The Philadelphia Orchestra

Book excerpt: The Philadelphia Orchestra is the most-recorded orchestra in the United States, and its recordings have contributed much to its reputation as “The World’s Greatest Orchestra.” In The Philadelphia Orchestra: An Annotated Discography, Richard A. Kaplan documents more than 2,000 commercial recordings made by the Philadelphia Orchestra over almost a century. The discography contains a chronological list of recordings, detailing works performed, conductors, soloists, dates, venues, producers, and matrix information for 78-rpm recordings. Each entry lists all issues of the recordings, including 78- and 45-rpm discs, long-playing records, and compact discs. The discography documents for the first time the recordings made by Columbia on sixteen-inch lacquer discs during the 1940s and ‘50s. Opening with an overview of the Orchestra's relationships with recording companies and the search for suitable recording venues, chapters cover anonymously and pseudonymously-published recordings, including those of the Robin Hood Dell Orchestra of Philadelphia, the experimental 1931-32 Bell Labs recordings, videos and movies in which the Philadelphia Orchestra performed, live recordings, and recordings of ensembles of the Philadelphia Orchestra. A separate chapter lists live-concert downloads made available directly through the Philadelphia Orchestra Association. Appendixes cross-reference the recordings by composer, conductor, and soloists; a final appendix lists the many Philadelphia Orchestra LP collections published by Columbia and RCA. This book is a valuable resource for collectors, scholars, and anyone interested in recording history and the history of the Philadelphia Orchestra.