# Reader's Digest Treasury of Great Music[12 LP]



## R Mulholland

I just bought this collection an hour ago and can't find reviews or much info on line. I'm excited about listening later tonight but was hoping someone has knowledge of this box set. It features The Royal Philharmonic conducted by such legends as Reiner, Munch, Dorati, and many others. It was recorded on RCA label in 1964. Any insight will be appreciated.


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## petrushka1611

Those sets are compilations and reissues, and didn't cost much to begin with. I see similar things at thrift stores all the time. But there's often a lot of good music, and RCA did decent pressings for them. How much did you pay for it, and what's the condition of the LPs?


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## R Mulholland

I paid $8 for the entire set. The albums LOOKED perfect but there is occasional loud distortion in some soft passages. I still feel good about it because I had over 2,000 lps but none were of classical music. My system with a turntable is upstairs and I use Magneplanars with it so it's a good excuse to do some quality listening. The next day I found Horowitz In Television in excellent shape for $1.50. As much as I love my vinyl jazz, the classical cds I have are my general choice over the corresponding lps. The lack of pops and crackles during soft passages is so soothing!


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## twilliam74

*Readers' Digest Treasury of Great Music*

Actually, believe it or not - this was not a set of reissues. I got this set for Christmas back in 1968. The enclosed booklet indicated that these peices were recorded over the same period of time by the Royal Philharmonic with a variety of guest conductors, including Fritz Reiner, Rudolf Kempe, Malcom Sargent, Antal Dorati, Charles Munch, Rene Leibowitz, Sir John Barbabirolli, Georges Pretre - I can't remember the rest.

I do remember that I was enthralled by these recordings. I have no idea how these would stand up in comparison to more recent performances - at the time there was a fair amount of "adjustment" done by the recording engineers after the fact. I do recall that these recordings were "brass heavy", which suited me just fine, since at the time I thought that the the purpose of a symphony orchestra was to simply provide the background for the brass section.

Two of the recordings that stick in my mind were the Brahms Fourth by Reiner and the Sibelius Second by Barbirolli. According to the booklet, Barbirolli's mother had died just shortly prior to his making this recording, but he chose to proceed as a tribute to her.

Thank you for bringing back wonderful memories.


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