I don't claim to be an expert on Fried. I'm only making what I believe to be a rather objective statement, which is that Fried allegedly learned his tempo relationships - tempo adjustments from one section to the next - directly from Mahler. Beyond that, I don't get a thing out of the recording due to its incredibly limited sound quality. Sorry, but I just don't. For that reason, I'm not willing to assign a subjective value to it. If it works for you, GREAT, but I would never recommend it to others as a first recording; or their one and only recording of M2. If people are curious enough to get it as a supplement, fine - that makes some sense to me. It certainly doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
Barry