Picked these up the other day for a $1 apiece. The Lp's look like they've rarely, if ever, been played and the packaging is in very good to excellent condition with the exception of Vol 4 which has some scuff marks on the cover. It says they were made in the U.S.A. Anyone familiar with these?
(i have the '63 set of symphonies on cd and discovered the set that has been remastered as an sacd set and is supposedly much better...ii took a flier and bought it second hand. looking forward to it!)
Herbert von Karajan was instrumental in setting the capacity of the modern CD. He insisted that Beethoven's 9th symphony be able to fit on a single disc, so that there would be no "unintended intermission" while switching discs (as was the case with LPs). That set you picked up should be great! From his age in the cover photo, it looks like the 1963 set.
(i have the '63 set of symphonies on cd and discovered the set that has been remastered as an sacd set and is supposedly much better...ii took a flier and bought it second hand. looking forward to it!)
Herbert von Karajan was instrumental in setting the capacity of the modern CD. He insisted that Beethoven's 9th symphony be able to fit on a single disc, so that there would be no "unintended intermission" while switching discs (as was the case with LPs). That set you picked up should be great! From his age in the cover photo, it looks like the 1963 set.
Sony insisted that the CD must hold the 74 minute Beethoven 9th. I've seen several times that Von Karajan was a vocal proponent of that capacity (to hold the entire 9th). Interestingly, his Alpine Symphony was among the first CDs produced. That demonstrates his early involvement with the media. You must understand that a massive conglomerate like Sony/Philips would never publicly affirm that they gave technical specification authority to someone outside their engineering departments! So, we may not see absolute proof that von Karajan was the primary in this move, but the evidence is "interesting".
