The Power Of The Orchestra Leibowitz RCA Living Stereo LP VCS 2659 TAS Disc List

$

40

                                                       The Power Of The Orchestra
                             Moussorgsky - A Night On Bald Mountain /Pictures At An Exhibition
                                                      Royal PhilharmonicOrchestra
                                                       Rene' Leibowitz, Conductor
                                "Living Stereo" RCA Red Seal "shaded dog label" LP

                Awarded "Special Merit" by The Absolute Sound(TAS) magazine's Super Disc List 
                for exceptional sound and performance.

                                                                     Item Details
                                                       Produced by: Charles Gerhardt:
                                                     Recorded By: Kenneth E. Wilkinson
                                                                    Issued: 1963
                                                             Label: RCS VCS-2659
                                                  Runout Deadwax Matrix Numbers:
                                                       Side 1: A3 N2RY_2888_1S I. 
                                                       Side 2: A2 N2RY_2889_7S I.
         The "I" signifies the Indiana pressing plant, considered by audiophiles to be RCA's best.

Was bought used by this seller many years ago at record swap meet because of its audiophile 
reputation. I played it probably only once or twice a long time before this sale. Through the years, it has 
never been exposed to heat or tobacco smoke and was always stored vertically in a specially designed 
record cabinet (Rackit) to prevent warpage.

Was cleaned on a VPI HW 16 with Audio Intelligent solutions and ultra-pure water rinse 
(50X purer than distilled water) before my pre-sale sound check.

Very sensitive play testing was performed straight off my Ayre P-5xe fully balanced phono preamp 
over Sennheiser HD 600 headphones thru a Schiit Audio Valhalla 2 tube headphone amp fitted with 
Voskhod Soviet matched tubes (see last photo).

Track list
A: Night On Bare Mountain.
B: Pictures At An Exhibition;

I never take "distant" photos nor the so-prevalent type with the LP sticking halfway out of the jacket.
I take close-ups under photo lamps so you can see nearly everything I describe in the jacket grading.

Grading 
Note: record grading by text characters is subjective and does not fully describe quality 
levels. Please see photos and my detailed descriptions below.

Outer Jacket: (VG+)  There is some light ring wear on the front face and rubbing wear on all edges.
There are no split seams and the rear of the jacket is quite clean with bright white color and smooth 
surface.

Vinyl: (VG to NM-) On side one, out of the chute  I was blown out of my seat by the "power" of the 
orchestral crescendos (that gong!). As Myles Astor writing in Positive feedback said, this recording 
"possesses a wonderful bloom, sense of hall, powerful low frequency extension and beautiful string 
tone." I was happy to hear no distortion I could attribute any pervious owner's stylus mis-tracking, 
nor loss of detail and high frequency extension. The noise floor, however, made itself known in the 
quieter passages. Not just crackle, but some repeating clicks were present here and there which 
diminished the listenability during the quieter passages. At times, the crackle/clicks would subside, 
but then return. So Side one ranged from VG to VG++. Side 2 was very different. A very close visual 
check under high intensity halogen light showed that vinyl surface marks were almost non existent 
in comparison with side 1. It looked like the previous owner did not play this side.Upon playing the 
first track I was once again blown away but found that the audio quality was even better than the first 
side. The bass sounded even more solid and weighty and the percussion was even more extended. 
It had that rare level of space and body. Vinyl noise on side 2 was kept in check. Random crackle and 
small ticks were infrequent and at a lower level. That really made quieter passages fully listenable to 
my ears, even on my sensitive headphone rig described above. I rate side 2 at about NM- based on 
quite a few spot  checks from beginning to end. So, if you are trying to find a pretty decent copy with a
very well preserved side 2 of this record, then maybe this copy is for you.

Packaging
Record will be placed outside the jacket to protect against seam splitting.
Original inner sleeve is not included.
Record has been placed into a new "rice paper" Original Master style sleeve to preserve cleaning
quality.
Outer jacket is contained in a new clear polyethylene protective sleeve.
Sent in good quality record mailer with cardboard stiffeners.

Shipping
Shipping will be via USPS Media Mail for a flat charge of $3.98 per single album sale.
A combined shipping discount is available on multiple sales completed within 5 business days 
($3.98 plus $0.50 for each additional LP). If you intend to buy more than one LP do not pay immediately
but wait for my all-combined invoice. A discount for the combined items will show on that invoice. 

Then, once payment is received, the items will ship.