Maazel is an unpredictable conductor. There are places where the expression seems so well cultivated, for example, this Jeux, full of fantasy, light of touch and ideally mobile; yet the ''Danse religieuse'' from Daphnis is distinctly sticky, with overdone swells and slides from the strings at a slow tempo, as is La mer's first violin solo (first movement, fig. 6) from 3'19'' where Maazel halves the pace (Debussy asks for a slight relaxation). Neither this Daphnis nor La mer are treasurable mementos of Maazel's decade at Cleveland; the orchestra's precision and finesse just about carrying the day in effficient, mainly unremarkable accounts of both works. There's a higher order of imagination and expressive subtlety in both Nocturnes and ''Iberia'', with the ladies as a haunting, distant presence in ''Sirenes'' from the former (only flat once, at 8'07''; quite an achievement!), but at mid-price this ''Iberia'' faces stiff competition from Reiner and Munch. Maazel opens with alert rhythms, and a sophistication and elegance that might seem unassailable, though Reiner's 1957 Chicago recording has all those qualities plus wider contrasts of dynamics and pace, and more hall ambience. At Maazel's slow tempo for the holiday festivities of the last movement, there is some very free and vivid characterization, but the Cleveland woodwind don't have much chance to sound spirited from 2'54'' (the marking is gai et fantasque) and the final pages are no match for Reiner's riotous (and unbelievably precise) rejoicing.
There are no technical advantages (aside from slightly reduced tape hiss) to be had here over RCA's sound for Reiner, or in Daphnis, over their 1955 sound for Munch, and Decca's own 1959 sound for Monteux, all infinitely more appealing at mid-price.'