The Maestro Stokowski conducts Schumann and Haydn - and DAVID THOMPSON listens '... he delivers in spades.'

'Stokowski conducts an Austro-German programme', proclaim the insert and the CD label. Indeed he does, but I cannot imagine that he would ever have chosen to play, in a single concert, a programme so oddly assorted as this. So the rather pompous title is, really, I suspect, a bit of a cover-up for Cala's problems of marketing Stokowski's very varied output on well-filled CDs.

No matter. The Maestro is the point here, and, once again, as with the Brahms / Mendelssohn disc I recently had the pleasure of reviewing, he delivers in spades. These recordings date from 1949-50, but little, if any allowance need be made for this, as the generally good original sound has been lovingly restored, and in no way comes between the listener and some scintillating music-making.

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