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Classical Bargain Box Sets

I've now reached the half-way point in this epic 50 Great Recordings box set having just listened to, er, disc 25 - Pini di Roma, Feste Romane and Fontane di Roma by Respighi, for what it's worth. There are four discs I won't play again as the music or performance wasn't my cup of tea: Disc 3, Beethoven Piano Concertos 3 and 4; Disc 9, Presenting Montserrat Caballé; Disc 14, Mahler songs performed by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau with Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin PO; and Disc 16, Scarlatti Sonatas performed by Andreas Staier.

I'm surprised that I didn't take to the Mahler CD as I love most of his songs as well as most of his symphonies; I think the fact that the singer wasn't Fritz Wunderlich - or, for that matter, Bridgette Fassbaender - meant that his efforts were destined to fall on deaf ears unless he could truly sum the spirit of Mahler himself. Sadly he summed neither the Spirit of Mahler nor the spirit of the songs themselves. Oh well.

There have been a few hits along the way, however. I really enjoyed Disc 8, Fritz Wunderlich Recitals (despite there being an audio glitch in one or two of the later tracks), and Disc 15, Motzart Mass in C Minor (Abbado-Berlin PO), as well as a few others. The remaining fifteen or so are in the compatible zone.

I bought the box set in July 2017 so you can expect an update on the second half sometime in late-Spring or early-Summer 2018 :)



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Not being familiar with it, I liked the Scriabin Piano Concerto extract on Record Review this morning: searching revealed this https://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/classical/products/8059600--scriabin-complete-works at £33.80 + £1.50 (expires on Monday) and this https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_17?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=scriabin for only slightly more. Both cheap for 18 cds.

The dilemma, as usual, is whether to go for the latest sota recording of two works on a single cd for around half the cost of 18. Or maybe both? :rolleyes:
 
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davidjt said:
The dilemma, as usual, is whether to go for the latest sota recording of two works on a single cd for around half the cost of 18. Or maybe both? :rolleyes:
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The second link goes to a multi-product page, so I'm not sure which disc is being referred to. The Decca box has a lot of Ashkenazy, which is good, but also a lot of Gordon Fergus-Thompson, which is not to the same standard. It's a grab bag overall, but for people unfamiliar with Scriabin, that is probably OK, and the set has the symphonies, though I'm not sure why Ashkenazy's complete cycle was not used. (From the multi-product page, the Maria Lettberg complete piano music box-set can be had for a nice price and is worth it.)
 
Be careful with Scriabin. There are an awful lot of bad performances of his works, especially his piano works, and I wouldn't go near that boxed set (The Ashkenazy performances are very good, and Grosvenor is one of the best young pianists out there, but the rest is pretty poor).
Treat yourself to some Sofronitsky or Richter...
 
That's worth knowing, thanks. I'll go for the R3 RR one I actually heard first. (I have 2 Richter boxes - great playing but variable recording quality unfortunately.)
 
been through the fabulous Shostakovich 5 and now marvelling at the Kogan disc

proper pleased with the set and excited to uncover more treasures

thanks for the heads up on the box

Dave
 



Eisenach posted about Llibre Vermell de Montserrat in the listening thread. This set comes out next month and includes that and other of Savall's goodies. The image links to Amazon UK, but the set is not ready for preorder yet.
 
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Todd A said:



Eisenach posted about Llibre Vermell de Montserrat in the listening thread. This set comes out next month and includes that and other of Savall's goodies. The image links to Amazon UK, but the set is not ready for preorder yet.
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This set includes the 8CDs that were in the Virgin box set Espana Antigua (5 61964 2) that was issued in 2001. The three additional cds over that set are numbers 2, 6 and 10.

If you don't already have these discs, they are very highly recommended.
 
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Coming in May.
 
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Not CDs but here are some BIS Box Set Redbook download bargains from Qobuz:

Sibelius : Complete Symphonies, Nos. 1-7 / Lahti Symphony Orchestra - Okko Kamu
https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/s...ti-symphony-orchestra-okko-kamu/7318599920764

Mendelssohn: The Complete Symphonies, String Symphonies and Concertos / Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra - Andrew Litton
https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/m...armonic-orchestra-andrew-litton/7318590020029

Debussy: The Solo Piano Works / Noriko Ogawa, piano
https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/debussy-the-solo-piano-works-noriko-ogawa-piano/7318591955566

Tchaikovsky: Orchestral Works including Symphonies 1-6 / Neeme Järvi
https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/t...ding-symphonies-1-6-neeme-jarvi/7318591897989

MOZART: Complete Piano Sonatas / Ronald Brautigam
https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/m...tas-the-wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/7318598358377
 
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