Riccardo Chailly's first-rate record of Rossini overtures for Decca appeared on CD in the month when the new medium was launched (400 049-2DH, 3/83), but since then there has been no real competitor. This CD issue is from an analogue, not a digital, original, and cannot quite compare with the Decca issue in brilliance or inner clarity, though in repertory the rivalry is not direct, for only three of the overtures are duplicated: La scala di seta, Il viaggio a Reims and Guillaume Tell. Plainly if Il barbiere is essential, then Muti is to be preferred, but I have to confess that re-hearing these fiercely intense performances, I rather miss the vein of Rossinian humour. La scala di seta at very near the ultimate speed limit sets the pattern, and the Philharmonia respond superbly if with one or two signs of breathlessness from the overpressed oboes. If the Toscanini manner in Rossini overtures is what you prefer, then these performances will delight you.'