[Classical music bargains]

I like how on the back cover they've turned Stoki's 1929 version from a 78 to a 45.

[Classical music bargains]

Try Amazon Japan. I've got it on order for under $100 there.

[Classical music bargains]

Got my Van Cliburn box in today. Nice set!

Seconded enthusiastically!

[Classical music bargains]

Sony's excellent 60 CD Vivarte box of HIP recordings is on preorder sale at Amazon.de for just over $75 shipped to the US.

http://www.amazon.de.../dp/B00AOTZ156/

Or if you prefer, you can spend 300 euro on it!

http://www.amazon.de/Vivarte-60cd-Collection-Classical-Series/dp/B004FTOU6W/

[Classical music bargains]

He was conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra in those recordings

[Classical music bargains]

I don't think so. I looked up several of the works in the short description of the link I provided and while they're all included, they seem to be the NBC versions (I only compared with my anally-retentive list, didn't yet dig out the shoebox as you call it).

They licensed them for the new box. That's one of the main differences between the old series and the new box. They refer to them as the BBC recordings.

[Classical music bargains]

Releasing at the same time as the Silverstri is a 6 CD set (for $4 more than the Silvestri for half the CDs!) of Toscanini (the Complete HMV Recordings). I assume no overlap with the huge RCA set, but hard to tell sometimes. I think I have enough Toscanni to digest for the moment.

Those BBC SO recordings are in the big Tosci shoebox

[DVD/SACD players]

SACDs really aren't worth the trouble. I prefer multichanel blurays. Sound is as good and you get picture too.

[Jazz on Film Box Sets]

I got them from the label at their website. It took a while because they shipped sea mail.

[DVD/SACD players]

The Oppo is great if you want multi region video. But if you just want to play domestic disks, you can get a $150 Sony bluray that has just as good sound quality and plays every format perfectly.

[Jazz on Film Box Sets]

I have both of these sets and they're fantastic. They appear to be soundtrack albums, not tracks pulled from the film itself. The sound quality is excellent and the booklets and boxes are great. Well worth getting.

[Classical music bargains]

Stoki in his 90s was more dynamic than many current conductors.

[How do you organize your digital classical collection?]

I rather put it into the album title (i.e. "Mozart: Piano Concerto K 491").

You can certainly put it wherever you want, but the vast majority of the tags in gracenote put the composer's name in front of the work in the song title.

[How do you organize your digital classical collection?]

There is a standard for tagging. You put the composer's name in front of the track title.

[Mono playback problem]

Early Columbia LPs were coarsegroove and required slightly larger stylii

[Suggest Some Wagner Instrumental Overture or Prelude Compilations]

I have a pile of Wagner orchestral collections. My favorite is Tennstedt.

As for Kenton, I don't particularly like Kenton Playing Kenton either. Hefti had a knack for making it sound like Kenton's band hadn't bothered to tune up.

[Erich Wolfgang Korngold]

I think that film music eclipsed classical music in the late 30s. The recreations of scores by Waxman, Korngold, Steiner, etc that have been released on CD are amazing.

[Are there any box bargains currently available?]

This is a great deal on the two 'Jazz on Film' box sets.

Highly recommend both of these wonderful sets.

http://moochinabout.com/store.html

I just got these in the mail and popped them in the player... SPECTACULAR! I'm in heaven!

[Any thoughts on the Yamaha RX-V671 receiver?]

I have one. It's wonderful.

[Are there any box bargains currently available?]

Got the 40 DVD complete Andy Griffith Show box for $50 at Amazon.

[Classical music bargains]

The Bernstein box is fantastic.

[Opera]

It helps to have a ten foot screen.

[Classical music bargains]

Here's a mega box mega bargain!

http://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B0091HVMVO/

[Classical music bargains]

Correct and I was the one who said that, mentioning excellent remasterings of EMI recordings by Naxos as an example.

Were you aware that the Naxos historical line is a public domain label that sources from commercially released shellac and vinyl records? Mark Obert Thorne does the same thing for Naxos that Membran's transfer guys do for them. The secret to great sound is the quality of the engineer doing the work, not the prestige of the label's name. A lot of the same guys who work for the major labels also provide masters to PD ones like Naxos and Membran.

I have a lot of records too... Tens of thousands of 78s and LPs. These CDs that cost a dollar apiece sound MUCH better than the records themselves. I've done some highly regarded digital restorations of historical recordings myself. The technology has grown by leaps and bounds in the past five years. You used to have to buy a CEDAR system that cost tens of thousands of dollars to do a good job of digital restoration. Now there are VST plugins that do the same thing for a tiny fraction of that price. Sound restoration is no longer the domain of big labels. Public domain labels like Membran are just as likely to do good work. It all depends on the engineer and the source records.

[Classical music bargains]

But why do I need to do that?

You don't need to do anything.you don't need to analyze or think about what you're hearing. You don't even need to listen to music. But music is my passion. I love to listen to it, learn about it and think about it. When I was a kid, I dreamed of being able to record and play back sound and video without degradation. Technology has gone so far beyond that, it's astounding. I have a collection of all kinds of music that no one, not even a millionaire would have been able to buy a generation earlier than me. I have a high definition projection system, so I have movies in my home. It just keeps getting better.