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Most Solti fans will have these discs - his very first recording ("Egmont") and his very last (Mahler 5) apart - but they are a magnificent bargain for anyone else. The Strauss tone poems have been remastered and come up more glowing and vivid than ever. There are no finer performances of these on disc - or of the Borodin pieces. The thrilling and atmospheric "Rite of Spring" comes over better than ever too. The recording made in Budapest of Kodaly, Bartok and Wiener is all the better for having a Hungarian choir to point the rhythms and they sing with great fervour. The Mahler 5th will come as a surprise to those who know Solti's two previous recordings: it is warmer and more lyrical. Also it is so paced that the symphony makes a logical whole rather than falling into two parts (the first three movements plus the last two). I don't really care for Wagner snippets but there is little wrong with the playing or recording of the VPO; again, Solti's approach is more lyrical than in his comlete 'Ring' cycle.