Fritz Reiner & Chicago Symphony Orchestra Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade

TAS Super LP List! Special Merit: Classical
RCA Living Stereo 180g Vinyl LP!
Remastered from the Original Master Tape & Cut at 33 1/3 rpm by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound!
Lacquers Plated by Gary Salstrom & Pressed at QRP!
2015 Stereophile Magazine Record to Die For!
Michael Fremer Rated 10/11 Music, 10/11 Sonics!
RCA Living Stereo Classical LPs - The Gold Standard for Top Quality Orchestral Performance and Sound!
This Scheherazade recording is the jewel in the crown of all RCA recordings from the golden years of stereophony. On February 8, 1960, at Chicago's Orchestra Hall, the RCA technicians made one of the label's best ever classical recordings with a glorious orchestra. Before the actual recording, conductor Fritz Reiner compared previous releases, evaluated orchestral playing and sound in order to arrive at his idea of the ideal Scheherazade interpretation.
Particularly noteworthy among the soloists are concertmaster and violinist Sidney Harth as well as Adolph Herseth with a brilliant performance.
The jewel in the Living Stereo crown. Enchantment awaits within! Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony convey the listener on a magic carpet of Living Stereo sound to mythic Arabia and China, guided by two of Russia's greatest orchestral masters.
This, like the Respighi, is considered one of the very best recordings by Reiner, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and RCA's crew. A disc of supple and sensuous performances, the sound alternately shimmers and stuns with the clarity of its definition and intensity of its climaxes.
"Reiner's reading of Scheherazade is the pinnacle of grace, precision, delicacy, and drama, and it's no wonder it commands the highest prices in the market for used shaded dogs. The late Harry Pearson once told me that he could learn anything he needed to know about an audio component by playing the final movement of this recording... At times, the background is so silent I have to do a double take to verify that the needle is still in the groove and the platter is still turning." - Robert J. Reina, 2015 Stereophile Magazine Record to Die For!
"...The second movement is just ravishing in the beauty of the Chicago's playing and Reiner's romantic approach; there is some staccato triple-tonguing done by trumpeter Adolph Herseth in the fourth movement that should leave you, if not him, breathless. But let it just be said that, after you hear this, no other Scheherazade will ever replace it in your affections." - Harry Pearson, The Absolute Sound, June/July 2007
"This ravishing beauty, originally released in 1960 or fifty three years ago, has been a long-time audiophile classic. It's also considering to be among the finest if not the finest performance on record or any other format... Both the music and the sound are transportive, making this easy to recommend even if you think you don't like 'classical' music. If you're looking for a way 'in' here it is!" - Michael Fremer, Analog Planet, Music 10/11, Sound 10/11

Features:

• 180g Vinyl
• 33rpm
• Remastered from the Original Master Tape by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound
• Lacquers Plated by Gary Salstrom
• Pressed at Quality Record Pressings

Musicians:

• Chicago Symphony Orchestra
• Fritz Reiner, conductor
• Sidney Harth, violin solo

Selections:

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)
Scheherazade
Side A
1. The Sea and Sinbad's Ship
2. The Story of the Kalender Prince
Side B
1. The Young Prince and the Young Princess
2. Festival in Bagdad; The Sea; The Ship Goes to Pieces on a Rock Surmounted by a Bronze Warrior