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I am going to play all my RCA Living Stereo LPs...

This thread always seems to die...

...on a Rubinstein piano concerto:

LSC-2265_zpsd3091e60.jpg


This particular LP is an egregious example of the way Rubinstein demanded the star treatment. He was indeed a star, fair enough, but the recording suffers for it. The orchestral sound is strangely remote, and reminds me of many early 50s monos, while the piano sound is loud and up-front. The playing is actually not bad, but I like the Andante Spinato better than the concerto.

I now have more time, so will try to keep the thread up. However, I am also away more often, so there may be breaks of 3-5 days when I don't have much computer access.
 
You're welcome! Here's another....

....the re-recording that caused LSC-1817 to go out of print:

LSC-2267_zpsf804f671.jpg


If you'd never heard LSC-1817, you'd say that this was a great-sounding record. The music that was spread out over two sides on the first recording is here presented on a single side, with the Khachaturian piece on side B. The performance is a bit on the whipped-up side, but it's really hard to overdo this sort of music.

The micro-dynamics are very good indeed, but it lacks the huge soundstage and incredible depth of the first issue. The extremes of the frequency range are also a bit attenuated, and the bass drum does not have the real punch it had before.

However, unlike the rare earlier performance, this is a very inexpensive Living Stereo. They sold a lot of copies, and this is one of the most common shaded dogs. Even on eBay, it's usually $5-15.
 
I picked up a couple of Living Stereo titles last week. Peer Gynt/Oslo Philharmonic and a Scheherazade/Reiner.
The Peer Gynt is a Camden reissue, but the Scheherazade is a shaded dog, 4S pressing.
I take it the 1S pressings are the most desirable?
 
KrisM said:
I picked up a couple of Living Stereo titles last week. Peer Gynt/Oslo Philharmonic and a Scheherazade/Reiner.
The Peer Gynt is a Camden reissue, but the Scheherazade is a shaded dog, 4S pressing.
I take it the 1S pressings are the most desirable?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Knowledgeable collectors know which pressings are the best-sounding, and go for those. For example, I note on page 9 of this thread that the best-sounding LSC-2201 is the 23S/23S. I will continue to mention such things where they are relevant and I have a good handle on them.
 
vinyl1 said:
Not necessarily. Knowledgeable collectors know which pressings are the best-sounding, and go for those. For example, I note on page 9 of this thread that the best-sounding LSC-2201 is the 23S/23S. I will continue to mention such things where they are relevant and I have a good handle on them.
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks.

I'm not knowledgeable enough to go for certain pressings. I just grab what I see at the thrifts.:D

I am curious, though, and like to learn.
And although I buy to listen, not collect or sell, I do want to know if I come across a high(er) dollar album.
 
I am really enjoying and learning a lot from this thread! I work for a used book and record store and I have access to a few thousand classical LPs where the owner has given me the run of the aisles so to speak. Thank you vinyl1 for starting and keeping this thread going. I have a lot of listening to do!
 
OK, I'm back in New York for a couple of days

....so here's a couple more. First, an organ recital:
LSC-2268_zps1563a084.jpg


My copy is only a white dog, but I can report that this LP has fine timbre and excellent performances. Fox is not at all flashy - I guess this must be from the pre-Filmore era. As Valin notes, there is no really deep bass, which is what you would expect on a golden age record. The cutters they used then were down about 3 dB at 35 Hz, but at least the tapes were fresh, and what you do hear is very fine. This was never reissued, and is not expensive when found.
 
And now for another Fiedler

LSC-2270_zpsdca68163.jpg


They are starting to get a bit less classical, with film music, a fluffy waltz, and a Sousa march on side 1. However, side 2 does have some nice classical pieces.

As is usual on Boston Pops records, the sound is very good, and Fiedler turns in excellent performances. These records are common and can be dirt cheap, so you should pick them up when you see them. My copy is noisy, I have to see if I can find a better one.
 
And now for something a little more serious...

....although not to my taste:

LSC-2271_zpsc57d28b2.jpg


This is a reasonable-sounding RCA, with snappy dynamics and good tone colors. But I never really cared for gimmicky 20th century French orchestral music, which this is.

You may not recognize the pianist - she's Charles Munch's wife. This is a time-honored way to get a recording contract, and she's not a bad player.

Both my copies are 5S/5S, which seems to be the only game in town.
 
Now for one I really do like!

LSC-2272_zps4fd38939.jpg


There are some composers that just speak your language. My favorite composers are Mozart, Mahler and Prokofiev. This is a fine performance of a great symphony, recorded in great sound by the Decca recording team. The PCO could be mediocre if the top players didn't show up, but the quality of the brass and woodwind playing indicates that the appropriate bribes must have been paid.

This one never had an audiophile reissue, but if you want a cheap copy there is a very nice Decca Ace of Diamonds/London Stereo Treasury pressing.
 
I was going to discontinue this thread until

....until I got my Basis repaired, but my temporary turntable sounds so good after having the Van den Hul installed, I have decided to continue. (See thread http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=623207).

So I fired up the latest number:

LSC-2273_zps26bdae06.jpg


This is only a moderately good Living Stereo. The sound is nice but not spectacular, and the performance is definitely old-school. At least they sung it in German!

When I listen to a Bach cantata, I want either an authentic performance, or good singing, or both. Listening to singers like Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau or Max von Egmond sing this Bach can be a treat. The cantatas here are all straight choral work, with very little opportunity for individual singers to shine, which is probably just as well.
 
Great thread. I recently started collecting Living Stereo, Red Seal and Mercury Living Presence Lp's. I have a few that you have shown and hope to get many more.

I do the rounds at the thrift shops and have several local record dealers on the lookout for these records and they call me from time to time. Some times I get lucky and find one for 50 cents but most are more, some much more.
 
And now for one

...that really is great:

LSC-2274_zpsba935cdc.jpg


This is what we look for in Living Stereos; a top performance, dynamics, good bass, and a big soundstage. The sound jumps out of the speakers, and there is plenty of detail. Munch gives an excellent performance, and since the soloist is not Rubinstein, the piano is the correct size and volume relative to the orchestra.

Never reissued by any audiophile label, this LP is well worth picking up if you see it.
 
A gaping gulf discovered....

....in my collection! The next four titles are missing. They are:

LSC-2275, Brahms-Schumann Recital, Maureen Forrester
LSC-2276, Brailowsky Encores
LSC-2279, A Program of Song, Leontyne Price
LSC-2280, The Art of Song, Cesare Valletti

This is probably the largest gap I've got. I don't care too much about the song-recital discs, but would love to get a good copy of the Brailowsky; unfortunately, it's quite rare and expensive.

So this thread will just go on to the next Living Stereos I do have. First, though, I have to round up the next batch and take the pictures.
 
vinyl1 said:
...that really is great:

LSC-2274_zpsba935cdc.jpg


This is what we look for in Living Stereos; a top performance, dynamics, good bass, and a big soundstage. The sound jumps out of the speakers, and there is plenty of detail. Munch gives an excellent performance, and since the soloist is not Rubinstein, the piano is the correct size and volume relative to the orchestra.

Never reissued by any audiophile label, this LP is well worth picking up if you see it.
Click to expand...


I'll on the lookout for that album! :thmbsp: I need to spin some of my Living Stereo albums, been awhile!
 
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