One of the most acclaimed musicians of his era, Toscanini was a conductor of the "old school" - aristocratic, perfectionistic and something of an autocrat on the podium. After a brief flurry of interest in Fascism in the 1910s, he rapidly became disillusioned with the movement and indeed became a personal rival of Mussolini, repeatedly antagonising him through acts of artistic defiance such as refusals to open concerts with the Fascist anthem Giovinezza.

This is a live recording, made at a pair of concerts in May, and ‘live’ is undoubtedly the word for it. All the performances have an improvisatory quality, interpretative decisions seemingly made before your very ears. At the beginning of the Prokofiev it is as though Mutter and Orkis, realising that the audience in the Beethovensaal are already uncommonly silent and attentive, had decided after a quick glance at each other to begin the Sonata almost confidingly, with quiet tenderness and muted colour.

On this disc of Brazil-inspired orchestral works, we hear Respighi's Impressioni brasiliane, in which he communicates his impressions of a summer spent in Rio de Janeiro in 1927. It is similar to though smaller-scaled than his famed Roman symphonic triptych. Respighi’s greatness as an orchestrator is also evident in La Boutique fantasque (1918), originally composed for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, and based on piano pieces by Rossini.