Collector's Library of the World's Musical Masterpieces; 16 Magnificent Long-playing Records

(2nd Series S-2692)This is such a comprehensive box set that I have only listened to a small portion of it. So to be fair my review will be for portions of this set at a time. I will review it more then once due to the hours and hours of music included. This set gives you a good taste of some of the best classical music if you are just a casual listener of classics. I could not discern if this posting is for the first or 2nd series...Thus far:Beethoven symphony 3 and 9 are delightful and complete.Respighi Pines of Rome is great and clear.Stravinsky's Petrouchka is powerful and clear.Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra is clear and nicely recorded by not my favorite.Strauss's Waltzs are fun and a blast to listen to, clearly recorded.The only complaint thus far is Gershwins Rhapsody in Blue. To be fair it may be the way it was intended with no modification by the pianist. But this is not very well recorded either. The piano is so loud that it drowns out the rest of the symphony. You lose all the fun of this song which is the interplay among the piano and the symphony and that really detracts from the spirit of this song. There are times when you cant hear the horns or the clarinet so I give the sound engineer and F- for this rendition. I will still give this an I love it because the other pieces thus far have not suffered this poor recording death.