Fritz Reiner – Rimsky Korsakov: Scheherazade ( 200g LP)

Label: Analogue Productions – AAPC 2446 (RCA LSC-2446) – AAA 100% Analogue
Mastered By Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound
Limited Edition – Pressed at QRP Quality Record Pressings
This was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only, from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head
2015 Stereophile Magazine Record to Die For!
The Absolute Sound Super Disc List TAS Harry Pearson Super LP List

“…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.”
The Golden Dozen LPs – Harry Pearson, The Absolute Sound
The jewel in the Living Stereo crown. This, like the Respighi, is considered one of the very best LPs by Reiner, the CSO and RCA’s crew. Another Mohr and Layton classic.
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. Sound 10/10 Music 10/10 Michael Fremmer Analogue Planet
“I’ve been listening to test pressings of Analogue Productions’ first reissues of RCA Living Stereo releases and comparing them to original pressings as well as vinyl reissues of the same titles by Classic Records and Chesky Records. … The discs themselves, stamped at Quality Record Pressings – which, like Analogue Productions, is owned by Chad Kassem – surpass in most ways the original shaded dog, Chesky, and Classic editions. … none can match the new version’s black backgrounds and overall instrumental focus. More important, the AP pressing has a transparency, a delicacy and purity of string tone, and dynamic punch that surpass the others – including the original (my copy is a 6S pressing), which though still spectacular, sounds less immediate, as if the orchestra has taken one step back. Even at the climaxes of the most complex crescendos, the AP resissue unmasks low-level details, while brass, woodwinds and massed strings have a delicacy and freedom from congestion that rival what’s hear in concert. The original does those things too, but with less transparency, and with diminished dynamics.” – Michael Fremer, for Stereophile, March 2014
This, like the Respighi, is considered one of the very best recordngs 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.