Roger Hecht:

>At the time these recordings were made, the often underrated Ormandy was
>one of the leading interpreters of Rachmaninoff, and his Philadelphia
>Orchestra may have been the greatest in the world.  What hurt these discs
>was the Columbia sound, particularly many of the American vinyl pressings.

IIRC, Ormandy's was the first recording of the 1st symphony outside
of Russia.  My only experience of the symphony prior to that was a
rather elderly Russian mono affair - I don't remember the conductor.
By comparison, Ormandy's sounded wonderful.  Last time I played my LP (an
Australian pressing), it still did.  Might have to order the CD anyway.

Richard Pennycuick
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