Rushton's right about the Speakers Corner reissues; their Decca remasters are uniformly terrific, and the Mercury (Paul Paray conducting the Detroit in works of Ravel and Debussy) I just got is superb, albeit with a little loose deep bass and some rumble, no doubt traffic noise from the Motor City in the 50's*--hopefully there's more of them on the way, as the Classic reissues from that catalog got our appetite whetted for more Mercs. His recommendation of CR42 is on the money as well, one of the best orchestral recordings you'll find anywhere, with outstanding dynamics. The Readers Digest series had some excellent recording engineers, the Chesky reissues show just how good the recordings really were--in this case, better than the originals in virtually all respects, particularly dynamically. The later Chesky reissues, starting with their Lt. Kije, are their best.
*: There is a price to be paid for better cutting heads and deep bass response on the reissues, and that is you can really hear extraneous noises in the lower frequencies better than on the originals. Many Deccas and UK RCAs have the "delightful" sound of the London underground rolling by on occasion, and the Classic reissue of the RCA Heifetz "Scottish Fantasy" recording has deep bass noises I can only ascribe to the conductor or perhaps Heifetz himself bouncing around on the podium (which don't appear at all on my shaded dog original). In a full range system you'll hear these, often becoming a distraction; on the originals these noises, while there, are not nearly as prominent. Where are rumble filters on preamps when you need them?!?
*: There is a price to be paid for better cutting heads and deep bass response on the reissues, and that is you can really hear extraneous noises in the lower frequencies better than on the originals. Many Deccas and UK RCAs have the "delightful" sound of the London underground rolling by on occasion, and the Classic reissue of the RCA Heifetz "Scottish Fantasy" recording has deep bass noises I can only ascribe to the conductor or perhaps Heifetz himself bouncing around on the podium (which don't appear at all on my shaded dog original). In a full range system you'll hear these, often becoming a distraction; on the originals these noises, while there, are not nearly as prominent. Where are rumble filters on preamps when you need them?!?