This is a very important record for collectors of great orchestral interpretations, in that it reveals aspects of the great Hungarian-born but naturalised American conductor Fritz Reiner which have rarely been made available on disc before. There are two major highlights on this CD – Prokofiev’s ‘Peter and the Wolf’ with the magnificent tenor Lauritz Melchior adopting a new role on disc as narrator, and an early war-time performance of Shostakovich’s epic Sixth Symphony with the Phlharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York. This very well-filled CD is completed by a brilliant performance of Mozart’s ‘Impresario’ Overture, and masterly accounts of the March from Tchaikovsky’s First Orchestral Suite, Debussy’s Fetes from his three Nocturnes and a beautifully transcription by Lucien Caillet of Bach’s ‘Little’ Fugue in G minor – the last three with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Excellent sound.

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