Scheherazade was a key work in Stokowski’s repertoire and one which he recorded five times. But there seems general agreement that the finest was the Decca 1964 Phase 4 Kingsway Hall version reissued here. The LSO was star-studded at that time and as well as the leader, Erich Gruenberg, who plays lusciously – and in Trevor Harvey’s words, proved ‘as seductive a Scheherzade as one could imagine’ – included Neville Marriner (no less) as leader of the second violins, Alex Murray, principal flute, Roger Lord, principal oboe, Gervase de Peyer, principal clarinet, Roger Birnstingl, bassoon (who Stokowski praises in the rehearsal sequence included here), and Barry Tuckwell leading the horns.

It is altogether a superb account, one which generates and sustains great thrust and drama, and offers moments of bewitching solo orchestral playing that stand out from all other discs of the work. Not surprisingly the kernel of the reading is the slow movement, ravishingly played by the strings, while the finale generates all the excitement, sparkle and energy one could wish for.

The snag is the recording, close-miked and vivid, but – as was the wont of the recording director, Tony Amato – over-modulated, with coarse fortissimi which often approach distortion. Still, as the fascinating rehearsal sequences demonstrate, Stokowski approved the sound as well as the playing, so one must accept this, and the adrenalin-laden impact of the music-making is tremendous.

Marche slave was recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall eight years later and is no less charismatic, deeply Russian in feeling, but with an unexpected elegance and charm in the Trio and the utterly delightful coda, in which Stokowski holds back the rush of adrenalin until the thrilling accelerando at the closing section. Again the sound is a bit fierce, but better contained. An indispensable disc.