Classical music bargains

[jazzbo]

Did a price comparison on the Bream as it has been on my radar. . . . amazon.it and importcds basically have the same price so I went with the latter.

[ejp626]

Cheers on all that, Volkher - very much in the same boat as you, also regarding the All-Baroque box. Moms may have a point if you go through it work by work, but to me, it amounts to a sh*tload of enjoyable and yes, to my ears and still pretty limited knowledge, very good performances. In many cases I do have other recordings and I'd not say those in the box are less good than the others I've heard, they have their merits, while others have other merits, obviously (regarding, to pick out one example, "Messiah", Christie clearly does it for me, but I'd never call the Pinnock or McCreesh bad, just as I'd never come up with the concept that they're "surpassed" - the Harnoncourt from 2004 still needs to be listened).

Just in case, amazon.it has a prohibitive price on the Abbado DG symphonies box right now - I just gave in, at € 50.90 (minus VAT, ends up at less than 42 for me and will easily pass custom, too):

http://www.amazon.it/Claudio-Abbado-Wolfgang-Amadeus-Mozart/dp/B00BN1QV0S/

That is a very good price, but shipping to North America from Amazon.it is just too high.

Another factor is I just can't imagine working through this repertoire again when I have essentially all of it by Bernstein, Reiner, or even Toscanini (well not so much the Mahler but I almost never reach for Mahler...). I think I am basically done with the monster sets.

Edited July 23, 2014 by ejp626

[Larry Kart]

On a more serious note: where do you guys find the time....

I've been wondering about that myself.

[Stefan Wood]

Reading topics like this and on other forums makes me ask the same question, and then I realize -- oh, some of these guys are retired.

I have bought some of the deals mentioned, with the idea that I am going to get to them in the near future. On vacation, or long weekends while I am doing some art work.

[jazzbo]

Yeah, I used to be retired, then I took on this sixty plus hour a week (non-paying) job of keeping my parents in their home. My jazz and rock etc. listening hours dwindled significantly. A new girlfriend jettisoned even more of them. But. . . I can listen to classical because Dad wants to listen to it as much as possible. So these sets get listened to.

[neveronfriday]

About 1/3 to 1/2 of my job is spent sitting at my desk at home. Tons of time to have music running. Plus, I always make time for more intensive music listening in the evenings, several times a week. The TV hasn't been on since, what, 2008?

[Stefan Wood]

Someone might be breathlessly awaiting this set. I'll pass....

I'll wait for this to be heavily discounted:

[Larry Kart]

I'm retired, too, but can't imagine sitting through all or most of what's in one of those boxes. My attention flits around too much; even when I'm in a heavy-listening mode, I tend to jump associationally from one work or album to another that the work or album I've been listening to brings to mind.

[Van Basten II]

Not able to go through these box in one shot either, I put them in a rotation with all the stuff I bought lately which means I should be going through them around 2064 if there are still CD players working then.

[mjzee]

And if each disc is wonderful, who cares how long it takes to get through a box? Just savor each performance.

[king ubu]

I usually pick out stuff I want to listen first ... then put those back into the box at the back end and take out another bunch of things ... that might change, as I'm often proceeding similarly to Larry. So stuff I once picked out might go back in unplayed, whilst other stuff gets played first ... but usually my way of dealing with these boxes is just this: what I've played (and don't feel like playing again immediately) goes back in at the back, so I have some kind of control what I've played and what not. There are many boxes of which I've played a third or half or two thirds, and they have been around for one or two years. Doesn't bother me at all as I want to explore new stuff when the time is right (many of those boxes contain repertoire - i.e. symphonies from Schubert onwards - I've not really started to explore at all yet, so I tend to skip those for the time being, waiting until the day will come when I'm going to start exploring Schubert's symphonies (I've just given a first spin to the "great" and found it most interesting, very repetitive, different certainly from any other symphonic music I've listened to so far, but again it sounded pretty familiar, probably so because I've played lots of Schubert piano sonatas and chamber music and lieder).

[Larry Kart]

And if each disc is wonderful, who cares how long it takes to get through a box? Just savor each performance.

About the only box of any size (jazz or classical) that I've listened to all of is the Mosaic Tristrano-Konitz-Marsh set, and that's because I had to listen to all of it in order to write notes for set. Not that I regret having the various box sets (jazz and classical) i do have, it's just that a lot of each set I'll probably never get around to. Two mostly unlistened to sets that make me feel kind of guilty are the complete Bach cantatas (Harnoncourt-Leonhardt) and the complete Bach organ music. Shucks, even the complete Faure chamber music lies in wait for the most part.

[ejp626]

I did work my way through the Gould set and nearly all of the Reiner set. Some sets I am good about, others not so good. I find I tend to lose interest/focus after a while and put on rock or even pop, which is more useful (for me) as background music.

Curiously, I did go through the 75 CDs (at that time) in the Jazz in Paris set while doing revisions to my dissertation. Probably the only time I've ever been quite so chained to my desk... I wouldn't ever go through it in quite the same way, but it was worth doing once.

[Bigshot]

I rip CDs at my computer in the background while I work, and then transfer the files to my media server. The server streams music all over the house 24/7, so all I have to do is turn on the stereo and my collection is playing. I hear everything eventually. Right now my classical library is about 150 days worth of music.

[ejp626]

For whatever reason, the Amazon.ca price on this box set (Complete DG recordings of Ferenc Fricsay) is much better by about $100 than Amazon.com. The UK site also has a better price.

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00K12RE92/ref=s9_newr_gw_d54_g15_i2?pf_rd_m=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0YENG7D86V1Q0HX2HDXP&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1687860482&pf_rd_i=915398

That might not last long though. I don't know what the shipping to US would be.

While this has much merit, I am going to respectfully decline...

[Van Basten II]

Well there is a seller on the dot com that sells it with a price a bit closer to the Canuck version

Not a bargain but intriguing

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rachmaninov-Complete-Works-Various-Artists/dp/B00KZ73VDG/ref=pd_sim_m_h__3?ie=UTF8&refRID=0G2NBK1VZCCA2Q1G171C

[Peter Friedman]

With my classical boxes my usual pattern is to listen to one or two CDs from the box per day mixed in with other things, both classical and jazz. My preference is to listen to the entire box within a reasonable period of time.It also depends on the specific contents of the box.

At present I am working my way through 2 very different types of box sets. One is the Mozart Piano Sonatas by Maria Joao Pires. I prefer to spread out my listening to this box so as to not get tired of just one Mozart piano sonata after another.

The other box is The Heifetz-Piatigorsky Concerts. This box includes a broad variety of mostly chamber music by many different composers. So I can listen to the CDs in in this box set in a much compacted time frame.

I am retired so am able to listen to quite a few CDs each day. Some at home, and some in the car when going someplace.

[Д.Д.]

SEON 85-CD set to be released soon. I am interested in this repertoire, any comments on performances?

http://www.amazon.it/Seon-Collection-Musica-Registrazioni-Catalogo/dp/B00KXJD58M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406534508&sr=8-1&keywords=seon+85

Set content from JPC website: https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/seon-collection/hnum/5281618

Edited July 28, 2014 by Д.Д.

[soulpope]

SEON 85-CD set to be released soon. I am interested in this repertoire, any comments on performances?

http://www.amazon.it/Seon-Collection-Musica-Registrazioni-Catalogo/dp/B00KXJD58M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406534508&sr=8-1&keywords=seon+85

Set content from JPC website: https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/seon-collection/hnum/5281618

Sublabel of Sony Classical founded by Wolf Erichson as series on the Philips label.

"My founding of the SEON label (1970-1980) came about from my desire to begin recording emerging stars of the early music movement. After several years of experimentation and pioneering work during the infancy of Das Alte Werk, I felt the time was ripe to create a record label for period music, which, with the benefit of the most advanced recording techniques then available, would ensure that the extraordinary performances of Frans Brüggen, Anner Bylsma, the Kuijkens, Gustav Leonhardt andKonrad Ruhland would be preserved, and, beyond that, take their rightful place beside the acclaimed greats of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries." —Wolf Erichson

As mentioned in Wolf Erichson`s statement these recordings from the 70`s mirror the infancy of early music`s rediscovery, are sometimes quite adventurous but nevertheless (or hence ?) worthwile....do own a number of these individually....

Edited July 28, 2014 by soulpope

[Д.Д.]

Hantai naive 8-CD set for €15 at amazon.de: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00EO7XQ2E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Content:

CD1 ARCANGELLO CORELLI | CONCERTO DE NOËL & SONATES

CD2 BACH | GOLDBERG VARIATIONS

CD3 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH | SONATE A FLAUTO, VIOLIN E BASSO

CD4 DOMENICO SCARLATTI | 22 SONATES POUR CLAVECIN

CD5 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH | CONCERTOS POUR CLAVECIN

CD6 JOHN BULL | DOCTOR BULL’S GOOD NIGHT

CD7 GIROLAMO FRESCOBALDI | PARTITE & TOCCATE

CD8 GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN | ESSERCIZII MUSICI

SEON 85-CD set to be released soon. I am interested in this repertoire, any comments on performances?

http://www.amazon.it/Seon-Collection-Musica-Registrazioni-Catalogo/dp/B00KXJD58M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406534508&sr=8-1&keywords=seon+85

Set content from JPC website: https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/seon-collection/hnum/5281618

Sublabel of Sony Classical founded by Wolf Erichson as series on the Philips label.

"My founding of the SEON label (1970-1980) came about from my desire to begin recording emerging stars of the early music movement. After several years of experimentation and pioneering work during the infancy of Das Alte Werk, I felt the time was ripe to create a record label for period music, which, with the benefit of the most advanced recording techniques then available, would ensure that the extraordinary performances of Frans Brüggen, Anner Bylsma, the Kuijkens, Gustav Leonhardt andKonrad Ruhland would be preserved, and, beyond that, take their rightful place beside the acclaimed greats of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries." —Wolf Erichson

As mentioned in Wolf Erichson`s statement these recordings from the 70`s mirror the infancy of early music`s rediscovery, are sometimes quite adventurous but nevertheless (or hence ?) worthwile....do own a number of these individually....

Well, that's what concerns me - that these are older HIP recordings. I am not too familiar with Bylsma, but Lenhardt, for example, I find very stiff. I have a lot of stuff by him from the Sony Baroque Masterpieces box, and hated most of it.

[David Ayers]

I think HIP is an area where you absolutely must go with current and contemporary recommendations. Not only with regard to all aspects of performance and sound - to say nothing of scholarship - but also with regard to engineering and mastering (topics strangely in abeyance in this thread).

Edited July 29, 2014 by David Ayers

[king ubu]

Not sure ... I'm always cautious about these kinds of "progress" dogmatics - each and every reading, recording, interpretation has to be seen in light of its time and knowledge of sources etc. (and of course that includes denial of knowledge and such, too) - and this again applies as much to Stokowski or Furtwängler or ol' Klemp as it does to the self-proclaimed beginning and end of HIP (NH) or any other, more modest artist.

Obviously some stuff gets old and unlistenable, but what might indeed differ from person to person. Some here like to make fun of me because I love listening to older recordings a lot of the time ... to my ears they are new, I didn't know them before and I want to know. Other things (and I think this SEON box might well be one of those) aren't of much interest to me on the other hand. I guess it all boils down to taste and preference, as so often - and of course some are better in making or defending their points than others, but that doesn't necessarily make it more a valid stance. However of course, lots can be learned and absorbed (by way of listening and re-listening with new ears or rather: an other or expanced mindset) from discussions on such topics (but I still lack the answer from Moms why Perahia's Mozart concertos suck - still want to know!)

[king ubu]

So, the point is maybe: what can stand the test of time? What's just some quirk, some dead end that was explored in a certain period? And what remains valid on its own merits, no matter how "dated" it may be? And then: isn't it often a lot of fun of it own to explore some of those dead-ends?

I guess a lot of it boils down to the way you approach things - do you look for music relevant to your life at this point in time? Or do you approach it all as a historically grown entity of some sorts and are interested in discovering - sometimes unveiling - the roots of some parts of it?

[Peter Friedman]

Not sure ... I'm always cautious about these kinds of "progress" dogmatics - each and every reading, recording, interpretation has to be seen in light of its time and knowledge of sources etc. (and of course that includes denial of knowledge and such, too) - and this again applies as much to Stokowski or Furtwängler or ol' Klemp as it does to the self-proclaimed beginning and end of HIP (NH) or any other, more modest artist.

Obviously some stuff gets old and unlistenable, but what might indeed differ from person to person. Some here like to make fun of me because I love listening to older recordings a lot of the time ... to my ears they are new, I didn't know them before and I want to know. Other things (and I think this SEON box might well be one of those) aren't of much interest to me on the other hand. I guess it all boils down to taste and preference, as so often - and of course some are better in making or defending their points than others, but that doesn't necessarily make it more a valid stance. However of course, lots can be learned and absorbed (by way of listening and re-listening with new ears or rather: an other or expanced mindset) from discussions on such topics (but I still lack the answer from Moms why Perahia's Mozart concertos suck - still want to know!)

Ubu, it is clear that Moms has very strong opinions which is fine. He does not like Perahia's Mozart Concertos.

To say they suck is, ridiculous. The Mozart concertos are among my classical music favorites. I have versions of the concertos by a variety of pianists. There is no one "correct" way to play these pieces, and I personally enjoy hearing them played by Perahia, Serkin,

Casadesus, Curzon, Brendel, Fleisher, Rubinstein, and quite a few others. Each pianist brings something of themselves to the music, and hearing a variety of interpretations is, for me, an enriching experience. So, in my opinion, Moms is simply wrong, though reading his posts can be very interesting.

[David Ayers]

What I think is reasoned and informed opinion: what you think is dogma?

That's just my assessment. I don't think I'm alone.