Piatigorsky is given the chief billing here, but in fact it is the two conductors who dominate the proceedings. Munch gives a superb account of Don Quixote: if we tend to think of him as a specialist in French music he did of course hail from Strasbourg when it was part of Germany, and later played in the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. His insight into Strauss's music was clearly considerable and all Quixote's adventures are vividly brought to life, with superlative playing from the Bostoners. Piatigorsky played the solo cello part several times under Strauss himself; his performance is tonally very beautiful and deeply affecting—the death of Quixote is portrayed by him in a particularly moving fashion. The orchestra's leader, Richard Burgin, and the viola soloist Joseph de Pasquale also make eloquent contributions within a well-integrated reading. The 1953 sound is very good indeed.
The Brahms Double fares less well. Both soloists are given a forward balance, and the orchestra is also recorded in a fairly close, tight acoustic. These characteristics perhaps tend to exaggerate the fact that Reiner drives the music too hard, choosing hectic tempos which don't allow the music to breathe properly. Within such a tight framework it is difficult for the soloists to blossom, and while they both play beautifully they seem continually to be put under pressure in all three movements by the conductor's clipped phrasing. The result is a somewhat over-loud, coarse, graceless reading of the score.'