RCA LIVING STEREO: Hi-Fi Fiedler - Arthur Fiedler, Boston Pops Orchestra
Album: Hi-Fi Fiedler
Released: 2005
Label: RCA Living Stereo
Catalog N°: 67895
Genre: Classical
File Format: eac_wv_cue_log 377mb, complete scans 27mb, MP3 (LAME) VBR 245 V0 120mb
Label: RCA Living Stereo
Catalog N°: 67895
Genre: Classical
File Format: eac_wv_cue_log 377mb, complete scans 27mb, MP3 (LAME) VBR 245 V0 120mb
On this disc:
01. Rimsky-Korsakov - Le Coq D'Or - King Dodom in his Palace 09:43
02. Rimsky-Korsakov - Le Coq D'Or - King Dodom on the Battlefield 04:45
03. Rimsky-Korsakov - Le Coq D'Or - King Dodom with the Queen of Shemakha 06:59
04. Rimsky-Korsakov - Le Coq D'Or - March 03:39
05. Rossini - William Tell Overture 11:53
06. Tchaikovsky - Marche Slave 09:47
07. Chabrier - Espana 06:27
08. Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 09:38
09. Liszt - Rakoczy March 06:42
RCA Victor began recording in multichannel five years before the introduction of the first single-groove stereo LPs in l958. They began using two-channel 1/4-inch Ampex decks but soon moved up to three-channel 1/2-inch models as the Mercury Living Presence label had been doing from the start. The idea was to provide the mixing engineers with more flexibility in preparing the final master for production. The center channel signal could be raised slightly in level to bring a solo violin or piano more forward, and/or its signal could be mixed in varying amounts into the left and right channels to achieve a more uniform and balanced stereo soundstage. But also at this time things weren’t completely jelled as to stereo being limited to only two channels. Alan Blumlein had never stated in his original patent that only two channels were required. It was just as easy to make tape heads with three channels as two. But the single-groove stereodisc locked the format into two channels - it was quite impossible to get three channels with the 45/45 system of cutting and playback...
Fiedler conducted the Boston Pops for 50 years and became the best-selling conductor in history. His 78rpm disc of the tango Jalousie had been one of the top-selling classical records in history - one million copies. He had a lifelong goal of bringing light classical music to the millions. Perhaps he was celebrated more than was his due, but Fiedler did have a way to bringing life and excitement to just about everything he chose to conduct - and he had a catholic and voracious taste for new works. Never before has the general public had the opportunity to hear these examples of his work as the RCA engineers heard them in the control room - from the original three channel tape playback. The soundstage is deepened and widened. Even a mint vinyl copy of the original pressing on a quality turntable doesn’t equal the impact of this three-channel hi-res digital disc, and it’s only around $10.
