THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA
THE MAGNIFICENT SOUND OF THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA
Original 1962 double album liner notes
The Magnificent Sound of THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA
EUGENE ORMANDY Conducting
A Request Program of All-Time Favorites
Side 1
1. Bizet: LES TORÉADORS
from “Carmen Suite”
2. Liszt: HUNGARIAN RHAPSODY NO. 2
3. Borodin: POLOVTSIAN DANCE NO. 2
from “Prince Igor”
4. Tchaikovsky: WALTZ
from “Sleeping Beauty”
5. Bach: AIR ON THE G STRING
Side 2
1. Saint-Saens: DANSE MACABRE
2. Johann Strauss: VOICES OF SPRING
3. Grieg: ANITRA’S DANCE
from “Peer Gynt Suite No. 1”
4. Tchaikovsky: WALTZ
from “Swan Lake”
Side 3
1. Glinka: RUSSLAN AND LUDMILLA OVERTURE
2. Handel: AIR
from “Water Music Suite”
3. DeBussey: PRELUDE TO THE AFTERNOON OF A FAUN
Flute solo: William Kincaid
4. Ravel: ALBORADA DEL GRACIOSO
Side 4
1. Sibelius: THE SWAN OF TUONELA
Solo English horn: Louis Rosenblatt
2. Bach: TOCCATA AND FUGUE IN D MINOR
3. Berlioz: MARCH TO THE SCAFFOLD
from “Symphonie Fantastique”
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RECORDING THE PHILADELPHIA SOUND!
Magnificent in Monaural / Stunning in Stereo
The famous Philadelphia sound, a wonder to hear in actual performance, is unforgettably thrilling on Columbia Masterworks.
To capture the full glory of the Philadelphia sound, before recording begins, highly trained sound engineers arrange microphones at the most advantageous positions. Delicate balances between orchestral choirs are finely adjusted. During the recording, a musician – who is also an expert in high fidelity sound techniques – guides skilled engineers to “pull in the winds,” “hold the brass,” in various passages.
Modern high fidelity and stereo* recording techniques often reveal details of music seldom heard in the concert hall. Columbia’s multi-microphone technique enables you to hear what the microphones hear in the recording studio, as though you were present and, miraculously, able to sit in many different seats simultaneously. The entire range of the Philadelphia’s glorious sound – from bass drum and tympani to piccolo and triangle – is heard clearly and distinctly. Even when the orchestra is playing loudly, you can catch details of wind and brass playing as well as if you were sitting in the best seat of the house. And with Columbia Masterworks Records – you are!
* stereo recording – with multiple sound channels – spreads the entire orchestra across your living room. The tone color of each choir takes on added, rounded richness. You hear choirs on the left conversing with choirs on the right. You hear instruments coming from different directions – as you hear them in the concert hall.
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THE MAN BEHIND THE SOUND!
“Eugene Ormandy has a fine ear, and he knows what he wants. He wants beauty of sound and virtuosity of execution, both of them at the service of music in complete humility. His achievement toward this ideal with The Philadelphia Orchestra is one of the notable achievements in contemporary music making. It cannot fail to leave its mark on orchestral standards.”
– Virgil Thomson
N.Y. Herald Tribune
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The fabulous sound of The Philadelphia Orchestra was honed to perfection by two great conductors – Leopold Stokowski and Eugene Ormandy. Both have a rare understanding of stringed instruments, unique among conductors.
The magnificent sweep and velvet texture of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s strings have resulted from Maestro Ormandy’s intimate knowledge of string technique, gained from his own early career as a violin virtuoso. Of course, the strings are not all that is outstanding about The Philadelphia Orchestra. Maestro Ormandy gives much credit to the brilliance of all the first-chair men – “the diamonds in my necklace,” as he calls them.
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s triumphant tours of the United States and Europe and an imposing list of Columbia Masterworks recordings, continue to captivate and delight millions of connoisseurs all over the world.
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WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:
“For sheer opulence and elegance of tonal color, no orchestral aggregation anywhere sounds like Ormandy and his Philadelphians.” – Newsweek
“This orchestra is now the most beautiful, finished and polite orchestra in the land; therefore in the world.” – Downes / N.Y. Times
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WHAT THE CONDUCTORS SAID:
“His orchestra needs no rehearsal.” – Arturo Toscanini
“The greatest orchestra in the world.” – Sergei Rachmaninoff
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This Columbia Stereo Fidelity Recording Is Designed For Use On 33 1/3 RPM Stereophonic Reproducers.
UNBREAKABLE
STEREO FIDELITY
COLUMBIA MASTERWORKS (Lp)
CBS
© Columbia Records 1962. All Rights Reserved. ® “Columbia” Marcas Reg. Printed in U.S.A.
MONAURAL PHM 1
Also available in Stereo – PHS 1 