Grofé Grand Canyon Suite - Bizet Carmen Suite Ormandy
Recorded during the pioneering years of commercial stereo, these classic Columbia Masterworks performances find Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra at the height of their celebrated partnership. By the late 1950s, Ormandy had refined the orchestra's legendary "Philadelphia Sound" into one of the world's most admired orchestral voices, renowned for its luxurious strings, expressive woodwinds, and brilliant yet beautifully balanced brass. Captured on Columbia's early three-track stereo masters, these 1957 and 1958 recordings preserve both the orchestra's remarkable artistry and the natural depth and realism that made Columbia's first generation of stereo recordings enduring audiophile favorites.
Ferde Grofé's colorful Grand Canyon Suite and Bizet's beloved Carmen Suites provide the perfect showcase for Ormandy's elegant musicianship and the orchestra's extraordinary tonal palette. Grofé's vivid musical portrait of the American Southwest unfolds with breathtaking orchestral color and sweeping grandeur, while Bizet's irresistible melodies and sparkling orchestration receive performances of warmth, precision, and refinement. More than six decades after their original release, these recordings remain outstanding examples of both the golden age of American orchestral performance and the remarkable achievements of early stereo recording.
Artist(s): Conductor - Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra - The Philadelphia Orchestra
Recording Info: Grofé - Recorded December 23, 1957, at The Broadwood Hotel, Philadelphia
Producer: Howard H. Scott
Recording Engineer: Harold Chapman
Bizet - Recorded January 26, 1958, at The Broadwood Hotel, Philadelphia
Producer: Howard H. Scott
Recording Engineer: Fred Plaut
Sourced from a 4-track tape
Components used for Transfer:
This transfer leverages precision analog playback and mastering-grade digital conversion. The signal path begins with an extensively modified Technics 1500 Reel to Reel with Flux Heads, fed through a Merrill Audio Master MX Tape Head Preamp. The analog signal is converted via a Merging Hapi converter, synchronized to an Antelope Audio 10MX atomic clock for temporal accuracy. All components receive isolated power conditioning through a Shunyata Research Everest 8000 with Shunyata Sigma-X power cords, while grounding infrastructure utilizes Shunyata ALTAIRA hubs to minimize noise floor and preserve sonic detail throughout the transfer chain.
Grand Canyon Suite
Composed By – Ferde Grofé
1 Sunrise 5:16
2 The Painted Desert 5:20
3 On The Trail 7:21
4 Sunset 4:21
5 Cloudburst 9:05
Carmen Suite Composed By – Georges Bizet
6 Allegro giocoso; "The Toreadors" 2:13
7 Andante moderato "Prelude" 1:25
8 Entr'Acte between Act III & Act IV: Allegro Vivo "Aragonaise" 2:21
9 Entr'Acte between Act II & Act III: Andantino, quasi Allegretto "Intermezzo" 2:25
10 Entr'Acte between Act I & Act II: Allegro moderato "The Soldiers of Alcala" 1:58
11 Marche des Contrebandiers: Allegro moderato; No 19 - Sextet and Chorus from Act III 4:51
Please Note: This release was edited in DXD PCM from a DSD256 Master
then the DXD edited master was used to generate the final DSD files using
Merging Technologies Album Publishing.
DXD (352.8KHz 24/32 bit PCM) is one of the best and least destructive formats for post-processing DSD originated digital recordings
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