Living Stereo 60 Vol. 2

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Through the decade following 1953, RCA Victor made a wondrous and substantial body of s which have come to be identified with their early stereo release label, Living Stereo. At the beginning of the widespread adoption of stereo audio in the home, Living Stereo offered a widely available range of quality music and performances in high quality sound. An impressive a of these records offer music, performances and audio quality which are still top choices and in many cases, still definitive! In its philosophies, Living Stereo influenced many of the s made since. They were significant in terms of music and sound quality and represent an important part of audiophile history. On October 6, 1953, RCA held experimental stereophonic sessions in New York's Manhattan Center with Leopold Stokowski conducting a group of New York musicians in performances of Enesco's Roumanian Rhapsody No. 1 and the waltz from Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin. There were additional stereo tests in December, again in the Manhattan Center, this time with Pierre Monteux conducting members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In February 1954, RCA made its first commercial stereophonic s, taping the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Charles Munch, in a performance of The Damnation of Faust by Hector Berlioz. This began a practice of simultaneously orchestras with both stereophonic and monaural equipment. Other early stereo s were made by Toscanini and Guido Cantelli respectively, with the NBC Symphony Orchestra; the Boston Pops Orchestra under Arthur Fiedler; and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Fritz Reiner. Initially, RCA used RT-21 quarter-inch tape recorders (which ran at 30 inches per second), wired to mono mixers, with Neumann U-47 cardioid and M-49/50 omnidirectional microphones. Then they switched to an Ampex 300-3 one-half inch machine, running at 15 inches per second (which was later increased to 30 inches per second). These s were initially issued in 1955 on special stereophonic reel-to-reel tapes and then, beginning in 1958, on vinyl LPs with the logo ‘Living Stereo’. Set Contents DISC1-5: Beethoven: Piano Concertos 1-5 Arthur Rubinstein, Symphony of the Air, Josef Krips DISC6: Strauss: Burleske / Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1 Byron Janis, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner DISC7: Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 "Pathetique" Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner DISC8: Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 Boston Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux DISC9: Hovhaness: Mysterious ain / Stravinsky: The Fairy's Kiss Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner DISC10: Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 Gary Graffman, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch DISC11: Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition / Liszt: Paraphrase de concert sur Rigoletto Byron Janis DISC12: Rossini Overtures Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner DISC13: Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (Excerpts) Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner DISC14: Beethoven: Appassionata Sonata, Sonata In D, Op. 10, No. 3 Vladimir Horowitz DISC15: Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 Boston Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux DISC16: Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen / Kindertotenlieder Maureen Forrester, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch DISC17: Beethoven: “Kreutzer” and “Spring” Sonatas Arthur Rubinstein, Henryk Szeryng DISC18: Schubert: Death and the Maiden The Juilliard String Quartet DISC19: Khachaturian: Masquerade Suite / Kabalevsky: The Comedians RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, Kirill Kondin DISC20: Copland: Appalachian Spring / The Tender Land Suite Boston Symphony Orchestra, Aaron Copland DISC21: Bizet: Carmen for Orchestra Morton Gould and His Orchestra DISC22: Reiner conducts Wagner Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner DISC23: Liszt: The Virtuoso Liszt Gary Graffman DISC24: Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 Sviatoslav Richter, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf DISC25: Guilini/Arnold: Guitar Concertos Julian Bream, Melos Ensemble DISC26: Schubert: Piano Sonata in D major Emil Gilels   DISC27: Beethoven: Serenade, Op. 8 / Kodaly: Duo For Violin And Cello Jascha Heifetz, William Primrose, Gregor Piatigorsky DISC28: The Golden Age of English Lute Music Julian Bream DISC29: Beethoven/Schubert: Trios / Bach: Sinfonias Jascha Heifetz, William Primrose, Gregor Piatigorsky DISC30: Grieg: Piano Concerto And Favorite Encores Arthur Rubinstein, Alfred Wallenstein and Orchestra DISC31: My favorite Chopin Van Cliburn DISC32: Saint-Saens: Carnival Of The Animals / Britten: The Young Person’s Guide To The Orchestra Boston Pops Orchestra, Arthur Fiedler DISC33: Chopin: Les Sylphides / Prokofieff: Love For Three Oranges Boston Pops Orchestra, Arthur Fiedler DISC34: Dvorak: Symphony No. 4 Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch DISC35: Mahler: Symphony No. 1 Boston Symphony Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf DISC36: Debussy: Afternoon Of A Faun, Nuages, Fetes, Printemps Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chares Munch DISC37-39: Puccini: Tosca Milanov/ Bjoerling / Warren, Rome Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Erich Leinsdorf DISC40-41: Beethoven: Symphony Nos. 8 + 9 Price / Forrester / Poleri / Tozzi, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch DISC42-43: Berlioz: Romeo and Juliet Elias / Valletti / Tozzi, New England Conservatory Chorus, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch DISC44-46: Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor Peters / Peerce / Tozzi / Maero, Rome Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Erich Leinsdorf DISC47-50: Rossini: The Barber of Seville Merrill / Peters / Tozzi / Corena, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf DISC51-53: Verdi: Otello Vickers / Rysanek / Gobbi, Rome Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Tullio Serafin DISC54-56: Bach: Great Mass in B minor Robert Shaw Chorale and Orchestra, Robert Shaw DISC57-58: Verdi: Requiem Nilsson / Chookasian / Bergonzi / ello, Boston Chorus Pro Musica, Alfred Nash Petterson DISC59-60: Chopin: Nocturnes Arthur Rubinstein