Composed in 1944–47, Vaughan Williams first planned a piano play-through of his E Minor Symphony on 10 March 1947, but this was postponed until 5 June when Michael Mullinar played the work at the Royal College of Music to a small group of friends including Finzi and Howells. On 30 July 1947, Vaughan Williams asked Boult about arranging a play-through with orchestra: ‘I welcome with great gratitude your idea of run-ning through the Symphony when the parts are ready, which ought to be before Christmas. Then I shall be able to find out whether any or all of it wants rewriting. The O.U.P., quite rightly, I think, do not want to make copies of the score till I am quite sure that it is correct and I cannot do that until I have heard it. So they are refusing all bookings for the present. Therefore, the sooner we get this trial trip through the better.’

The private rehearsal with Boult and BBCSO was duly fixed for 16 December 1947, from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Maida Vale studio. Though Vaughan Williams may have shown Boult the score at an earlier stage, it was only on 20 November 1947 that he wrote to Guthrie Foote at OUP: ‘Could you get into touch with Sir Adrian Boult and ask him when he would like the score?’ The play-through went ahead as planned on 16 December and Ursula Vaughan Williams described how when the composer ‘took the second run-through himself, he found it very hard to conduct. When Adrian followed him for a third play-through, Ralph started marking his score where he wanted to make changes.’

The next day Gwen Beckett wrote to Vaughan Williams about the recording that had been made of the play-through: ‘We sent off to you yesterday afternoon the recording of the Symphony. We enclosed a couple of trailer needles which will be much more suitable for these records than the ordinary steel ones … I do hope you were pleased with the rehearsal. It was a wonderful thrill to be allowed to hear it.’

Vaughan Williams thanked Mrs Beckett for the records on 27 December, but explained that he couldn’t play them: ‘Alas! They are 14” records and my gramophone will only take 12”.