T.D.

It is a steal, and Oistrakh is one of the greats, so there's nothing unrefined about it! I think these EMI mega-sets are exceptional bargains, but the problem for me is that they include wide selections of repertoire. At my (lowbrow) level of classical erudition/listening, I fear this could result in CDs that I seldom/never listen to due to duplication.

After reading this thread, I bought another thrift-shop changer for a spare. Marantz CC-65 5-disc model w. remote for $30, works perfectly.

RIP. One of the few celebrities I've encountered in person. Years ago (1990s), while walking on 57th St. between 7th Ave. and Broadway (en route to the old Coliseum Books in NYC), I noticed that seemingly everybody passing me in the opposite direction (I mean dozens of people, it was kind of amazing) was crowing "That was Peter Falk!" When I reached B'way and was waiting for the light to change, I saw that Peter Falk had been walking a few feet in front of me. He looked tanned and pretty good, though a tad older than he appeared on TV at the time. I moved on and didn't say anything. Not much of an anecdote, but it illustrates something about the nature of celebrity...

Dude, you called it above re. "Ilyadelphia"...

Thanks. I didn't doubt your assertions, and I've seen talk of the glove weakness all over sports websites. It just seems extremely weird to me that a world-class goaltender (or at least marginally world-class; he did play a critical Olympic gold-medal match, although he went into the tourney as Canada's backup) would have a fairly glaring flaw in that area.

I no longer have TV, so didn't see any of the games, but all this talk of Luongo's weakness high on the glove side is very puzzling, even paradoxical... I played hockey until age 40 (granted, at rec. league level), and we of course didn't have scouting books, but glove side high was always the very last place I'd think of shooting, on any goaltender. Kids of my generation grew up playing a lot of sports (including of course baseball), and a decent glove hand was pretty much a given. I'd almost go so far as to say that a goalie with a subpar glove must be lacking some of the basic hand-eye coordination required to be a good keeper.

Excellent point on the DVD players. I have one and find that it plays great (other system uses DAC and thrift-shop changer transport). Very few CD players are now being manufactured, unless you want to go for "high-end audiophile"-type CD players (not my bag), so if you want to buy new, DVD is the way to go (IMO of course).

Hey, maybe Bozo-like Islander "GM" Mike Milbury (possibly the worst sports executive I've ever seen) was onto something when he made the oft-ridiculed trade (self-fleecing) of Luongo from the Island! Tougher to defend the Chara trade (and some others), though...

Cleaning disc is worth a try. I play cleaning discs every month or two, as a precautionary measure. In my experience, skipping due to dirt on the lens (cleanable) is much more sporadic than what you're describing. I suspect "the laser is shot" (this has happened to me a few times over the years), and that the player is history. I concur with the previous poster who advocated disposable/commodity-like CD players. An alternative is to use a DAC and employ a disposable/commodity-like player as a transport. Thrift shops (Goodwill, etc.) can be good sources...

Could it possibly be anyone other than Luongo? I'd be amazed if he didn't start G7. If the dude could play in the Oly finals, seems you've gotta stick with him here.

I've run across quite a few bargain sets from EMI France, which I imagine would be very cheap in Europe. They have distinctive covers, for example (this one is $15 and change in USA for 8 CDs, though I suspect it'd meet with Clem's disapproval)

In the middle of this long Q/A session with GM Levon Aronian, there's the following interesting jazz-related passage: bebop тorway: - Comparing your chess style with jazz, who would you be? I guess Magnus Carlsen is somewhat like Thelonius Monk – simple but yet very complex! (CiT) I’ll respond using too many words, but please bear in mind the mitigating circumstance that I’ve got a maniacal affection for jazz. Given that Thelonius had fame and recognition only among his colleagues, while the critics had difficulty understanding his ideas, he’s probably better reflected in the chess world by Michael Adams, while Magnus himself is more likely Tony Williams – a prodigy and trendsetter. It’s a difficult task for me to compare myself to anyone. My natural modesty means it’s hard for me to name Joe Henderson or Booker Little. So as not to disappoint you, I’ll give a short list of other comparisons. Let’s start with one close to my heart. Vassily Ivanchuk, in my opinion, is Ornette Coleman – that same universality and great influence on other players. Bent Larsen is somehow similar to Roland Kirk. A great melodist (positional player), whose play was extravagant. Vasily Smyslov could very well be represented by Grant Green. A harmonious manner of play and wonderful technique. I associate Tigran Petrosian with Warne Marsh. A unique style of play which, it seemed, was too calm and dull, while in reality it was deep and cunning.

A couple of days ago, I lobbed in a low eBay bid, not expecting to win, but wound up with a nice box for $12.99 shipped: "Beethoven: Les Concertos", 4 French EMI CDs of Beethoven piano/violin ctos (and triple cto and Romances for violin) with Gilels and Oistrakh (Oborin on the Triple Cto and Milstein on the Romances)... Can't find a picture link that'll post. (BTW, the long-time r.m.c.r. stalwart Simon Roberts seems to be auctioning off a lot of good recordings these days.)

Wow. Chess? Interesting! Too bad I no longer live in the NYC area. Hope everyone has a great time.

Not sure if this is what you are looking for but there are 4 Mozart sonatas here on 1 CDMozart and 10 Beethoven sonatas on 3 CDs here Beethoven The Beethoven sonatas are also available on Brilliant for even less: Brilliant Beethoven Oddly, the Brilliant are reissuing a mono version and the Decca is in stereo. At least according to some of the more informed reviewers. Of course, some of the same reviewers claim the balance on these sets is way off, so who knows. Thanks. That Philips Mozart sonata disc is the one I own (and it's fantastic). I think the EMI box contains additional Mozart sonatas, not sure how/where they were initially released (otherwise I'd have bought the recording long ago). I hadn't seen the Brilliant Beethoven box at that price! All kinds of sound quality claims were made in the customer reviews of the EMI Beethoven sonata box, so if the Brilliant is really mono, its sound quality may be preferable. OTOH, some of the Amazon sound quality carpers didn't strike me as the most trustworthy reviewers.

I bought a cheapo 10-CD box (Michelangeli, on Aura rather than Documents). No complaints: the sound quality is better than I expected, and the timings are much more generous than mentioned in the Haskil's customer review. But the Haskil works I really want are the Beethoven and Mozart violin/piano sonatas with Grumiaux (currently have only one CD of Mozart on Philips). That points to the big EMI box rather than this one, but 17 CDs seems excessive for me (for various reasons)...

I just noticed that Berkshire Record Outlet (I'm on their e-mail list) has the Opus Kura remastered cello suites with Casals.

I think I've heard the name before, but know nothing about him. There's no shortage of good recordings of the repertoire on that box, that's for sure. FWIW, I googled and found some enthusiastic remarks on a classical music forum I don't frequent... [Added] I also found some enthusiastic comments on r.m.c.r., including sources I trust (e.g. Nicolas Hodges, Jan Winter), although there's a bit of a suggestion that Egorov's live recordings might be preferable to the studio efforts.

I'll fess up here... Bought "Bylsma I" years ago (c. 1997) as a present. Shopped around a lot in those days, and at that time I perceived a distinct critical preference (both published critics and Internet forum posters) for the earlier set. I'll just cite one r.m.c.r post here. I wound up ripping a copy of Bylsma I and love it (at that time I owned just the Philips Duo with Maurice Gendron), but I have not heard Bylsma II (though I imagine it couldn't exactly be chopped liver), and was just parroting the received opinions I found in the 1990s. Sorry.

Glad to see Haskil mentioned. I'm not interested in going the "complete" route (too much other unheard classical to explore...). Have recordings of a few PCs with Casadesus(/Szell) and Michelangeli. Thinking of filling in some gaps with either Haskil (couple of recent boxes) or more Casadesus. Leaning toward Haskil at this point due to other material (esp. with Grumiaux - I have only one of their Philips Mozart discs, which is truly awesome) in the boxes. Would appreciate being warned off any horrendous blunders [Disclosure: I like Brendel's playing and have several of his solo Mozart recordings, but don't want to concentrate on any one pianist here].

"Clara Haskil Edition", 17 CDs for $43. Even though a lot of the material is on various Membran releases... [With all the recent music business mergers, I'm having trouble following the labels; here "Decca" also includes Philips and DG]

PM sent on 6 George Wallington The Prestidigitator

This isn't quite bargain level ($21 and change for 3 CDs), and the music may not be to everyone's taste (I like it, but don't listen that often), but the long OOP 3-disc set of Scelsi's orchestral/choral music with Wyttenbach conducting (originally 3 separate CDs on Accord) has been re-issued:

Yeah, I want to hear the opinions. I reckon I can deal with any possible "pretentiousness", so long as the people involved have actually listened to the recordings in question. [Aside: I once lurked on a classical music forum where it gradually became clear that one of the most prolific commentors on /recommenders of "contemporary" recordings (he's all over the Amazon reviews, btw) had the disconcerting habit of pontificating on recordings he'd never heard... ]

Thanks for the feedback on the Katchen/Brahms! I'll soon be ordering (have gone on a bit of a binge lately, need some time to listen to recent acquisitions...). Here's a nice-looking box I just found, 6 CDs for $22.99 from Newbury Comics via Amazon: I have a lot of Grumiaux's Mozart and Bach recordings, and am very fond of his playing. Looks like there isn't too much overlap with this set, and I already own only the Bach works with Jaccottet on harpsichord.