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About RCA Victor Living Stereo LPs & CDs
Through much of the history of recorded music, the Victor Company, later bought by the Radio Corporation of America and renamed RCA Victor, had on its roster of orchestras and musicians many of the world's most renowned artists. In late 1953 RCA started doing experimental recordings in stereophonic sound. In early 1954, these experiments intensified with most orchestral recordings being recorded in both mono, for early release, and in stereo to refine the stereo recording techniques and perhaps for eventual stereo release. Some early experiments were flawed, but many of them eventually were acclaimed as supreme examples of the art of recording music. In 1958, with the advent of stereo records, "Living Stereo" was born. With decades of recording experience and some of the world's finest artists on its roster, RCA became the leader in recorded stereo sound, though they had some vigorous competition from Mercury Records' Living Presence Stereo records and British Decca.A few years ago I published a CD-Rom of databases, and in 2016, I used those databases as the basis for a book, Mercury Living Presence LPs and CDs, a comprehensive reference to Mercury Living Presence recordings. RCA Victor Living Stereo LPs and CDs is a similar reference for the RCA Living Stereo. In addition to background, historical, and explanatory material, there are three main lists in the book :A list of all LPs for which I have been able to find evidence that they actually existed from LM/LSC 1806, Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's historic March, 1954 stereo recording of Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra up to the highest numbers in that series recorded in the December, 1970 issue of the Schwann Catalog. Also included are multi-record sets issued at the same time, and a few other LPs. These are arranged in numerical order; special recordings such as the LD/LDS Soria Series recordings are included in their proper numerical place. For most stereo instrumental and orchestral recordings and many mono recordings, complete contents of the albums are listed. The listings of contents for vocal recordings are more limited, often just the composer and title of the composition. The names of soloists, conductors and orchestras are included as are recording dates wherever possible. Schwann Catalog New Listings release dates are included for most stereo era releases and some earlier ones. Interest in Living Stereo recordings has been at a high point in recent years because of the series of Living Stereo CD and SACD releases and more recently the large box sets of "Living Stereo" recordings and box sets of individual artists like Rubinstein, Heifetz, Reiner with the Chicago Symphony, Munch with the Boston Symphony, and many others. In the lists, I have identified which LPs have been reissued on SACD or CD including the original Living Stereo CD and SACD releases, plus those that have been released in the 3 Living Stereo box sets. Using boldface artists names, I have also indicated artist collections where CD versions are available for over a dozen other individual artist box sets. However, earlier CD releases in the 1980s prior to the beginning of Living Stereo CD releases are not noted, as those releases are generally not reflective of the quality on the original master tapes.A second list is similar to the complete listing but eliminates numbers for records that very likely do not exist and virtually all recordings that were not made in stereo. It does, however, include all known and suspected recordings that were made in stereo even if they were only released in mono at the time of initial release. The third list is of the same stereo recordings arranged in alphabetical order by composer and title. So if you know the name of the composer and title of the composition, you can find it easily, if there was a stereo recording made and if the recording was released on RCA.I hope you find the book interesting and useful.
