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The Philadelphia Orchestra recordings

O'Connell also extensively documented RCA's technical problems with the series of recordings by Toscanini and the Philadelphia Orchestra, made in 1941–42, which required extensive electronic editing before they could be issued (well after Toscanini's death, beginning in 1963, with the rest following in 1977). Harvey Sachs also recounts that the wax masters were damaged during processing, possibly because of the use of somewhat-inferior materials imposed by wartime restrictions. Toscanini had listened to several of the test pressings and had given his approval to some of the recordings, rejected others and was prepared to re-record the unsatisfactory sides. Unfortunately, the 1942-44 Petrillo / AFM recording ban had begun and prevented immediate retakes; by the end of the ban over two years later, the Philadelphia Orchestra's contract with RCA Victor had expired and the orchestra had signed with Columbia Records. RCA Victor apparently was now hesitant to promote the orchestra and recordings since it was now under contract to arch-rival Columbia and declared the defective Philadelphia masters unsalvageable. When told that RCA had finally decided to scrap the Philadelphia recordings, Toscanini vehemently exclaimed, "I worked like a dog!". The conductor eventually recorded all of the same music with the NBC Symphony. The best sounding of the Philadelphia recordings is the Schubert C-Major Symphony (The "Great"), which had been successfully restored and issued by RCA Victor in 1963. In 1968, the Philadelphia Orchestra returned to RCA and the company was now more favorable toward issuing all of the discs. RCA finally released a complete edition of the Toscanini/Philadelphia recordings in 1977, and it was suggested by Sachs and others at that date some of the masters may have deteriorated further. As for the historic nature of the recordings, even on the first RCA Victor compact disc issue, released in 1991, some of the sides have considerable surface noise and some distortion, especially during the louder passages. Nevertheless, despite the occasional problems, the sound has been markedly improved on CD, and the entire set is an impressive document of Toscanini's collaboration with the Philadelphia musicians. A second RCA CD reissue of the Philadelphia recordings from 2006 makes even more effective use of digital editing and processing in an attempt to produce improved sound. Longtime Philadelphia conductor Eugene Ormandy expressed his admiration for what Toscanini achieved with the orchestra.