jeff@tesla.UUCP (Jeff Frey) (03/31/84)
Date: Sat, 31 Mar 84 07:52:23 est From: jeff (Jeff Frey) Message-Id: <8403311252.AA21028@tesla.UUCP> To: audio@net Subject: Strauss at 32Hz Two of the most famous recordings of the mono era are RCA's LM 1806 and 1807, R. Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra" and "Ein Heldenleben. (Chicago Symphony, Fritz Reiner). These were recorded on March 6 and 8, 1954, and the original bi-fold record jackets give various details of the recording, e.g., "A single [too bad just before stereo!] condenser microphone was suspended 16 feet above the conductors's podium... recorded on RCA Victor RT-11 recorders at...30 ips...etc. The jacket claims a frequency response on the disc of 30-18kHz, and the opening organ note on ASZ is 32 kHz. Just re-listening to the record I can hear (feel) the 32Hz, but there is a higher-frequency component on top of it (possibly harmonics in my parallel Advents). Comparing with the London recording (CS6978, from 1975) I hear the same low-frequency component but a higher harmonic frequency. The Reiner recordings were subsequenttly reissued on various cheap labels and are well worth having as great performances. I don't know whether the sound quality was retained on the reissues. Other famous recordings by RCA from that period include Toscanini's versions of Pictures at an Exhibition, and the New World Symphony. These all had LM numbers in the range around 1800, and were issued when "high-fidelity" began to get popular - around 1955. Jeff Frey