Soria Series textured sleeve box detail photo
detail photo by Styrous®
Soria Series was an American ultra-premium classical albums collection within the RCA Victor "Red Seal" catalog, co-founded in 1958 by Dorle J. Soria and her husband, Italian entrepreneur Dario Pellegrino Soria (1912—1980). Before joining RCA Victor, both Sorias had illustrious careers in the record industry. From 1953 till '58, they co-founded and directed EMI's sublabel Angel Records, producing almost 500 critically acclaimed albums. Dorle Jarmel served as The New York Philharmonic Orchestra's publicity director for decades before that, while Dario established Cetra-Soria in 1948—essentially, the world's first label that released complete operas on LP.
Each Soria Series album came in a thick, heavy-duty textured sleeve (some with an elegant cut-out on the reverse for pulling the disc out), golden embossed type, and glossy full-color reproduction overlaid.
photo by Styrous®
Double and triple boxsets had sliding tops and decorated spines. All
details, including the tracklist, were in booklets, designed and printed
at the world's most expensive and prestigious publishing houses, such
as Amilcare Pizzi S.p.A. in Italy and Skira Color Studios in
Switzerland. They came with comprehensive essays (about composers,
genres, or period instruments), definitive and eloquent libretto
translations, lavish "tipped-in" colored reproductions, etc. Dorle
received two Grammy Awards nominations in 1963 for covers of Julian
Bream's An Evening Of Elizabethan Music and Herbert von Karajan's Tosca
2xLP (link below).
Besides the packaging, 'Soria Series' records had "standard" RCA Victor's Red Seal center labels, identical to any Indianapolis Plant's pressings of the time. (These include various combinations of 'RCA VICTOR,' 'Living Stereo,' and 'High-Fidelity' rim-text, both "nipperless" and with His Master's Voice picture logo.) Notably, domestic manufacturing was a dealbreaker for Sorias at Angel; they mainly stepped away because EMI decided to switch from European and British imported vinyl to Capitol Records US pressings.
Circa 1965, 'Soria Series' went on hiatus. Dario Soria, who quit RCA in 1970 to become Metropolitan Opera Guild's managing director, revitalized the brand in the mid-70s for the new Met Historic Recordings series. Dario retired after 1977 but continued to consult MET Opera on this archival project. In March 1980, while researching yet another release at Lincoln Center's Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives, he succumbed to a heart attack. Dorle J. Soria continued the 'Metropolitan Opera Historic Broadcasts' series. In Oct 1986, she received the Opus Magazine's "Historical Record of the Year" award for Simon Boccanegra 3xLP. Overall, fifteen Metropolitan Opera's LP boxsets came out until 1988. 'Soria Series' briefly embraced Audio CD in the '90s, and after a few 2xCD and 3xCD 'MET Operas' came out, it finally ceased activities around 1997. (Dorle Sorias passed away in 2002, at 102 years of age).
Selected albums, such as the Ernest Ansermet The Royal Ballet Gala Performances, got subsequently licensed by audiophile repress labels and appeared on CD and SACD from Analogue Productions, Classic Records, Classic Compact Discs, etc. In 2014, Sony Music released three 'Soria Series' albums as part of the Living Stereo 60 CD Collection Vol. 2 boxset.
Besides the packaging, 'Soria Series' records had "standard" RCA Victor's Red Seal center labels, identical to any Indianapolis Plant's pressings of the time. (These include various combinations of 'RCA VICTOR,' 'Living Stereo,' and 'High-Fidelity' rim-text, both "nipperless" and with His Master's Voice picture logo.) Notably, domestic manufacturing was a dealbreaker for Sorias at Angel; they mainly stepped away because EMI decided to switch from European and British imported vinyl to Capitol Records US pressings.
Circa 1965, 'Soria Series' went on hiatus. Dario Soria, who quit RCA in 1970 to become Metropolitan Opera Guild's managing director, revitalized the brand in the mid-70s for the new Met Historic Recordings series. Dario retired after 1977 but continued to consult MET Opera on this archival project. In March 1980, while researching yet another release at Lincoln Center's Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives, he succumbed to a heart attack. Dorle J. Soria continued the 'Metropolitan Opera Historic Broadcasts' series. In Oct 1986, she received the Opus Magazine's "Historical Record of the Year" award for Simon Boccanegra 3xLP. Overall, fifteen Metropolitan Opera's LP boxsets came out until 1988. 'Soria Series' briefly embraced Audio CD in the '90s, and after a few 2xCD and 3xCD 'MET Operas' came out, it finally ceased activities around 1997. (Dorle Sorias passed away in 2002, at 102 years of age).
Selected albums, such as the Ernest Ansermet The Royal Ballet Gala Performances, got subsequently licensed by audiophile repress labels and appeared on CD and SACD from Analogue Productions, Classic Records, Classic Compact Discs, etc. In 2014, Sony Music released three 'Soria Series' albums as part of the Living Stereo 60 CD Collection Vol. 2 boxset.
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