{enclose 2009.mystery.01.answer.mp3}

William Walton’s Crown Imperial as performed on November 19, 1969 by the Hallé Orchestra and Trumpteres & Band of the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall conducted by Sir John Barbirolli (the organist is not identified), at Royal Albert Hall. Oddly, the only sources for this recording are mono airchecks; the present one is a correctly pitched version of the same recording issued in CD format on BBC Legends 4100-2.

One preson correctly identified the maestro; none (!) identified the orchestra; two people nailed the venue. Three people guessed Sir Malcolm Sargent and the BBC Symphony; some of the more esoteric conductor guesses included Leonard Bernstein, Constantin Silvestri, André Kostelanetz and Arthur Fiedler.