Edward Greenfield gave this issue something of a rave review when it first appeared in LP format. He had reservations about the ''languid'' Brahms Hungarian Dance and the Tchaikovsky piece (''turned into a vintage Hollywood plate of soup''). But everywhere else he was very much taken with Stokowski's inimitable flair and found (as do I) the rhythmic verve of the Sousa march irresistible. He noticed also that every repeat is observed in Tales from the Vienna Woods, with the style very relaxed and pointed (very different from the single-sided 78rpm version with the Philadelphia Orchestra, which had no zither and syrupy strings).
Overall this is certainly a remarkable demonstration of the Stokowski charisma, even if the rubato in Chabrier's Espana is rather self-conscious. The glamourous resonance of the acoustic does not yield a great deal to the digital remastering. The brass has a shade more tangibility here, but the analogue character of the sound remains much as it was, although background noise is minimized and certainly not a problem. I fancy the percussion has slightly less tingle now, but the overall effect is very agreeable and suits the conductor's swaggering style.'