in 1962, hmv persuaded barbirolli to return. with the hallé he recorded a sibelius symphony cycle, elgar's second symphony, "falstaff" and "the dream of gerontius", schubert's ninth symphony, vaughan williams's "a london symphony", and works by grieg and delius. with other orchestras, barbirolli recorded a wide range of his repertoire, including many recordings still in the catalogues in 2012. of these, his elgar recordings include the cello concerto with jacqueline du pré, "sea pictures" with janet baker, and orchestral music including the first symphony, "enigma variations" and many of the shorter works. his mahler recordings include the fifth and sixth symphonies (with the new philharmonia) and ninth symphony (with the berlin philharmonic). with the vienna philharmonic, he recorded a brahms symphony cycle, and with daniel barenboim, the two brahms piano concertos. he made three operatic sets for hmv: purcell's "dido and aeneas" with victoria de los ángeles (1966), verdi's "otello" with james mccracken, gwyneth jones and dietrich fischer-dieskau (1969), and a set of "madama butterfly" with renata scotto, carlo bergonzi and rome opera forces that has remained in the catalogues since its first issue in 1967. the impact of the last was such that the head of the rome opera invited him to come and conduct "any opera you care to name with as much rehearsal as you wish." hmv planned to record "die meistersinger" with barbirolli in dresden in 1970, but following the warsaw pact invasion of czechoslovakia in 1968 he refused to conduct in the soviet bloc, and his place was taken by herbert von karajan.