Walter Meyer wrote:

>Mary Esterheld wrote:
>
>>I suppose you, too, had a 78 album of Beethoven's 5th (RCA or Columbia?)
>>with a red cover with a big white V...  ___ (morse symbol) on it as my
>>folks did.
>
>I remember the album cover well, alas, only from the stores where it was
>displayed.  I didn't get a record player until lp's came out, and while I
>no longer remember my first Fifth, it was probably a Columbia lp with the
>top of an Ionic pillar decorating the jacket, the design for all Columbia
>classical lp jackets at the time.

Yes!  That (...___) was the album I mentioned having when I was a kid (one
of the records was broken, which may have skewed my impression of the form
somewhat).  As I recall it was Bruno Walter conducting the NY Phil.  And it
was on Columbia Masterworks, the dark blue label with the twin microphone
logo.  The equation V (for victory) = ...___ came out after the War and was
symbolic of the allied victory.  Thus the symphony took on symbolic
significance because the last movement represents a sort of triumph over
the first.  And V of course is Roman numeral for 5.  Quite a coincidence.

Chris Bonds