Re: Reiner, CSO, Eroica

In article <ff4102llk05pjvjcr9qqpeme2oufcdpl1a@xxxxxxx>, Bob Stringer says...

Just curious.

I had this mono LP for many years, and replaced it when it
came out on CD -- also mono. Someone recently told me that
he had "heard" that it originally was recorded in stereo,
but that the master tapes were "lost" before it made it to
LP. That sounds strange. Why would there have been separate
stereo and mono tapes? (But what do I know?)

The CD insert doesn't state the date of the recording, just
the year -- 1954. According one web site
(<http://history.acusd.edu/gen/recording/stereo.html>) the
first RCA stereo recording was made in February, 1954, and
so just the timing could explain why the Reiner Eroica would
have been recorded in mono.

Does anyone know whether the performance was recorded in
stereo or in mono?

If you do a google groups search of "Reiner eroica stereo" you'll find much
discussion of this subject. Transfrguy, who's presumably at least as
authoritative as anyone else on the matter, contributed a post which includes:

"RCA's next attempt was in December of 1953 in the same location, this time with
the touring Boston Symphony under Pierre Monteux. One selection from Delibes'
"Coppelia" ballet has been released on CD, although I've been informed by
inside sources that half of the "Coppelia" excepts recorded for LP still exist
in stereo. In February, 1954, RCA recorded Munch's Berlioz "Damnation of
Faust" in stereo, but only a few excerpts still exist, and some have been
issued on CD.


Although stereo taping became more regular the following month (with the Reiner
Strauss recordings), it still was not used for all major Classical recording
projects.
For example, Reiner's "Eroica," Mozart 39th, 40th and "EKN," and the de los
Angeles/Munch Berlioz and Debussy recordings were not done in stereo, even
though some date from as late as 1955. I asked Jack Pfeiffer about this once,
and he said that RCA initially only had one stereo recorder, and if it was
needed for some more commercially viable recording project, that's where it
went."

Simon

.

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