Iberia is one of the few records that transcends engineering, and simply allows Debussy, Ravel, Reiner and his orchestra to make our souls a richer place. This RCA LP is a perfect synthesis of interpretation, playing and sound. The recording is rich in timbre and detail, and is beautifully transparent, identifying the accurate placement of instruments and the boundaries of Orchestra Hall's stage.

TAS The Absolute Sound Super LP List - Special Merit: Classical

• Limited Edition
• 33rpm 200 Gram Audiophile Vinyl
• Cut from Original 2 and 3 Track Masters
• Pressed at Quality Record Pressings QRP USA
• Lacquers plated by Gary Salstrom
• Mastered by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound
• Deluxe "tip-on" style Cover

As it seems to be on many great orchestral recordings, the percussion section steals the "audiophile" show. The percussionists' playing in Iberia will amaze you with their crack ensemble and the way they accomplish quick changes in dynamics, these ranging from quiet delicacy to raw power. Conductor Fritz Reiner must have reveled in the sound of the castanets clicking merrily on his left and the different styles of tambourine technique employed by the section player on his right. From the softest stroke of a soft mallet on suspended cymbal to the superb timpani sound, Iberia is all that recorded percussion should be.

Fritz Reiner conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in rich performances of Claude Debussy's "Iberia" from his orchestral composition Images Pour Orchestre as well as Maurice Ravel's waltz suite "Valses Nobles Et Semtimentales" and "Alborado Del Gracioso" from his Miroirs suite, a program that ultimately results in the "perfect" synthesis of interpretation, playing and sound!

RCA Living Stereo classical LPs - the gold standard for top quality orchestral performance and sound!

"...I'd have to say that the usual stumbling blocks have been sidestepped. Great care has been taken to do the right things, starting with the way the decision to remaster these RCAs was made." - Jonathan Valin, The Absolute Sound

"These records are definitive." - Michael Fremer, Analog Planet

RCA's "golden age" was more like a "golden minute" - in a scant period, roughly from 1958 to 1963, the beginning of the stereo era - pure vacuum tube amplification helped produce recordings demonstrating unparalleled fidelity and warmth, lifelike presence and midband illumination.

Pressed at Quality Record Pressings and plated by Gary Salstrom. Packaged in the original tip-on jacket facsimiles that precisely duplicate the original cover art, including the "Living Stereo" logo, LSC numbers and "Shaded Dog" label. These reissues are designed from the mastering, to the cutting, to the pressing and packaging to be the finest RCA Living Stereo LPs ever reissued. These new versions are clearer than the originals and warmer and richer than past reissues!

Musicians:

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Fritz Reiner, conductor

Track Listing:

Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918)

1. Debussy - Iberia - I. Par Les Rues Et Par Les Chemins 

2. Debussy - Iberia - II. Les Parfums De La Nuit 
3. Debussy - Iberia - III. Le Matin D'un Jour De Fete

Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937)
4. Ravel - Valses Nobles Et Semtimentales 
5. Ravel - Alborado Del Gracioso

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