Info Request: RCA Mid Summer Night Dream Stereo Folio Ltd Edition
Randy Darrah
Was browsing an antique store the other day and came across an RCA I've
never seen or heard about before. It is Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's
Dream" by Leinsdorf on a stereo shaded dog Dynagroove from 1962 . It is
housed in a double sized blue velvet folio (about 12" across and 24" tall).
It opens up like a book and inside the left flap are two engravings and on
the right side is a flap/envelope holder for the LP. In between is a text
booklet with the story of the story and the story of the two engravings. The
front of the folio at the bottom says Limited Edition. Folio= VG+ (edge
wear from age), engravings were Mint, LP= Near Mint 1s/1s. How many of these
were made? Did RCA do any other releases like this? Asking price is $20.00.
Is this fair? Or under/over priced? Thanks for your help. Please e-mail me
along with your group reply.
--
Paul Goldstein
Sounds like a "Soria" issue, a lavish format used by RCA for a while
with certain releases in the early 1960s. I've no idea about its
value. But the performance is very good, and can be heard on an
inexpensive RCA issue (I think in the Navigator series).
jt
recognize a Soria if he saw one. But that's not what this is. If you look
in Jonathan Valin's 'The Living Stereo Bible' under LSC-2673, you'll see the
following:
Mendelssohn, Midsummer Night's Dream / Leinsdorf, BSO, BSH, Recording
Engineer: Lewis Layton. [Also issued as LSC-D 2673, a deluxe edition with
illustrated folio.]
So it's a one-off, probably some kind of experiment that didn't take off.
Valin goes on to say about the record itself: "A disappointing
Leinsdorf--bright, dry, and mealy".
The regular Dynagroove SD of this is worth about $1 nowadays. I wouldn't
think the deluxe edition would be worth much more unless the engravings are
by some famous artist with his own fan club.
Eric Nagamine
This is one of two LSC-D (deluxe issues)single discs put out by RCA.
(The other is the Reiner/Beethoven Pastoral book). It's rare. The
Mendelssohn is the rarer of the two. At $20 bucks it's a good buy. I've
seen this go anywhere from $60-$120. (Mostly due to the jacket; 2
prints on heavy stock; and rarity of the issue) The odd shape of the
record jacket meant that it probably didn't sell well when it was first
issued.
I've forgotten how or where I got mine.
--
-----------
Aloha and Mahalo,
Eric Nagamine
jt
records nobody wants. Are the prints that good?
Valin doesn't even mention the deluxe version of LSC-2614; maybe he's too
busy putting down Dynagroove.
Randy Darrah
Thanks much for Valin's review (I wish I had that book but I can never find
it in any book shop around here and they can't order it either). It's
definitely not a Soria (in reference to another reply). The regular LP
version of this is worth a buck on a good day, yes. It looks like this
release was geared more towards the elite art collector crowd and not the
audiophile LP collector crowd. Many thanks again, Randy
--
"jt" <vin...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
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Randy Darrah
The prints are basic black and white. Nothing to brag to the Sistine Chapel
about :)
Eric Nagamine
Valin's book came across as a sloppily done project. Jim Mitchell did a
better job at rating recordings in his simple pioneering pamphlet.
Certainly Sid Marks did more careful listening than Valin.
The engravings are nothing special, but the packaging for the
Mendelssohn is extra-special for RCA. Also, the folios are also
numbered, something not done on the Soria sets. Musically, the disc was
somewhat unique in it's time that the spoken parts were also done with
the music.
jt
price of $50 in the early nineties. I believe a clean copy has gone for
over a hundred on eBay recently.
notrump15-17
slightly slowish tempi; Dynagroovy in sound. Recommendation: the
brilliantly played & recorded Maag on Decca/London late 50s. BTW, I have a
near-mint copy of the latter on London Blueback CS6001.
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