The 90s was a great time for buying vinyl and classical records were everywhere, for not a lot of money. I certainly found the bulk of my RCA and Mercury collection. I wish I had picked up more London/Decca and EMI records then, but have a modest number of those now. The Absolute Sound, Jonathan Valin’s book, and the Classic Records reissues, had greatly helped inform and guide my efforts in seeking out these great series of recordings.
Hi Ross! I think you and I were on the same path during that era. I've been sorting my vault of thrift store classical and I'm amazed at what I was able to acquire for a dollar or two each. I have multiples of so many! I have to start cleaning the duplicates and narrowing down to one or two of the best.
Great to see this kind of initiative to educate Americans in the basics of European Classical Music ... Moreover, Rachmaninov is a good first step since he spent a significant part of his life as a performing piano virtuoso in the US ... Please also think of Dvorak who spent several years of his creative career in the US, resulting in his lovely "American Suite" and culminating in his famous "New World" Symphony, premiered in New York at Carnegie Hall in 1893 ...
Thanks for your comment! In a way, the Readers Digest program was really just that - getting high quality classical recordings into the hands of people that may not have had the prior exposure to it. The subscription base of Readers Digest magazine was huge, so it really worked out well. The fact that the recordings can stand with the best is icing on the cake.
It really is, but I've only seen it one time - this copy in the video. I'm sure they are out there, but as I mentioned previously, the Pickwick Quintessence Series has every recording in this set, and they are done very well - beautifully mastered and pressed on virgin vinyl. These can be had for under $10 dollars. Chesky did them too, but they will be more. Hope you get ahold of one of these options. Earl Wild is otherworldly. Magnificent. The sound is fabulous.
I'm really rather surprised that Pickwick put out anything good. My experiences with Pickwick releases have not been good. It's good to hear that they got something right if even just this Rachmaninoff set. @@ThePressingMatters
@@audiophileman7047 Yes it is surprising but it was an audiophile approach - I'm looking at some now in addition to the Rachmaninoff, I have Horenstein Brahms Sym 1, Grieg and Liszt Piano Concertos with Leibowitz and Earl Wild, Romeo and Juliet suites with Boult and Dorati, Bizet Symphony in C and Tchaikovsky Francesca with Munch, Franck Symphony in D with Boult, Respighi Pines and Fountains with Freccia... on and on. All the recordings you want. They even did a reissue of the RCA Power of the Orchestra!
@@ThePressingMatters Yes, Shostakovich please! Also, Thanks again for "What's Going On" with the clicks on Mercy Mercy Me. I thought I was the only one..! And, I gave you a nice shout out/recognition last week on chapter 4: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uQluFC4Rf-M.html
I know this series is a few years old, but it seems you do respond to later comments. I've only recently found your channel and am enjoying catching up on these old classical labels episodes. The other day I picked up a box set from the Time Life Records series called The Story of Great Music: The Romantic Era. It has a slide out box like the Reader's Digest boxes, with a slim booklet A Listener's Guide to the Records and a larger booklet with a history of the Romantic era filled with nice color paintings! Mendelssohn, Liszt, Chopin, Verdi, Schumann, and Berlioz. It's also in excellent condition. I haven't had time to listen to any of it, but I also have a set of 10 Time Life cds I bought in the 90's called Classical Favorites. Great works performed by great conductors and soloists. I believe it was a monthly mail order series. Are you familiar with this lp series, and was it as well known as the Readers Digest? Thanks for all these videos on Living Stereo, Mercury Living Presence and this current one. It's great to see someone keeping alive the memory of this era.
So cool you are going back through some of my older content! This was a favorite video at the time. I was very happy with it. It also showed me there was an audience for some classical reviews. I think the Readers Digest recordings are in another level in that they were all done specifically for this series under the guidance of Gerhardt and Wilkinson. The Time Life selections were pulled from many different sources and labels. Pre existing recordings. So I never really took to the series. I tried a few and found I preferred the readers digest approach to the project. Still for people that had no idea where to start and wanted a simple way to be exposed to the classics, the Tome Life records would fit the bill. I see the Readers Digest recordings on the same level as original Decca recording, in other words superb in their own right.
@@ThePressingMatters Yes, I get that. Different concept, but both were good ways to introduce the uninitiated to great music. Thanks so much for the response!
You're welcome, Steve. I have a new one coming up on Reiner's Bartok records for RCA Living Stereo I hope you'll enjoy. Its great to get feedback on the classical videos. Thanks for watching!
Nice review. The RD Rachmaninoff set is very good. There were several Catalog numbers on this set. Do not know what they signify. Have seen some of these sets pressed by Indy and a few pressed by Rockaway. The RD Festival of Light Classical Music set is also quite good, and can be picked up many times inexpensively. The Scheherazade box set is also worth getting but came a bit later.
Thanks I always try for Indianapolis pressings if possible. And yes, festival of light classical music is wonderful and easily available. I'll be doing more on this series as time goes on.
I have a Quintessence LP by Charles Munch and the Royal Philharmonic of Bizet Symphony in C and Tchaikovsky Francesca da Rimini I believe was from that mid '60s Readers Digest classical set. They are both wonderful performances and the Francesca finale has a white hot blazing intensity that really sends those adulterers packing
The Quintessence series is excellent for the most part and the ones from Readers Digest are all Kenneth Wilkinson jobs. I have the original box from Readers Digest, I think that one is on Treasury of Great Music. The Quintessence of it is just as good. I always pick up any Quintessence record.
When I moved to LA in the 90s and started rooting around in used record stores (gosh, what a fabulous time that was for finding minty used records) I noticed these Reader's Digest boxes and eventually curiosity got the better of me and I tried a few. They are indeed fantastic, and it is great that you are featuring them. (One of my favorites is the set of film music with Gerhardt and others conducting, an excellent supplement to his RCA Classic Film series of albums). When I was producing music shows for NPR we recorded Earl Wild at the Newport Music Festival and I became an instant fan. I love those Rachmaninov recordings - my faves along with Byron Janis and Vladimir Ashkenazy. Eagerly looking forward to your next installments!
I recall seeing literally dozens of the Readers Digest Festival Of Light Classical sets and I bought most of the clean ones and did my own shootouts to get the best set. I found sets pressed in different years and at different plants, both Hollywood and Rockaway, as well as Indianapolis. The Indianapolis won out every time. I kept a main copy and a backup and eventually gave away or donated the rest. I was really into that set, it's such a sonic delight and a nice classical primer for casual fans. I'm definitely going to cover that as well. Great comments, so glad you found the video and will be on board with your own stories. Thank you!
@@musiconrecord6724 Thank you! So you discovered the same? I tried them all and I rate Indianapolis first, Rockaway second and Hollywood a distant third. I always try to upgrade a Hollywood. I think it's obvious Indianapolis was considered to be their top record plant. Most every first issue and promo copy was done at the "I" Love all that trivia!
@@ThePressingMatters actually I was thanking you for the tip re. the superiority of the Indianopolis plant - information I will act upon in the future! Yes, the trivia is a lot of fun.....!
Another Reader's Digest / Chesky collaboration worth seeking out is the Sibelius Sym. No.2 with Sir John Barbirolli conducting the RPO from the early 1960's. Perhaps the greatest recording of that symphony ever. I have it on CD but I'm sure the vinyl version is floating around out there in the wild somewhere.
I think that one came fro the Treasury of Great Music set, and I agree, a fantastic performance ame recording. Those Chesky CDs are wonderful. I wish I had held on to them. It's a great catalog to explore for sure.
I have to take a moment to thank you for this video. I'm trying to grow my classical library and was impressed with your review and recommendation of the Rachmaninov box set. I knew I wanted it. I was able to find and order a CHANDOS Classics 2 CD set of these recordings. Earl Wild piano, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Jascha Horenstein. Remastered in 2003. Recording producer Charles Gerhardt, Sound engineer Kenneth Wilkinson, Remastered by Christopher Brooke, recording venue Kingsway Hall, London: May 1965. It is everything you've said it would be. I can't thank you enough. 🙂
Hi Ray, I'm so glad you got something out of this video, and found the exact recordings on CD. I'm sure they sound just as brilliant as the original pressings. Great find. I hope you follow along with the series. It's great to have you here and thank you so much for the encouragement to continue the series!
@@ThePressingMatters Hi Scott, Even though I'm not a vinyl guy, I'm here to learn as much as I can. Thank you for sharing what you know. Anything you can impart is appreciated. I'm a fan now.
@@stereo8893 Sure, it's why I started the channel, just to share what I've discovered and have fun with developing the channel. I'm so glad you're with me. I was so hoping the classical would find an audience and I'm thinking it will grow. Of course I'll cover the rock, jazz, folk, blues and do some equipment reviews and interviews in the future.
Thanks. I did not realize that the Chesky pressings were essentially the same source as the Reader's Digest pressings. Very interesting. I hope you cover the other subscription series of classical records that Fremer speaks so highly of.
@@ThePressingMatters IIRC, yes, Franklin Mint. They produced a few record series. Fremer regards their Classical series as a genuine audiophile bargain, if found in the wild.
@@ivermec-tin666 I have the 50 volume set by Franklin Mint "100 Greatest Recordings of All Time" I think that's what you are speaking of, and I will cover that in a future video. It really is special.
I just started diving into classical music and picked up a few records so far. Looking forward to this new series to help me find some new purchases. Thanks in advance.
It's such a rewarding genre to get into for a number of reasons - the Music foremost of course, but the different interpretations, recording approach, and the fact that demand is low so people and stores are practically giving them away. Even Living Stereo has dropped in price over the years. I'll turn you on to some good stuff!
Thank you! My job in a record store was my favorite job ever! I was probably 17 or 18. Wish I could go back there- that was in "77 or so! I really enjoyed making this video and it started off the classical videos. Hope you stay with me as I make my way through the collection! Thanks for watching!
Really interesting video. I will follow your series from now on. It has mystified me why some people with fantastic Hi-Fi setups neglect classical. Keeping to audiophile pressings of Fleetwood Mac and Alison Krauss is like buying a Maserati and only driving it to the supermarket and back when you could drive it through Alpine vistas and Italian countryside. Classical is such a great way to cut your teeth learning the dos and don’ts of second hand vinyl collecting away from the net as they are still comparatively cheap due to lack of knowledge about the subject. In the UK the early readers digest originals are all from the standard Decca pressing process and deadwax info. I have noticed they sometimes refer to cyclophonic miracle sound which might be dynagroove? The later pressings are German and tend to be more standardised ok but a bit underwhelming. The Lyrita vinyl releases are also great hunting grounds for Kenneth Wilkinson acolytes as he did most of those recordings. I initially focused a bit too much on KW to the exclusion of other recordings and particularly missed out over the years by mainly buying stereo. I’ve become a big fan of Gil Went who did a lot of Ansermets mono recordings in the legendary Victoria Hall venue. The mono versions pick up every creak and shuffling sound of the orchestra and the acoustics and convey this in a way lost in stereo. The mono of Ansermet Ravel Mother Goose suite is extraordinary and a fraction of the eye watering cost of the equivalent age stereo original. Also the dynamics of Ansermets Stravinsky Rite of Spring has such power in mono it’s like the Velvet Underground have just joined the Orchestra of the Suiss Romande!
Hi Simon, welcome to the channel and thank you for your very interesting comment! I too love Kenneth Wilkenson's work and have quite a bit on the London equivalent. I collected a lot of monos too but I haven't given them a fair listen in ages. I guess I'll pull them out for a spin. It really is a shame many current day audiophiles are missing out on classical. As I mentioned, it's ideal to see what your system is doing as far as reproducing space, dynamics, and timbral accuracy. Such a wealth of beautiful music, and the price is right for all but the rarest pressings. I'll be covering my favorites going forward, and I'm glad your with me on this series. I know it wasn't going to be my most watched upload, but I just want to share the treasure I've found in this genre. Great to hear from you and please stay tuned!
Congrats on 4000 Scott!!! Music On Record is another fantastic RU-vid channel that covers classical vinyl. Classical vinyl is massively undervalued - thank you for covering this awesome topic.
Thank you Jason, you've always been wonderfully supportive from day one! So glad you found the idea of this series interesting! I'm very encouraged by the response!
Fantastic video Scott, & Kudos! I love your idea of “Building a Classical library” and this Romantic Rachmaninov 4LP set is a great, great sample on all fronts: - beautiful music (piano & orchestra) - superb performance (J Horenstein/ E Wild/ RPO) - great recording location (the Walthamstow) - last but not the least, the champion of classical music recording, the iconic, legendary Kenneth Wilkinson. Keep it up! P.S. “If you don’t listen to classical/ orchestral music, you don’t know what sound stage is all about.”
Hi David, I really enjoyed doing this video, and I thought it was the perfect kick off for the series. You really can't get much better than this as you know. I'm a huge fan of the Readers Digest Classical Series and will be covering more in the near future. I'm so glad you bother to comment on these videos. The classical ones are not as popular, and the encouragement to continue them by you and a handful of others make it all worthwhile.
Great start and interesting first installment for your classical music series. I think anyone who truly appreciates music and considers himself/herself an audiophile should build a rich physical archival library like the one you’re building here.
Thank you so much, that was my vision for the series, to share my knowledge aquired through putting my collection together. Thanks so much for watching and commenting Wissam!
Rachmaninoff is my #1....I love everything he composed...of course there were many movies in the 1940s which had themes reminiscent of his Piano Concertos!
Certainly near or at the top of my favorites. Yes I am big into vintage movies and so many Hollywood composers borrowed liberally from these concertos. They are perfect for some of these scenes. I'm so glad you enjoyed these first classical videos. The response has been good so far, so I will continue to share my favorites. A couple of audiophile favorites from the golden age of classical coming up next!
@@ThePressingMatters My dad had quite a few of the Readers Digest box sets in the 1950s....my love of music was forged with these releases as well as the great musicals of the time...my obsession began there!!!
If you ever do a best of Karajan video I have a prime recommendation for you. I was browsing on RU-vid and I came across the most beautiful violin solo I've ever heard in my life. It was the Meditation from Thais by Jules Massanet played by Michel Schwalbe the concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic back in the '60s and he plays it like an angel. His phrasing is so eloquent and he takes his time to make it really beautiful. His violin sound glows in that church and he's backed up by the gorgeous Berlin Philharmonic strings with Karajan leading the way. I thought I was in heaven. I was crying. It's incredibly beautiful. Karajan was the master of to the long line and his tempo is perfect. You gotta hear this. It's really special.
@@ThePressingMatters It may sound silly to some, but HI-FI and vinyl is what got me into classical. I figured I would just collect some of the major reissues, but then I got hooked. I now attend concerts and research classical composers/conductors etc. It is also so much fun to compare each label's house sound/ originals vs reissues/ the different sounds of each orchestra. I won't get into specifics until you cover them. It should make for great conversation. I hope others take to these videos, but I feel sorry for their wallets if they do!
@@jivy2 This is exactly what prompted me to get into classical. I wanted to hear what the reviewers were using for their equipment reviews, and I built a list of things to look for. As I grew to love the music I explored those labels I enjoyed, learned more about the artists and started comparing performances. This is an aspect of it which is really unlike any other genre - that you can hear a composition interpreted in dozens of ways. It's been a great ride and I hope some that are curious or on the fence will give it a go. Of course I attend live performances here in Miami. We have the New World Center that fills that need very nicely. An absolutely important aspect is to hear the works live, and get a feel for what real music sounds like.
Back in the '70s when I was a Rose Records rat I could get the budget labels for $3.17 a disc. I got Reiner's Strauss Ein Heldeleben, Bartok Concerto for Orchestra, Bartok Music for Strings Percussion and Celesta snd the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 with Emil Gilels . They were all major Chicago Symphony recordings with Reiner on the RCA Victrola label and they were the best versions of these works at a bargain price. It seems incredible to me now that I could get that much great music for less than $15. I remember when I first played their Ein Heldenleben I had discovered something very special. Coincidentally, Ein Heldenleben was the very first stereo recording the Chicago Symphony made in Orchestra Hall, March 6, 1954, and it's still the best Heldenleben there is. Next March that recording will be 70 years old and it's still the benchmark. I just remembered they also recorded Strauss Dance of the Seven Veils on March 6, 1954. I learned from Norm Pellegrini of WFMT that Dance of the Seven Veils was recorded late at night and it's a wonderful performance. Adolph Herseth principal trumpet said that Reiner had a very clean sound and got the schmaltz just right. Their fantastic Strauss recordings attest to that.
Hi Scott! I was fortunate to be able to put together most of the original Victrola releases by buying up used copies for a few dollars each. I love the matte textures jackets and drawings, the heavy plum label pressings and many are comparable to their full price counterparts. Of course several titles were first releases as well. I believe Ein Heldenleben was a first stereo release on Victrola. Loved reading your observations on this release. I am in complete agreement!
After you do your Stravinsky, some other very accessible classical music that beginners might like on first listen without getting overly complex or unusual: Saint Sáens Symphony 3 Tchaikovsky Symphony 4 Bolero: Ma Mere Loye Rossini Overtures Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto 1 Brahms " " 2 Rhapsody In Blue
That's really difficult to say, but of the two, I think Munch. I'll have to re-evaluate when I have time. I'd say the Fremeux on EMI- Klavier will be in the running too.
@@ThePressingMatters I think they best I ever heard anyone do that piece was Dutoit/Montreal on a public radio performance. There is a free youtube video with Girgiev conducting The Firebird live with his orchestra.. I think it's something really good.
Thanks Scott! I am a new subscriber having done so on Halloween, so Happy Halloween. I stumbled into your wonderful content while surfing RU-vid and looking for Michael's content on "PoetryonPlastic". You know, I like your content alot. It's king of like a chat with a friend (who knows alot about classical audiophile recordings). I did not know anything about the Readers Digest recordings and I was mis-informed on the Quintessence recordings. Thanks for setting me straight on that. I have a few Quintessence recordings somewhere. I will dig them out now. 'Till next time, Rob Grants Pass, OR
Hey Rob, I'm thrilled that you found the channel and chose to subscribe! Thank you for that. I'm also glad to know the classical reviews interest you. As you can imagine, classical doesn't get quite as much attention, so building an audience for this series is slow but steady. Your comment encourages me to keep pursuing it! I'm also very appreciative that you mentioned my approach, the conversational style. I'm most comfortable with that. I tried it once with a script on a teleprompter and it was silly. Best to just be yourself I figure. I'll be doing more on the Readers Digest stuff because it's just an incredible, little known treasure trove of great audiophile sound and top rate performances. If you're thinking of delving into them, one of the best and easiest to find is Festival of Light Classical Music. Absolutely delightful stuff in sound that will wow you. Glad to have you onboard and if you ever have any suggestions on something you'd like to see covered, let me know!
A lot of people who have convinced themselves that classical music is not their cup of tea, have actually enjoyed classical music since they were a child. Many old cartoons used classical music in the background to dramatize or create the mood of the scene. Many Warner Brothers, Looney Tones cartoons etc. were full steam ahead with Rossini or Wagner behind in the background. When some people try to listen to classical music, they think they aren't doing it right. You listen to classical music the same way you listen to any kind of music. The instruments whether individually or in unison create sounds that are pleasing to the ear and take you on a little emotional journey whether its rock band instruments or orchestral instruments. There is much variety in classical music instruments and much variety in the music itself. Tchaikovsky (a great composer to start with) is as different to Stravinsky as Green Day is to The Beatles. Unless you are listening to Waltzes, there is not a continual beat to classical music, but it does have rhythm in its own way. It moves forward and doesn't return back to "hooks" as much as say rock music. RCA once released an LP called Classical Music For People Who Don't Like Classical music. Try some Tchaikovsky Symphonies or Fritz Reiner conducting Scheherazade or his version of Ravel's Pavane For A Dead Princess or Mozart's Jupiter Symphony. It's more complex music, but that doesn't mean you have to think any when listening to it. Don't think at all is best Just listen passively and let it take you somewhere. As the late Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts said of classical music versus jazz and rock, "It's all basically the same really, no matter what type of music."
Agreed, and that's why I'm going to try to start bringing up works that will have appeal to those just getting started with classical music. The second installment, which I'm working on today, will be Stravinsky's Firebird.
@@ThePressingMatters The Stravinsky piece is a nice piece. I have it combined with Petrouchka and for some reason I end up playing Petrouchka more often. For people just getting into classical music Stravinsky's music isn't as accessible and easily understandable as someone like Tchaikovsky or Strauss Waltzes or Prokofiev Lt. Kije, which is very melodic and also has Jazz elements to it. Prokofiev hated Stravinsky's music. They were competitors. Prokofiev once said "Igor Stravinsky never had a good musical idea in his whole life." Ouch! I think Stravinsky is an acquired taste and might not be ideal for beginners. You know your audience best.
@@ThePressingMatters People who are already into classical music will like it. Beginners upon hearing Stravinsky, if they're anything like me when I was a novice, they will likely think his work is extemely weird. I think it took some listening to Bartok as a stepping stone before I could appreciate Igor's music. It was just too darn strange. A friend of mine heard it playing in my bedroom and asked "Isn't that the music from Psycho?" The Hitchcock film. For a long while on the TAS Super Disc list, the recommended Firebird excerpts recording was Stokowski's reading on Capitol Full Dimensional Stereo LP. It was so distant sounding. Maybe it was atmospheric. I think he changed his Firebord choice to Dorati/Mercury if I recall
Yes, they are often incredibly good. I do plan on covering more of them. I really love Festival of Light Classical and Treasury of Great Music to name two. There are many others. Thanks so much for watching this video!
Do you remember those clever cartoons in Stereo Review by Charles Rodrigues? I used to have a subscription back in day and looked forward to them every month along with the record and equipment reviews. They were typical situations that every audiophile could identify with that made them so funny. One cartoon read "Mary you're such a good wife. Not many men have a wife willing to wear the sound absorption smock to soften this hard listening room" and she's wearing this huge, puffy housecoat that looks like an igloo. It was hysterical.. Another cartoon has this woman sitting in a club chair with a zigzag grimace on her face and her husband says to his friend "That's not tape hiss you hear. That's Emma. She hates Bartok". Another classic one is a dog with a painful grimace on his face reaching up to the amplifier to turn down the treble control because he has better high frequency acuity than his master. I just love his imagination. We all need to laugh more. It's good for our mental and physical health. They had a complete collection of all of his Stereo Review cartoons in a book titled "Total Harmonic Distortion" but it's long out of print and is about $150. on Amazon. I'll have to get it through an interlibrary loan. Anyway I just wondered if you remembered those too.
I do remember those, Scott and I'd love to have them all collected. They were very much on point, and so funny! I agree, the dose of humor in our chosen obsession is welcome. Too many take this so seriously. I'm sure outsiders who observe us roll their eyes and laugh at our eccentricities .
Good stuff Scott, lots of detail. May I make a suggestion as you edge past 4k? Your video set up is great but I wonder if it’s time to move the bed out of shot, or move out of shot of the bed? :) Regardless, really looking forward to the rest of the series. Keep it up!
Oh, and the famous Sibelius 2 recording by Barbirolli also issued on Chesky was made at Walthamstow Town Hall too. An innocuous place to produce such magical music.
Thank you, I am hyper aware of that and I want a better background. I don't like the bed in the frame. I love the natural light though. I'll figure something out. How is the image quality and sound? I'm looking into improving those as well.
It's decent by VC standards, but inevitably there's room to up the production value if you're willing as I'm sure you know. An SLR for video would allow you to get the wide aperture and bokeh the likes of 45 RPM gets, plus it would blur the background and you'd get a bit more resolution. Similarly, a more directed mic might up the quality slightly but its perfectly acceptable now I would think. All depends what you want to aim for at the end of the day.
Wow. I have been looking for records the majority of my life and I've never seen that box set. I have heard of it, and when looking through box sets its always been one in the back of my mind that I'd hope to find..There was a guy in Goldmine magazine decades ago that took out a display ad wanting to buy it. His ad was in for a long time as I recall. Great info on it not really sounding Dynagroove. If I would have finally found that set and saw Dynagroove on it, I don't quite know what I would have done. RCA in its LSC 2200 series released a Living Stereo with pianist Byron Janis doing Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #3. Byron Janis recorded the same concerto for Mercury Living Presence as SR 90283. The last 2 numbers being today's date. All the attention and accolades seemed to be with the Mercury title. The RCA was under the radar, and it was actually the one I preferred in performance. Same pianist, but a very different reading. The SR 90283 Mercury LP came in 2 different versions; one with a banner on top with big letters boldly proclaiming it was recorded using 35mm Film, and the more common front cover which doesn't mention anything about 35mm. I think my favorite piano concerto is Brahms #2 with Byron Janis and Eugene Jochum conducting. At least its the one I'm used to over the years. I have it on factory recorded tape. Great video and I'm really glad to see someone doing one on this subject!
I do have both the RCA and Mercury with Janis and they are both wonderful as well. I thought about bringing other versions into the video but decided against that approach and will just concentrate on one version that I think has merit. I had never seen this box when I came across it and haven't seen one since. Discogs does have some but I really lucked out with mine. It was still in shrink and unplayed. I knew of the recordings from the Chesky reissues and had always hoped to find the originals. I'm so glad you liked the video and wish to see the series continue. I attempted this early in the life of the channel but I didn't have much of an audience at that point. I'm hoping this does well, and gets people interested.
@@ThePressingMatters You may or may not get the view numbers if its classical, but the people you do get will be your most grateful viewers. If you think about it, not much classical content on RU-vid. Rock and Pop predominate. The Mercury Living Presence series which HP of TAS proclaimed the greatest series of classical recordings ever, were cut with an Ortofon cutter which has a peak in the upper midrange, which also affects the highs. The factory recorded Mercury reel tapes don't have that Ortofon cutter in their chain of course, and you can really see what HP means. The Mercury reel tapes are amazing, and even some of the Phillips reel tapes are too. Same with Columbias, the reel tapes are not bright and accentuated like the lp's generally are. Too bad a lot of the best performances of the classical repertoire are on labels that weren't as good sounding as Mercury and RCA. You mentioned Pickwick. I always thought of them as in the same category as K-tel. I was stunned to learn that the 2 world record prices for half speed master lp's was paid for several ultra rare Pickwick half speed titles. I never knew they produced any half speed master lp's.
@@sidesup8286 I had no idea they released any half speeds. What on earth were they? I have several of the Mercury and RCA reel tapes, but my tape deck now needs servicing so I haven't heard them in quite some time.
@@ThePressingMatters I was trying to look that up again the other day. I forgot what I punched in to find it the first time, which was long ago. I think they were rock & pop titles. Not jazz or classical. Pickwick changed ownerships a few times. I remember they were sold to American Can Company once. They started releasing different stuff. In their earlier years they even delved into classical. I remember having a Symphonie Fantastique with Antal Dorati conducting on a Pickwick LP.
@@sidesup8286 You really need to check out these Quintessence LPs from Pickwick. They did three classical series - Critic's Choice, Sound Spectaculars and Classics for Joy. They raided the Readers Digest, and RCA vaults first and later on you saw some titles from European labels. They did the famous RCA "The Power of the Orchestra" Around here, they are so cheap, usually $5 it $6 dollars if that.
I might have come upon this series here in latinamerica, though I’m not sure if the text was in english or spanish (Selecciones del Reader’s Digest. Does anyone know if the series ever got pressed in latinamerica ans, if so, where?
I believe I have seen a few of these in Spanish on occasion here in Florida. I think one might have been Festival of Light Classical Music. Im not sure where they were pressed, but the contract was with RCA so maybe it's an import from the US? You'd be able to tell. Early ones have the machine stamped matrix and directly across from it you'll see a letter, usually an I, but perhaps an R. I've also seen some that were hand written but the pressing plant letter is always there if pressed in the US. Hope that helps!
Hi Jason, Mo, I do not have that one. If I'm not mistaken, that would be a collection of previously released RCA recordings and not new original recordings such as this one and most of the early classical sets in this series. I'll investigate and get back to you. These original recordings are very special because of the involvement of Gerhard and engineer Kenneth Wilkinson.
@jasonwhiton174 Yes, this is what makes the Readers Digest recordings so special. They are a complete conception from start to finish. Conductors matched to their specialties, halls and orchestras chosen and the greatest engineer. A class act it was! I'll be covering another of these sets shortly.
Great question! I'm finding improvements in the following areas: Better sense of space between instruments, a wider soundstage and more apparent depth, which I'm sure would improve with tweaking speaker placement. Easier to sense location of instruments and the image is solid. Midrange is clear, slightly warm and detailed. Bass extends a bit lower and detail on bass instruments is vivid. Voices are portrayed very well, It is a big step up from what I was using before. I'll review at some point!
@@ThePressingMatters thanks, my experience was very similar. I think that classic music simply shouldn't be listened with elliptical stylus. It just doesn't pick up all the nuances... Hana SL provides great sound for the money and it is much more noticeable on classic/jazz music than on rock n roll.
