Can't believe it ... finally arrived!

[Lance]

After what seemed like an inordinate wait of time, the SONY 16-CD set of recordings arrived today. It looks really good. Will there be a Cleveland Orchestra set to follow?

[barney]

After what seemed like an inordinate wait of time, the SONY 16-CD set of recordings arrived today. It looks really good. Will there be a Cleveland Orchestra set to follow?

A little lacking in info there, Lance. You clearly were excited! What 16-CD set of recordings?

[Lance]

Can't believe I forgot to mention the key words: Artur Rodzinski set.

[maestrob]

Just to make sure......

Rodzinski was indeed worth getting excited about. My set's arrival preceeded yours, and the Scribendum blue box also arrived at around the same time.

I also ordered the 2CD set of very well-restored live broadcast recordings of Rodzinski's premiere performance of Shostakovich VIII in 1944, coupled with a rather eccentric but fascinating Shostakovich V and Rubinstein performing Tchaikovsky I in an electrifying reading that rivals anything Horowitz did in the era (1946). A well-filled pair of discs, well worth it for both the historical occasions and the sound quality. Took some time to get to me, and I had to follow up with a reminder on Amazon's website to nudge them to deliver it after 3 weeks of waiting, though. Now available through Presto for $13.50, btw.

The performance of the Shostakovich V proved, once and for all to me, that Bernstein was not the originator of the faster tempo in the last movement that he brought to the composer in 1959 during the ground-breaking Moscow tour with the N. Y. Philharmonic: Rodzinski did that first in 1946, a performance that I'm quite sure Bernstein must have studied or possibly attended. Nevertheless, it's a thrilling ride and I recommend both discs highly.

[barney]

Ah, Lance, I wonder. Could it have been the Rodzinski set? Give us a clue, please.

[Lance]

WOW, Barney ... you are marvelous ... to guess so correctly that it was, indeed the Rodzinski set. (It's not all Rodzinski, however; Darius Milhaud conducts the NYP in one of his own compositions). The booklet, too, is fascinating in that it offers full colour copies of all the covers of the many ways the recordings were issued from 78-rpm to LP. In checking my own CD discography of the conductor, there were 10 Lys recordings of both NYP and Cleveland Orchestra performances not to mention AS Disc, Music & Arts (live performances), and that marvelous 19-CD set from Scribendum, which is very well remastered. There's more to Rodzinski than meets the ears out there! So, again, the 16-CD set was the ARTUR RODZINSKI set. You were right on the button there!

Ah, Lance, I wonder. Could it have been the Rodzinski set? Give us a clue, please.