Best "Hungarian Rhapsody" on vinyl?

I'm going to have to re-listen to it to see if it fits your criteria, and find you the LSC number, but there is an old RCA Living Stereo version with Fiedler and the Boston Pops which has excellent sound and performance. I don't think it's particularly rare, but finding a copy that hasn't been heavily listened to could be difficult. In addition, I think that the RCA Living Stereo "Rhapsodies" with Stokowski conducting was among the first of the Classic Records reissues, and I believe it includes the Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (is that the one you're looking for?). The Classic reissue is not as warm as the original (I have a beat-up version), but it has terrific dynamics. Hope this helps.

Perhaps, although don't dismiss the Classic re-issue. The improvements in the bass and dynamics outweigh what I think is a slight loss of warmth. I'm gonna listen to all three tonight (now see what you've done!) to refresh my recollection. I'll let you know if I've changed my mind.

Hi Carl, after listening last night, the Fiedler probably would satisfy your wishes. It's LSC 2442, a Mohr-Layton recording, called The Music of Franz Liszt. I have a 1S/1S shaded dog, and the strings are quite lush, the bass is excellent (a little full, but sounds good on this music), and the dynamics are very good--startling, in fact, on some of the other cuts. A little bit of compression or distortion with the brass on side two in the loudest parts. Surface noise can be obtrusive on this one--I also have a 7S/9S shaded dog that was rated M- which has that sandpapery crackle behind the music that I hear on a lot of the old RCAs. Probably pricey on the used market, but if you run across one at a reasonable price it's worth picking up. The Stokowski re-issue is a little less lush in the strings, but has far better transparency, excellent low end and dynamics, and has a few of Stokowski's variances from the score that made him the unique conductor he was. You might check with some of the record dealers to see if they have any of those left over--I remember Classic was selling them for $15 each when they were cleaning out their old stock. Haven't heard the Dorati; probably a very good performance, but not sure of the sound on the Golden Imports series. Interested in hearing from Dacostab on that one.

The Koetsu is a wonderful cartridge; I almost bought one from Victor Goldstein years ago (he had a private stash of them, I think). If you can't get great string sound out of that, it could be the Golden Imports pressing, which generally were not up to the standards of the earlier Mercs. Carl, that's a nice cartridge you've got too--I've got a Ruby 2, and I like the immediacy and musicality of the Benz line. Plus, on a practical note, I like their re-tipping policy compared to other cartridge manufacturers.