensive to hire.

In my artless Japanese way, I was suddenly reminded with all those gongs and xylophones of Messaien.

And for the Ping, Pang and Pong scenes, who could blame him?

I know I'll be screamed down on this one, but for me it's the least essential of all the complete cycles so far. They're teflon coated performances which fail to stick in the memory, and betray precious little intervention from the conductor: you get the notes on the page, but little sense of what's behind them: time and again he just misses moments which others make memorable. When he first started the cycle, I read an article in which he berated Barbirolli for 'stopping to smell the flowers along the way': well, that approach works for me: with Davis I wonder sometimes if he even knows the flowers are there - he certainly doesn't acknowledge them. It's a huge disappointment.

The one complete cycle that's out of the catalogue at the moment is Slatkin's, which is a pity: he has far more idea of what the music's all about, and it's altogether better recorded. For all that I find it unidiomatic, even the Haitink's a better bet than Davis. Previn or/(preferably) and Handley will tell you much more about the cycle, after which single issues by others would be better investments. I have the Davis for completeness' sake and because it was cheap, but it's never even fifth choice if I want an RVW symphony.