Post by dkROTFL! This is the orchestral
equivalent of piano rolls! ;-)
Walter's " low-cal " approach here works for me :
From the YT poster :
" Despite criticisms of the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble of 60 some musicians, for its overall proficiency and ensemble sound, Walter himself considered this his orchestra, the members of which he auditioned personally, to be as fine as any in his long career."
Also : http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Columbia-Symphony-Orchestra.htm :
" In 1957, while living in California, he was approached by Columbia's executives with a new proposal. Told of the advent of stereo recording and the threat that it constituted to the future sales of monaural records, Bruno Walter was asked to undertake a new series of recordings in stereo to preserve his interpretations in the most modern sound possible, and to allow them to reach new generations of listeners.
The result was a new Columbia Symphony Orchestra, chosen specifically by and for Bruno Walter. This group was an ensemble of 50 to 70 members, assembled from the best freelance musicians on the West Coast, many of whom typically never took on orchestral work, but made the exception to work with Bruno Walter. It was one of the best recording orchestras ever assembled in the USA, incorporating many of the best characteristics of the Wiener Philharmoniker and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig - which Bruno Walter had conducted in Austria and Germany during the 1920's and 1930's - as well as the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. This orchestra recorded much of the core Classical and Romantic repertoire under Bruno Walter's baton, including the late W.A. Mozart symphonies, Gustav Mahler's symphonies Nos. 1 and 9, the four Johannes Brahms symphonies, Dvorak's Symphonies Nos. 8 and 9, Schubert's Ninth, the Wagner orchestral music, and the complete Beethoven symphonies."