Stereo broadcasting was rolled out on R3 from as early as 1962, Stanley, and O.B.s from that date were being recorded in stereo: there's at least one from that year preserved on the BBC legends label (Rozhdestvensky's DSCH4), so there should have been no obvious reason for poor quality in a 1968 broadcast, with six years of practice in hand. If the discs are sourced from a private collector's tape, then there are many more variables which might suggest why the sound is strange: bad reception, poor quality tape or a slow tape-speed, even tape degradation (over forty years, very possible).

It certainly wasn't taped by a member of the audience - the credits to the BBC at the back of the booklet indicate that this is a copy of the broadcast, albeit one that is perhaps not in the best condition after 40 years. Speaking for myself, I didn't find find the sound much of a distraction. What I'm not sure about is whether I prefer this February 1968 broadcast to the one in September 1968. Despite the stage trumpets being out of step with everyone else at the start of the final scene, I find that performance even more involving in some ways.

That's the one. He's just fine, and his name is Connell Byrne.