1968 ltd Ed of 1000 Prokofiev LEINSDORF Symphony 3 Scythian Suite RCA LSC-2934
£
15
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20
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Description
One of a handful of Classical rarities we have just had in, see our ebay store for more.
PROKOFIEFF/LEINSDORF/ Symphony No.3 Scythian Suite lp RCA LSC-2934, a massively superior sounding Italian luxury limited edition from 1968 in an all valve process pressing, that states Dynagroove but is definitely uncompressed in the manner of a US Dynagroove. This sounds fantastic, has a lined illustrated inner, an insert and 'this issue only' specific Italian artwork to the thick card sleeve, and the record itself is pleasingly thick and flat.
As my 3rd pic shows, this is marked "Edizione speciale stampata in mille esemplari" to both sleeve and insert (Special Edition of 1000 examples pressed).
So, a limited edition of a thousand lps pressed in 1968, and as Artur Salvatore in his extensive overview of great pressings notes of the Revueltas RCA lp "The Italian pressing is a touch better than the American", same applies here. I had an early US of this for years and thought it nothing special sonically, despite the fact that Leinsdorf is noted for his outstanding interpretation of Prokofiev. From the opening bars, this distinct issue lets you know it is out of the ordinary. This is probably the best sounding Prokofiev lp of any of his music I have ever heard. The string tone is mastered more naturally than usual somehow, and the inclusion of Dynagroove on the labels and sleeves is not the case - there is none of the compressed sound of Dynagroove era US RCA's to this (just as with the late 50s and 1960's UK pressed ones, they are fully English mastered by the Decca team from raw master tapes, not the dynagroove masterings - despite a keeping up of appearances of it on the sleeves and labels with those also).
For the performance, a recent cd reissue of the symphonies notes this:
Leinsdorf’s Third stands up well in competition with its contemporaneous rival, Claudio Abbado’s 1969 recording for Decca with the LSO. As in his reading of the Second, Leinsdorf reveals much of the music’s inner workings, making more sense than anyone does of the lead-in to the first movement’s close. Yet when the score calls for full-bodied orchestral swooning, the “Fiery Angel” material revealed, conductor and orchestra are more than equal to the task: take the opening, an orchestral rush of gigantic proportions, soaring violins just about keeping to their high register notes. After securing a real sense of unease in the deliberate tread of the unison harp notes in the Andante, Leinsdorf leads a furiously paced scherzo, violins right on the button, yielding to a deliberate yet effective progression as its final, tonic-note looms. The tricky finale fares well too, a truly gutsy, emphatic blast at the end. This is a difficult work to bring off convincingly on record, yet this version is arguably the most successful."
So here we have the definitive performance on the definitive pressing. The Sony/BMG cd issues are notably poor masterings in nearly all reviews. The Scythian Suite which takes up most of side 2 is not included in any of the Cd reissues I have seen (Sony & Testament). We all know there are big ticket LSC's out there that in reality were pressed in many thousands. There were just the one thousand of these, in a lovely mastering - so if all things were equal this should sell for far more than Witches Brew!.
No marks to playing surfaces, Near Mint condition record, in Near Mint sleeve. Record is not warped, labels are clean with very few spindle marks. Company inner & Insert included.
we send packed in hard card custom made new boxes.
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