An attractive programme [which] shows off the high quality of the Filarmonica della Scala…the brightness of the strings is offset by the warmth of the horns…and a neatness of attack as well as a general brilliance of tone serve the music well and are in turn finely conveyed through the recording's clarity

Chailly brings a Toscanini-like glamour to this music...It’s all dazzling, but the highlight, for me, is Ponchielli’s Dance of the Hours, immortalised by Disney’s Fantasia. You won’t hear this superb ballet music more stylishly played.

There may be room for improvement here and there in the orchestra, but the recording suggests that most sections are already in fine shape – the brass is particularly impressive in the Boïto extract. Chailly has always been a superb Puccini conductor, and predictably it’s the music of the last decades of the 19th century that shows him at his best here.