As the CD era winds down, companies are reissuing box sets as never before. Such collections provide an outlet for nostalgia among older music lovers and a rich opportunity for younger ones. This set comes from the 1950s, an era when the new longplaying record made it possible to set down works lasting up to thirty minutes without a break, and continual advances were being made in sound recording including the advent of stereo.

The two major competitors in America were RCA Victor and Columbia (later CBS). RCA’s roster of musicians concentrated on old established names like Heifetz and Rubinstein; the exception was the Texan wunderkind pianist Van Cliburn (who passed away this year). To fund the high art end of their operation, RCA recorded light classics with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, Morton Gould, and tenor Mario Lanza – all represented here. ‘Living Stereo’ was an asset too: Though not as naturally present as the sound of contemporary records from Mercury, it remains vivid.

This box contains celebrated performances, many of which still set the standard: Heifetz’s Sibelius Violin Concerto (the best sounding of his three recordings of the work); Earl Wild’s Gershwin Piano Concerto; Reiner and the Chicago SO in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra and Richard Strauss’s Don Quixote; Monteux conducting Franck’s Symphony; Van Cliburn playing...