AllMusic Guide’s James Manheim gives a Four-Star Rating to Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony’s One Movement Symphonies recording:
“the engineering here, from Kansas City’s Helzberg Hall, is more than enough reason to check out this recording. Stern chooses three works that, in addition to fulfilling the condition of the One Movement Symphonies title, have seriously complex textures that challenge an engineer to the maximum. Even listeners quite familiar with the Sibelius Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 105, and Scriabin’s Le poème de l’extase, Op. 54, are going to hear marvelous little details like the small motives that kick Sibelius’ organic evolution, or the organ that underlies Scriabin’s shimmering evocations of ecstasy. The Barber First Symphony (In One Movement), Op. 9, is an early work not often played, and Stern and Johnson unpack its busy brass writing effectively. … The Kansas City Symphony musicians, as elsewhere in this series, play for all they are worth, and lovers of early 20th century orchestral music will find this a stimulating item. For audiophiles, it’s a must.”
—James Manheim, AllMusic