Classical music bargains

[Stefan Wood]

Wait on it. Prices will fall.

[MomsMobley]

Bruckner/Solti (10 CD) à 17€ !!! on Amazon France , looks like a good deal.

Getting confused by these sets,

http://www.mdt.co.uk/wiener-philharmoniker-the-orchestral-edition-decca-64cds.html

Any opinion on this one, found one at lest than 140 $, should I stay or should I go ?

Resist both. I'm not anti-Solti but the Bruckner set is largely charmless & in fact, most Bruckner 'integrales' are lacking so fear not, your missing little. Gunter Wand/Kolner Rundfunk is mostly excellent, however, $20 Can--

http://www.amazon.ca/Bruckner-Symphonies-Nos-Classical-Masters/dp/B0042U2HLY

Also, more expensive but worth more than Karajan, Barenboim, either Jochum combined is Skrowaczewski--

http://www.amazon.com/Bruckner-11-Symphonies-12-CDs/dp/B00005K36Y

Haitink Bruckner is pretty good, skip Furtwangler for now, Tintner cond. Naxos are worth grabbing, etc.

re: the Vienna sarcophagus, there are some good recordings in their but for 140 bones & a chintz package (what, it doesn't include a locket with John Culshaw's pubic hairs?!?!), it seems an inefficient use of $$$, space, attention. if someone had NO classical music in their home, there are worse introductions, sure, but for the Serious Listening Artist...

pass. You can get the same rep cheaper elsewhere & explore great swaths of repertoire Decca/Vienna was too lame to even consider recording.

[Stefan Wood]

I need to hear the Wand Bruckner. I have had the Skrowaczewski Oehms box and was deeply disappointed by it. I don't know if it is the recordings, which I find to be cooly distant, or the performances, which range from very good to unexpectedly bland. I have heard some earlier concerts that he had conducted, with different orchestras in the 70s and 80s, and they blow away the performances in this box. The Tinter Bruckner is awful, just overrated, with only the early symphonies (0, 00, 2) having some redeeming qualities. Look for Van Beinum on Decca (though not complete), the Brilliant Bruckner symphonies box (with wild performances conducted by Rogner), or above all, the Knappertsbusch cycle on Music & Arts.

[MomsMobley]

I need to hear the Wand Bruckner. I have had the Skrowaczewski Oehms box and was deeply disappointed by it. I don't know if it is the recordings, which I find to be cooly distant, or the performances, which range from very good to unexpectedly bland. I have heard some earlier concerts that he had conducted, with different orchestras in the 70s and 80s, and they blow away the performances in this box. The Tinter Bruckner is awful, just overrated, with only the early symphonies (0, 00, 2) having some redeeming qualities. Look for Van Beinum on Decca (though not complete), the Brilliant Bruckner symphonies box (with wild performances conducted by Rogner), or above all, the Knappertsbusch cycle on Music & Arts.

i credit your deadpan perversity here SW & I say that as someone w/ DOZENS of hours of Knappertsbusch at hand, lotsa Wagner, natch, some Bruckner... but I wouldn't recommend his AB be anyone's first or second or likely even third recording of a given work... what's next, Kabasta & Abdendroth?

For $1-3 a pop, Tintner is worthwhile, sometimes better, that reminds me of Celibidache & Asahaina but, speaking of perversity, though Celi has that in spades & sometimes sounds "scrumptious" in so doing, I'd hold off now.

best integrale that also fuels love/hate though most never saw it & few will be able to find it today is the mostly Eichorn (with some by Martin Sieghart (whose Schmidt 4 on Chesky is "fucking delectable" according to Virgil Thomson) box with Bruckner Orch Linz on Japanese Camerata.

Obv. I mostly prefer individual issues in all the sym but the box economy will out.

Edited November 13, 2014 by MomsMobley

[Stefan Wood]

I need to hear the Wand Bruckner. I have had the Skrowaczewski Oehms box and was deeply disappointed by it. I don't know if it is the recordings, which I find to be cooly distant, or the performances, which range from very good to unexpectedly bland. I have heard some earlier concerts that he had conducted, with different orchestras in the 70s and 80s, and they blow away the performances in this box. The Tinter Bruckner is awful, just overrated, with only the early symphonies (0, 00, 2) having some redeeming qualities. Look for Van Beinum on Decca (though not complete), the Brilliant Bruckner symphonies box (with wild performances conducted by Rogner), or above all, the Knappertsbusch cycle on Music & Arts.

i credit your deadpan perversity here SW & I say that as someone w/ DOZENS of hours of Knappertsbusch at hand, lotsa Wagner, natch, some Bruckner... but I wouldn't recommend his AB be anyone's first or second or likely even third recording of a given work... what's next, Kabasta & Abdendroth?

For $1-3 a pop, Tintner is worthwhile, sometimes better, that reminds me of Celibidache & Asahaina but, speaking of perversity, though Celi has that in spades & sometimes sounds "scrumptious" in so doing, I'd hold off now.

best integrale that also fuels love/hate though most never saw it & few will be able to find it today is the mostly Eichorn (with some by Martin Sieghart (whose Schmidt 4 on Chesky is "fucking delectable" according to Virgil Thomson) box with Bruckner Orch Linz on Japanese Camerata.

Obv. I mostly prefer individual issues in all the sym but the box economy will out.

No to Kabasta or Abendroth. Zzzzzzz. I have heard individual Eichorn discs and yeah, love it. Individual discs are the way to go. I like my Bruckner full blooded and hot, not Celibidache lethargic. I want to be blindsided by those Alpine slopes in all their glory, and tumble down the steep cliffs in an avalanche. Boulez conducting the 8th is unexpectedly brilliant. Wildner instead of Tinter on Naxos, the 3rd and 9th are excellent, especially the 9th with the semi restored conclusion. Konwitschny's Bruckner is my first choice, though not a complete cycle, on Memories, which is available on Berkshire Music for about $24, for 6 discs, and is a freaking bargain for the quality of music you get.

Edited November 13, 2014 by Stefan Wood

[bogdan101]

Don't skip Furtwangler.

[Bigshot]

I need to hear the Wand Bruckner.

There are something like four different Wand complete cycles. All good. I particularly like the DVD set. They have it at Berkshire for dirt cheap (all except 4 which you have to get from Amazon)

Edited November 14, 2014 by Bigshot

[Stefan Wood]

I'm looking at the one with the Kolner Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra. But will listen to samples first.

[RiRiIII]

I'm looking at the one with the Kolner Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra. But will listen to samples first.

All in this dirt cheap box:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0069EOZT8/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Stefan Wood]

Can't be shipped to the US. Plus, I don't want his Beethoven and other stuff.

[Bigshot]

Wand is a fantastic conductor. That box has many treasures beyond just the Bruckner.

[Larry Kart]

Perahia is frequently insipid & has devoted a career of vast privilege to but occasionally diverting dead horse non-invention.

Artur Schnabel didn't record contemporary music, true, but he composed it and, in his amazing Mozart cadenzas, performed it.

"Pathetic," on further thought, is an understatement. There's a HUGE plurality of very good to great to genius classical piano music written in the last 70 years and Murray peforms, records, promotes NONE of it? Fucking none?

Yet he's fucking pianist who will, however, waste his time & everyone's butchering Bach, Handel, Scarlatti on a piano. If he played harpsichord and virginal, would he likewise ignore Martinu and Roberto Gerhard? (Analogy not exact, none are.)

OK, Anthony Braxton isn't under-recorded (to say the least) but why not Murray performing Beethoven + Braxton, that would be the "safe," establishment (AB highly lauded, puts dots on paper) choice.

Or if not AB, why not George Walker? Largely ignored save the stalwart Albany label. Can't begin to imagine why George Walker would be underknown but wait three seconds & I'm sure someone might whisper that he's "difficult." (Code for ???)

I'm not bothering to look it up but maybe Murray has been commissioning new work & for whatever reasons, just doesn't perform/record it? OK, that's something... if true. (Which I doubt but I could be wrong.)

The intro is (way) too long but this wonderful Charles Rosen lecture starts at 11:30--

If Murray can find so little in contemporary life to engage him, what makes anyone think his engagement with the past is any more inspired or empathetic?

George Walker's Trombone Concerto is excellent.

[Van Basten II]

Westminster Legacy boxset (The North-American one) for about 57 Euros with shipping from Amazon.it

If you match it with another set to reduce the shipping fees it becomes a great deal.

http://www.amazon.it/Westminster-Legacy-Various-Artists/dp/B00GBJVK0S/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1416671993&sr=1-1&keywords=westminster+legacy

[mjzee]

Martha Argerich: 5 Classic Albums. $8.96 + shipping from an Amazon reseller.

[Dave Garrett]

Horowitz - Complete Original Jacket Collection at Amazon for $116.19 (will be in stock on December 12):

http://www.amazon.com/Vladimir-Horowitz--Complete-Original-Collection/dp/B002P3J3BW/

[Van Basten II]

Now up at 176 $ . Remains at 121 $ on Amazon.ca but no stock available

[Van Basten II]

Just received it, the Horowitz that is.

Wagner Great recordings., 16 bucks for 40 cd, maybe not the best box but still.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A2JTEHY/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00A2JTEHY&linkCode=as2&tag=bonsplanscl06-20&linkId=FWMXCFLIEHAUH3UO

Edited December 16, 2014 by Van Basten II

[Chuck Nessa]

RCA's big Fritz Reiner box now $118.19 at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BT70J0Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 .

[jazzbo]

Thanks for that notice Chuck, I shouldn't have but ordered it, will be fun to go through with Dad.

[Stefan Wood]

It's a good box set. I'm listening to the Monteux set currently.

[Van Basten II]

With taxes and the rest, it goes here to 154 $, should I or shouldn't I ?

[ejp626]

With taxes and the rest, it goes here to 154 $, should I or shouldn't I ?

I have it and like it, but it isn't the amazing value for me as it might be for others, since I have Living Stereo sets 1 and 2. If you have both of those (or even #1), then the calculus becomes different.

[Van Basten II]

New Bernstein Sony box at only 68 pounds

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00LL4U1TE/ref=pe_109191_60234851_pe_epc__1p_7_ti

[jazzbo]

Tokyo Quartet revisited the Beethoven String Quartets and really good price for 8 (hybrid) SACDs:

http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Complete-Quartets-Tokyo-Quartet/dp/B00L5J4PYC/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1420496948&sr=1-1&keywords=Tokyo+Quartet+Beethoven+SACD

[JSngry]

Ran Blake, composing for the MIT Wind Ensemble, that ain't gonna be on no jazz label, and so far on just one classical label - Albany.

Is it "great"? Hell if I know (or, at this point, care). I do know that it has Ran Blake characteristics running all through it, and the transmission of those characteristics to wind ensemble gets a little Ives-ian to get into it, and that's a good afternoon's worth of provocatation going forth right there, so once again, thanks Albany!

http://www.albanyrecords.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=AR&Product_Code=TROY1016&Category_Code=a-BS

Not THAT John Carter, but THAT Valerie Capers: http://www.albanyrecords.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=AR&Product_Code=TROY387&Category_Code=a-BS

Albany is the label of Never Assume Anything Until You've Looked Here.

Oh yeah, $1.99 @ Berkshire. Bargain.