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Classical music bargains


Д.Д.

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The Nat set is great-- likewise the Cziffra (if you like Liszt), Marcelle Meyer and Samson Francois. There are jewels in the Aldo Ciccolini but whether anyone needs THREE Satie cycles by the same pianist...

ALSO-- just got shipping notice on the Bernstein Symphony Edition, which I'd held off on last year and then it was gone.

At current exchange rate it comes to $101 or so shipped to the farm--

https://www.amazon.de/Bernstein-Symphony-Leonard/dp/B003Z9Q4WG

Oddly, on Amazon.com, there's now a third party seller w/ Amazon fulfillment hustling these for $187... where they came from I dunno.

Also, typically, there's no goddamn indication this will come out again in the U.S.

SIDENOTE: greatest Puccini opera many have never heard = LA RONDINE

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The Nat set is great-- likewise the Cziffra (if you like Liszt), Marcelle Meyer and Samson Francois. There are jewels in the Aldo Ciccolini but whether anyone needs THREE Satie cycles by the same pianist...

That may be the problem with those mega sets, do you really need all those cds instead of buying and appreciating music, you feel more like shopping in a Costco center . Let's see I'll take 2 boxes of 40 cds of Bach a 15 cd pack of Bernstein and hey are the Goulds in special I'm running low for the weekend .

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I have one CD from this set - Utopia Triumphans - and I found it nearly unlistenable due to muddy recording quality (recorded in a church in a very "distant" manner - and these are large choirs), with hissing sounds that vocalists make when they hit the consonants overpowering the music (but this is a common problem I have with early choral music, in live settings in particular - I would rather have them singing in vowels only :) ).

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Just ran across these (might have overlooked them upthread) and they are awfully tempting.

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Giulini in Chicago (EMI)

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Giulini in America-Chicago (DG)

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Giulini in America - LA (DG)

The first one is cheapest on Amazon.com

The second two Amazon.co.uk seems cheaper than Amazon.com or Blowitoutahere, even with shipping.

I imagine I'll be scarfing these up soon.

Edited by ejp626
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Not sure when this came out, but it looks like another winner, with an interesting mix of warhorses (Mozart, Beethoven, Shubert's Trout), slightly less frequently heard pieces, particularly various Octets, and mid-Twentieth C. chamber music. Again, almost certainly will pick this up. (At the moment, Amazon.co.uk may be the cheapest.)

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Melos

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The 100 cd set Russian pianist set is back at 60 Euros at Amazon France.

You mean Russian Legends: Legendary Russian Soloists, I guess: http://www.amazon.fr/L%C3%A9gendaires-Solistes-Russes-Si%C3%A8cle-Coffret/dp/B000T2ONOI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316676204&sr=8-1

It's a good box. I mean, I didn't care for 1/3 of what I heard in it (Shafran, Rostropovich, big part of Kremer), but other stuff is fantastic (Tretiakov, Gilels, Richter) so I found it still a good value. And I am only 1/2 through. What is worht mentionning is htat the sound quality is surprisingly good, although no-noised perhaps.

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On the subject of Monteverdi, I've seen a

9-CD box set of the complete operas on Brilliant Classics.

Looks interesting, but I don't yet know enough about the recordings to put it on any wish lists. I've seen two of the three operas live and really dig them.

[Added] 4-CD Vespers set less than USD 10 used.

Any other Monteverdi suggestions welcome...

Edited by T.D.
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Thank you, Д.Д. Just ordered. This is a fantastic set at fantastic value. Any one of these disks if purchased separately would normally cost you more.

Just got my copy, looking forward to listening to it. The packaging is minimal - just the track list.
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On the subject of Monteverdi, I've seen a

9-CD box set of the complete operas on Brilliant Classics.

Looks interesting, but I don't yet know enough about the recordings to put it on any wish lists. I've seen two of the three operas live and really dig them.

[Added] 4-CD Vespers set less than USD 10 used.

Any other Monteverdi suggestions welcome...

I have L'Incoranzione di Poppea on Brilliant (it's 4-CDs). I liked it, but I have nothing to compare with. The recording quality is excellent, the instrumentalists I liked a lot (this is a small chamber group on period instruments), but some of the vocalists are merely mediocre. Please note that the whole thing is very very slow. My assumption is this is not the best performance out there.

There is a budget 7-CD Monteverdi madrigals box just released on EMI (Consort of Musickle / Anthony Rooley, originallly on Virgin): http://www.amazon.de/Madrigali-Rooley/dp/B005AAVFH2/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1317029549&sr=1-2

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Lorin Maazel - Great Recordings (30 CDs) - EMI - €50 at amazon.de

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Thank you, Д.Д. Just ordered. This is a fantastic set at fantastic value. Any one of these disks if purchased separately would normally cost you more.

Just got my copy, looking forward to listening to it. The packaging is minimal - just the track list.

Listened to the Rameu (solo harpsichord) CD - it's outstanding. The works are beautiful, and the performance is fantastic, and I think I never heard harpsichord sounding this good on record.

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The Nat set is great-- likewise the Cziffra (if you like Liszt), Marcelle Meyer and Samson Francois. There are jewels in the Aldo Ciccolini but whether anyone needs THREE Satie cycles by the same pianist...

That may be the problem with those mega sets, do you really need all those cds instead of buying and appreciating music, you feel more like shopping in a Costco center . Let's see I'll take 2 boxes of 40 cds of Bach a 15 cd pack of Bernstein and hey are the Goulds in special I'm running low for the weekend .

Yes I never bought a mega-set. It's not only because I never have the time. Like you say it is something about appreciation. When box sets started getting cheaper it was wonderful, and it is great thing that the basic repertoire is available cheaply often in great editions. I tend to think that if I was actually going to work through the Bach Cantatas (say, and I am not) I wouldn't buy on price but on preference. If you are going to spend time with music do you really want it to be decided by the bulk-buy pricing?

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Thank you, Д.Д. Just ordered. This is a fantastic set at fantastic value. Any one of these disks if purchased separately would normally cost you more.

Just got my copy, looking forward to listening to it. The packaging is minimal - just the track list.

So, there is no liner notes, etc.? That's rather sad. I thought they just repackaged 5 separate CDs in one box. But for that price i guess one can't complain.

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Not a super-mega bargain, but a good deal nonetheless as long as you like the late Renaissance vocal music:

Tomas Luis de Victoria - Sacred Works (10CDs) (Archiv) - £31 at amazon.co.uk

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In my basket - those were released in Spain only and I had been hoping for a box set, having heard Noone on Glossa.

Meantime, now the Belohlavek tops the Martinu list, Brilliant fight back on amazon with a £5 bargain on their Jarvi Martinu symphonies set (from BIS). The Belohlavek is really good but these symphonies are not much to my taste, personally.

Edited by David Ayers
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