Here it comes! Two years after my euphoric reception of Sony Classical’s mega-box of mono recordings by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra comes news of the first installment of presumably multiple boxes of the partnership’s legendary stereo recordings.
Of course, now we’re getting into duplication territory, as a fair number of these have been reissued countless times and form the core of the Ormandy/Philadelphia legacy. HOWEVER, they will all be remastered, presumably (if following the blueprint of the earlier set) individually filed in sleeves reproducing the original album notes and cover art, and interleaved with a number of dimly-recollected curiosities from the LP era, some of them never revived in any form.
Release date: November 17. I placed my pre-order earlier this week. You can shop around for the lowest price. I’m locked in at $170, and for 88 CDs and the luxury packaging, I consider it a steal.
I’m projecting there will be four of these boxes in all: the mono set, this stereo release of recordings from 1958-1963, a second stereo set covering 1964-1968, and a stereo set embracing the later RCA years. Last year, there was an Ormandy/Minneapolis set of mono recordings predating his Philadelphia years. I already have a fair amount of that material, but it’s only 11 CDs, so maybe I should take a closer look to be sure it’s not something else I should invest in. But it’s really Philadelphia I want. Including maybe a Robin Hood Dell set!
In case you missed it, here’s my enthusiastic reception of the “Eugene Ormandy: The Columbia Legacy” boxed set from May 2020.
The actual press release on Sony Classical’s website is cut-and-pasted with no paragraph breaks and no indication of the actual disc-by-disc content. Here’s a better indication from a secondary source. Still, no mention of the soloists.
https://www.importcds.com/eugene-ormandy-and-philadelphia-orch-columbia-coll/194399774328
Okay, Sony, so maybe you’re not the best when it comes to promoting your reissues. Just keep producing sets of the quality of the original Ormandy box, and you can keep taking my money!
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