This limited-edition, numbered LP Set features original LP front and back covers. The pressings are by OPTIMAL on 180 gsm vinyl stock and lacquers have been cut by Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios. Included in the package is a full-colour booklet in English featuring an essay by Thomas Fine; a paragraph on each recording, setting out the location, the dates, the tapes, the microphones, the engineer, the producer – in fact everything the collector loves to read. The cover art is in the style of the 53CD box set (mentioned above) and is presented in a lift-off rigid LP box (in the style of previous 6LP sets from Decca).

NOTES ON THE RECORDINGS

LP1: Respighi: Roman Festivals; Church Windows
Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Antal Doráti

Roman Festivals and Church Windows were both recorded on November 20, 1954, on the stage of Northrop Auditorium, Minneapolis, using a single Neumann U-47 microphone and a Fairchild full-track quarter-inch tape machine running at 15 inches per second. The orchestra was placed in normal concert set-up and the microphone kept in one position during the recording. First-generation master tape used for CD remastering. The pieces were first released on MG50046.

LP2: Wienerwalzer Paprika
Philharmonia Hungarica, Antal Doráti

The works by Lehár, Kálmán, Dohnányi, Waldteufel, and Lanner, as well as
Village Swallows, were recorded between June 5 and 9, 1958, in the Große Saal of the Wiener Konzerthaus on 3-track half-inch tape, using one Schoeps M201 and two Neumann KM-56 microphones. These waltzes were originally released as SR90190. Voices of Spring was recorded on November 18, 1956, with one Schoeps M201 and two Neumann U-47 microphones, on 3-track half-inch tape, and was a part of SR90008. Aquarellen and Doctrinen waltzes were recorded on December 18, 1957, on 3-track half-inch tape, using one Schoeps M201 and two Neumann KM-56 microphones. Those titles were released on SR90178. Voices of Spring, Aquarellen, and Doctrinen were recorded in Northrop Auditorium in Minneapolis.
LP3: Bloch: Concerti Grossi Nos. 1 & 2
Eastman-Rochester Orchestra, Howard Hanson
The Concerti Grossi Nos. 1 and 2 were recorded on May 5, 1959, and Schelomo on December 16, 1960. All were recorded in the Eastman Theatre, in Rochester, N.Y., using half-inch 3-track tape machines and three Schoeps M201 microphones. The Concerti Grossi were released originally on SR90223; Schelomo, on SR90286.

LP4: Franck: Symphony in D Minor
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Paul Paray
Franck’s Symphony in D Minor was recorded in the Auditorium of Cass Technical High School in Detroit on November 27, 1959, on 3-track half-inch tape using three Schoeps M201 microphones, and was originally released as SR90285.

LP5: Ballet For Band
Eastman Wind Ensemble, Frederick Fennell

All of the works on this LP were recorded in the Eastman Theatre at the
Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., on October 23 and 24, 1959, using
three Schoeps M201 microphones. They were recorded onto 3-track half-inch
tape.

LP6: Paray Conducts Wagner
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Paul Paray