This Strauss recording uniting RCA star Fritz Reiner with the Vienna Philharmonic (one of Decca's star orchestras), was released in 1959, marking the first fruit of an agreement that in return for loaning RCA some of their artists, Decca was permitted to distribute RCA recordings throughout the U.K. and Europe. In addition, Decca agreed to record under license some of their own artists, in sessions paid for and sponsored by RCA, for release on the Red Seal label.

Recorded by Decca engineer James Brown in Vienna's Sofiensall, the sound is as tubby as a Bavarian burgher. The playing is, as advertised, first-rate. High Fidelity, at the time of the original release, called it "as fine an example as we have of Reiner's preeminent place among the living disciples of Richard Strauss."

• Limited Edition
• 33rpm 200 Gram Audiophile Vinyl
• Cut from Original Analog Master Tapes
• Pressed at Quality Record Pressings QRP USA
• Lacquers plated by Gary Salstrom
• Mastered by Willem Makkee
• Deluxe "tip-on" Cover

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!

Producer: John Culshaw
Engineer: James Brown

Musicians:

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Fritz Reiner, conductor

Track Listing:

Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Op. 28
Death and Transfiguration, Op. 24