Grieg: Sigurd Josalfar Suite; Respighi: Pines of Rome; Prokofieff: Scythian Suite

GSC026DL (MONO) - Grieg: Sigurd Josalfar Suite - Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra/Thor Johnson (1954 Decca UK); Respighi: Pines of Rome - Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra/Eugene Goossens (1947 RCA); Prokofieff: Scythian Suite - Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Désiré Defauw (1945 RCA) - The Cincinnati Symphony recorded for Decca (UK) between 1952 and 1954, and produced some quite good recordings during the series (see KHCD-2010-003 - JC Bach Double Sinfonia/Schubert Symphony No. 2). The Sigurd Jorsalfar Suite, recorded in 1954, receives a robust performance that has some impressive low-end sonics. RCA's Cincinnati series from the 1940s was a bit more distantly recorded (see also KHCD-2011-006 - RVW: A London Symphony); this traversal of Respighi's well-know tone poem was recorded in 1945. The sonics are quite good considering the age of the recording. The same can be said, too, about Désiré Defauw's recording with the Chicago Symphony of Prokofieff's Scythian Suite, recorded in 1947. Both of the RCA recordings come from an RCA Bluebird LP reissue from the early 1950s. A bit of low-end boosting was performed on these two, and the upper-end harshness found on the LP was tamed.