Scheherazade 10 LP boxed set Reader's Digest 1968 NM

$

30

Performer(s): Charles Gerhardt w/RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, Douglas Gamley w/Royal Philharminic Orchestra, Anatole Fistoulari w/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Rene Liebowitz, w/Orchestra Filarmonica di Roma, Jascha Horenstein w/New Philharmonia Ochestra, James Walker w/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Robert Mandell w/RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, Freccia Massimo w/New Philharmonia Orchestra and Orchestra Filarmonica di Roma, Oscar Danon w/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Earl Wild, Piano  .
Title:  Scheherazade .
Label:  RCA Custom for Reader's Digest RDA 68-A STEREO 10-LP Slipcase Box .   
Country Of Pressing:  US .
Jacket Condition: outer box: EXCELLENT to NEAR MINT, inner box: NEAR MINT .  
Disc Condition:  all ten discs NEAR MINT with no signs of being played .
Comments:  Includes booklet and promotional materials that came with original set. Another brilliant recording and programming masterpiece executed by the RCA/Reader's Digest house staff.  This 1968 release is the fourth RCA/Reader's Digest custom-recorded set devoted exclusively to assembling classical repertoir (excluding Liebowitz' Beethoven cycle of 1962) and is easily up to the standard of the previous three. (This set is recommended In Phil Rees' 'Audiophile Record Collector's Handbook' as being much sought after for its outstanding sound). The first, 'The Music of the World's Great Composers' (1959) was dedicated to symphonies, as was much of the third ,''Treasury of Great Music' (1964). The second, 'Festival of Light Classical Music' (1960) was more meaningful as a complilation than the first and third releases, as symphonies stand independently and their compiling is somewhat arbitrary, but the miniatures, so-called 'light classics', benefit on records (and in the concert hall, for that matter) through sympathetic selection and sequencing, at which the Reader's Digest staff excelled.

The 'light classics' anthologies produced and recorded with RCA Records are certainly the finest depth explorations of this fertile and culturally important (though now neglected) area. The material of the Scheharazade set is distinguished among the light classical compilations in that it focuses primarily on European orchestral works with romantic and 'exotic', 'Oriental' flavor (see complete set list below).

This and all subsequent Reader's Digest LP sets were available only through mail order arrangement directly with The publisher's of Reader's Digest magazine. Within a few years, the imprint, remaining in association with RCA and its recording facilities, branched out to include not only fine classical recordings (with their own dedicated recording artist stable, including Rene Leibowitz, Douglas Gamley, Charles Gerhardt, Anatole Fistoulari, Jascha Horenstein and moonlighters such as Alexander Gibson and Sir Adrian Boult), but also some superb easy listening/mood music sets under the batons of some of these luminaries as well as others dedicated exclusively to the mood genre.

CONTENTS OF SCHEHERAZADE (I have added the deadwax final numbers after each side description):

SIDE 1: TALES OF THE 1001 NIGHTS (Rimsky-Korsakov)
Scheherazade: The Sea and Sindad's Ship, The Tale of The Kalendar Prince

deadwax 6s 

SIDE 2: TALES OF THE 1001 NIGHTS (Rimsky-Korsakov)
Scheherazade (cont'd): The Young Prince and Princess, Festival at Baghdad

13s

SIDE 3: THE PLEASURE DOME (Griffes)
Islamey-Oriental Fantasy, The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan

4s

SIDE 4:  THE WORLDS MOST BEAUTIFUL LOVE STORY (Tchaikovsky)
Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy

5s

SIDE 5: EL AMOR BRUJO (Falla) 
Introduction and Scene, Athte Gypsies', Song of Love's Sorrow, The Ghost, Dance of Terror, 
The Magic Circle, Midnight, Ritual Dance of the Fire, Scene, Song of the Will-o'Wisp, 
Pantoime, Dance of the Love-Play, Finale 

(there is a slight mark of adhesive or something on the disc

2s

SIDE 6:  THE FOUNTAINS OF ROME (Respighi)
The Fountain of Valle, The Triton Fountain at Morn, The Fountain of Trevi at Midday, 
The Villa Medici Fountain at Sunset

3s

SIDE 7: THE MAGIC OF THE FIREBIRD (Stravinsky)
Firebird Suite: Introduction, Firebird's Dance, Round of the Princesses, Infernal Dance of King Kastchei, Cradle Song, Finale

2s

SIDE 8: RHAPSODY (Enesco, Smetana) 
Rumanian Rhapsody No. 1
Bailero from "Songs of the Auvergne" (Arranged by Canteloube)
The Bartered Bride: Overture 

2s

SIDE 9: ROMANTIC MELODIES FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA (Turina, Franck)
Rapsodia
Sinfonica, Op. 66 (Turina)
Symphonic Variations for Piana and Orchestra (Franck)

1s

SIDE 10: THE SLEEPING BEAUTY (Tchaikovsky)
The Sleeping Beauty Ballet Suite: Introduction, Entrance of the Fairies, Waltz, Pas d'Action and Adagio, Panorama, Pas de Quatre (Adagio, Variation and Coda), Pas de Deux: Adagletto; Variations II, Puss-in Boots, Finale

3s

SIDE 11:  BEAUTY OF THE BALLET (Delibes)
Coppelia Ballet Suite: Mazurka, Waltz of the Dolls, Czardas
Sylvia: Ballet Suite (Delibes)
Intermezzo, Slow Waltz, Pizzicato, March and Cortege of Bacchus

1s

SIDE 12: TRIBUTE TO NATURE (Dvorak, Franck)
The Beauty of Nature (Overture, In det Natur, Op. 91) (Dvorak)
The Wild Huntsman (Le Chasseur Maudit) (Franck)

3s

SIDE 13:  SPANISH RHAPSODY (Rimsky-Korsakov)
Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34 Alborada, Variations, Alborada, Scena e Canto Gitano, Fandango Asturiano
March from Le Coq D' Or 

5s

SIDE 14: SOUNDS OF THE SEA (Debussy)
La Mer: From Dawn to Midday on the Sea, Play of the Waves, Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea

3s
            
SIDE 15: FESTIVAL IN ROME (Respighi)
Roman Festivals: Circus Maximus, The Jubilee, October Festival, The Epiphany

6s (there are some marks on this record, they are not scratches)

SIDE 16:  THE THREE CORNERED HAT (Falla)
The Three Cornered Hat: Introduction, Afternoon, Dance of the Miller's Wife, The Corregidor, The Miller's Wife, The Grapes, The Neighbors' Dance, The Miller's Dance, Finale Dance

2s

SIDE 17: ROMANTIC SYMPHONY (Hanson)
Symphony No. 2 ("Romantic")

8s

SIDE 18: PORTS OF CALL (Ibert, Ravel) 
Escales (Ports of Call): Palermo, Tunis, Valencia

Spanish Rhapsody (Rapsodie Espagnole):Prelude a la nuit, Alaguena, Habanera, Feria

6s

SIDE 19: THE ROMANTIC TCHAIKOVSKY (Tchaikovsky)
Symphony No. 5

2s

SIDE 20:  THE ROMANTIC TCHAIKOVSKY (Tchaikovsky)

2rs-9506--2s

I listed as USED, only because original wrapping is not on.  The albums have never been played.

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