This is vintage Stokowski. I have almost ceased to be astonished at the way early stereo recordings are enhanced by digital remastering on CD, but here is another fine example. Because of the resonance of the acoustic, the sound seems only slightly dated, although the forward balance of wind solos reduces the dynamic range somewhat. But the vividness of the music-making grabs the listener. In Iberia, the languorous evening atmosphere of ''Les parfums de la nuit'' contrasts very strikingly with the sparkle and dash of ''Le matin d'un jour de fete''. The same lush sensuality pervades the Rapsodie espagnole, where Stokowski lilts the ''Malaguena'' and ''Habanera'' rhytms seductively and then unleashes a blaze of colour in the ''Feria'' (though neither here nor in the finale of Iberia is the excitement allowed to detract from the conductor's rhythmic control).
The set of Nocturnes, however, is the highlight of the disc. The gently translucent textures of ''Nuages'' are ravishing, with rapturous string timbre, yet the sentience never going over the top. The balmy mood of ''Sirenes'' is prevented from seeming soporific by the gently directed forward flow. ''Fetes'' is marvellous, with the famous processional given the feeling of a dreamlike vision, almost sinister in its distancing at the opening and the expansive climax exultant, with the delicate tracery of the close deliciously articulated. Perhaps the choral singing in the final section could have been more ethereal, but Stokowski's warmth overlays the physical sound. The Alborada glitters, its rhythms precise but exhilarating. Here the range of dynamic is not so wide as on some more modern recordings, but the frequency spectrum and detail of the sound remain impressive and there is plenty of body. The programme is generous, but I must carp that no cues are provided for the last movement of Iberia, nor for the last three sections of the Rapsodie espagnole.'