RCA Living Stereo Collection - Box Set 60CDs

Label : RCA
Format : Flac (image + cue)
Cover : Yes

This 60-disc box set contains 60 original ‘Living Stereo’ recordings

This is the first time a comprehensive collection of these iconic recordings has been created.

Each album comes complete with its original LP artwork.

An extensive booklet is included with the liner notes from each original album.

Includes recordings by such great artists as Jascha Heifetz, Charles Munch, Fritz Reiner, Julian Bream, Leontyne Price and Arthur Rubinstein

LIVING STEREO – THE 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 recordings, taping the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Charles Münch, in a performance of The Damnation of Faust by Hector Berlioz. This began a practice of simultaneously recording orchestras with both stereophonic and monaural equipment. Other early stereo recordings 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 recordings 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’. Sony Music and successor companies have continued to reissue these recordings on CD. Another 1953 project for RCA was converting the acoustically superior building Webster Hall into its East Coast recording studio. It operated this studio venue from 1953 to 1968.

01. Sampler
02. Charles Munch. Saint-Saens: Symphony No. 3; Debussy: La Mer; Ibert: Escales
03. Charles Munch. Ravel: Daphnis et Chlo
04. Fritz Reiner. Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra; Ein Heldenleben
05. Fritz Reiner. Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra; Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta; Hungarian Sketches
06. Jascha Heifetz. Beethoven: Violin Concerto; Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto
07. Van Cliburn. Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1; Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2
08. Arthur Fiedler. Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue; Concerto in F; An American in Paris; Variations..
09. Fritz Reiner. Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
10. Leontyne Price. Leontyne Price: Arias
11. Arthur Rubinstein. Chopin: Ballades & Scherzos
12. Pierre Monteux. Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 Pathtique
13. Morton Gould. Brass & Percussion
14. Jascha Heifetz. Sibelius, Prokofiev, Glazunov: Violin Concertos
15. Charles Munch. Berlioz: Requiem 2CD
16. Charles Munch. Berlioz: Requiem 2CD
17. Charles Munch. Ravel: Bolero; La Valse; Rapsodie espagnole; Debussy: Images for Orchestra
18. Gregor Piatigorsky. Dvorak; Walton: Cello Concertos
19. Fritz Reiner. Dvorak: New World Symphony
20. Fritz Reiner. Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade
21. Arthur Rubinstein. Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1
22. Arthur Fiedler. Offenbach: Gat parisienne
23. Van Cliburn. Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3; Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3
24. Arthur Fiedler. Hi-Fi Fiedler
25. Jascha Heifetz. Brahms; Tchaikovsky: Violin Concertos
26. Pierre Monteux. Franck:Symphony in D Minor; Stravinsky: Petrouchka
27. Charles Munch. Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6
28. Charles Munch. Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique; Love Scene From Romeo & Juliet
29. Fritz Reiner. Strauss: Scenes from Elektra & Salome
30. Fritz Reiner. Mahler: Symphony No. 4
31. Arthur Rubinstein. Chopin: Piano Concertos
32. Leopold Stokowsky. Rhapsodies
33. Morton Gould. Copland: Billy The Kid & Rodeo; Grofe: Grand Canyon Suite
34. Anna Moffo. Arias from Faust; La Bohme; Dinorah; Carmen; Turandot; Semiramide; Lakm
35. Fritz Reiner. Respighi: Pines Of Rome; Fountains Of Rome & Debussy: La Mer
36. Fritz Reiner. Vienna
37. Charles Munch. Mendelssohn: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5; Octet: Scherzo
38. Arthur Fiedler. Pops Caviar
39. Arthur Rubinstein. Beethoven: Sonatas (Moonlight; Les Adieux; Pathetique; Appassionata)
40. Jascha Heifetz. Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1; Scottish Fantasy & Vieuxtemps: Violin Concerto No. 5
41. Mario Lanza. Mario! Lanza At His Best; Vagabond King Highlights
42. Virgil Fox. Encores
43. Erich Leinsdorf. Puccini: La Bohme 2CD
44. Erich Leinsdorf. Puccini: La Bohme 2CD
45. Erich Leinsdorf. Puccini: Madama Butterfly
46. Erich Leinsdorf. Puccini: Madama Butterfly
47. Anna Moffo. Verdi: La Traviata 2CD
48. Anna Moffo. Verdi: La Traviata 2CD
49. Jussi Bjorling. Puccini: Turandot 2CD
50. Jussi Bjorling. Puccini: Turandot 2CD
51. Charles Munch. Schubert: Symphonies “The Great” & “Unfinished”
52. Fritz Reiner. Strauss: Don Quixote & Don Juan
53. Jascha Heifetz. Bach: Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor
54. Julian Bream. Popular Classics for Spanish Guitar
55. Leontyne Price. Albeniz: Navarra, Iberia; Falla: El amor
56. Arthur Rubinstein. Saint-Saens: Piano Concerto No. 2; Franck: Symphonic Variations;
57. Charles Munch. Berlioz: Harold In Italy; The Roman Carnival Overture; Benvenuto Cellini Overture
58. Fritz Reiner. Mahler: Das Lied Von Der Erde
59. Fritz Reiner. Strauss: Symphonia Domestica; Suite From Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
60. Van Cliburn. Schumann: Piano Concerto In A minor; Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5, Op. 73 “Emperor”