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No kidding. I've gotten a good price on a lot of these sets on sale, but, wow, in a few cases, I wish I had held back. The Mackerras EMI set for under $10! Ogdon for $32 (maybe not that much lower than I paid). They even have a good deal on the The Heifetz Piatigorsky Concerts RCA set that Ubu is thinking of (and I may spring for as well). It looks like the sale will go until the very first days of April, so I have a little while to make up my mind. Have any recommendations? Honestly, I have been happy with all the EMI Icon box sets I've picked up. Well, the recording quality on the first couple of disks of the Kreisler were off-putting and I ended up de-accessioning that one. I do think the Toscanini is redundant if you have the big shoebox set, but maybe not a bad idea if you don't. I'm not that interested in the Jochum set because I already have his Bruckner cycle and I don't need another Beethoven cycle, but if you are looking for those symphonies (paging Dr. Ubu!), this is a good way to go. I like the John Ogdon set because he goes into a lot of rarely recorded pieces. I also really like the Melos Ensemble box. (This is on sale, but doesn't seem reachable through the EMI sale page, but you should be able to find it here.) Let's see, I have the Richter, De Larrocha, Sir Colin Davis, Mackerras, Vernon Handley, Heiffetz, Guido Cantelli, and Silvestri boxes. I don't think I have the Fournier. I will double check and possibly order that.

Makes sense to me. I have three cats and no irons. I don't even golf... Ha Ha! And I bet at least one of your cats is fat. I know this thread is about cats/dogs and not Monopoly but the iron should have been replaced with a gold or silver bar. Iron has little value.........especially with all the wrinkle resistant fabrics available now. Quite a number of tokens have little to no relevance for today's children, though perhaps they didn't have that much relevance for us as children either. The shoe is incredibly old fashioned (though at least some versions of the game have a tennis shoe/sneaker/runner). Indeed, it is a button-hook type shoe. Family lore goes that my grandfather made these kind of shoes, and then went bankrupt when the shoelace craze swept the nation. (Apparently, he had some health issues that made it harder to make the changes to adapt.) So anytime anyone goes on about not feeling sorry for buggy-whip manufacturers or other free market losers, I just want to give them a little kick in the ankle. Good thing that when Obama was talking about downsizing the cavalry, he didn't say anything about the huge savings from not buying horse shoes, or he definitely would have lost my vote. Anyway, cats were the only pets I could have that fit my lifestyle (well, or gerbils I suppose, but let's not go there). I refuse to be chained down to the schedule of a dog and drop everything to come home to walk it. I realize that isn't as much of an issue in the 'burbs, but all these city dogs? Just crazy to me.

No kidding. I've gotten a good price on a lot of these sets on sale, but, wow, in a few cases, I wish I had held back. The Mackerras EMI set for under $10! Ogdon for $32 (maybe not that much lower than I paid). They even have a good deal on the The Heifetz Piatigorsky Concerts RCA set that Ubu is thinking of (and I may spring for as well). It looks like the sale will go until the very first days of April, so I have a little while to make up my mind.

I'm going with a strap for a knife he uses to fight off sharks. Or groupies. Same difference.

I think it's fine that she is doing well for herself. The business is the business. So I've seen her live and heard a couple of radio concerts. And her work leaves me absolutely cold. And the hype somehow does make it worse for me. I mean I don't dog her out in mixed company or anything, but if I can help it I won't listen to her again in this lifetime. Am I a "hater"? I guess so.

I do try to listen to different versions, but I am starting to wonder about how many versions do I need to own. Generally, one or two is sufficient, though with the rise of the mega box sets, I do have close to a dozen versions of Dvorak #9 and probably even more of Beethoven #5. Sadly, Spotify and most of the other streaming services still haven't made it up here to Canada. Which means I often have to take the plunge and buy a CD if I want to listen to a different conductor's interpretation. The library does have access to the Naxos library and I am starting to indulge in that a bit more seriously.

Always been a cat person, but haven't had any since my son turned 1. (Had to give them up for unrelated reasons...) Am hoping in a few years to be back in a place where I can keep a cat or two. (Vancouver landlords are notoriously anti-pet, and they definitely have the upper hand out here!)

Well, it is pretty hard to just keep up with forthcoming CDs, since after some time, the ones in the thread will just be new and not forthcoming. I also don't follow classical enough to be on lists where I get up and coming releases. Thus, I'm going to bend the rules a bit (i.e cheat) and consider CDs less than 1 year old as well. This one was pretty interesting: Orango by Shostokovich conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.

I have to admit without access to Netflix (for me streaming just doesn't cut it) or a local DVD shop, I kind of go 6 months between checking the Criterion/Eclipse releases. There are certainly some interesting Eclipse sets, including Robert Downey Sr. and one on key films of the Czech New Wave. Maybe by now my library will have them. They do have many of the older Eclipse sets. Anyway, there is a promising upcoming Eclipse set called Masaki Kobayashi Against the System, but I think I'd only really like two of the films enough to watch a second time (let alone buy them): The Inheritance and Black River. Also, there is a box set coming from the regular Criterion line in April that looks even more interesting: Pierre Etaix. From the product description: "This collection includes all of his films, including five features, The Suitor (1962), Yoyo (1965), As Long as You've Got Your Health (1966), Le grand amour (1969), and Land of Milk and Honey (1971)." I may actually pre-order this one, though I'll have to figure out some new shipping arrangements.

Until about ten years ago, I could never get more than a few pages into any Dickens book. Apparently, as I got older, someone changed the content of the books as I enjoy them now... Same thing happened with me about eight years ago with Trollope. Beginning with "The Eustace Diamonds" -- a lucky choice because the central figure, Lizzie Eustace, is such a fascinatingly detailed and psychologically plausible (by any standard) "monstrous" character that the notion that Trollope was complacent or a fuddy-duddy was instantly erased. Since then I've read a lot of Trollope with unfailing pleasure; he's one of the greats IMO. I'd read "Barchester Towers' in college because I had to and had no clue at the time; Trollope's probably not for guys in their early 20s. I think Trollope is almost criminally overlooked. I find that it takes a week or so to really adjust to Trollope's rythmes. Probably a slightly harder adjustment than Dickens. I basically read the Palliser series and one or two others. I do hope in a year or two to go through the others that I own (Barsetshire Chronicles, The Three Clerks, He Knew He Was Right, The Way We Live Now and a few others) and then maybe will be ready to reread the Pallisers (I did read them in my 20s and would pick up on very different aspects of the books now).

Touché. I rarely think about such things when deciding whom to listen to, esp. if the artist has passed on. For me, Mingus is the bigger challenge, since he did some awful things, esp. to a few fellow musicians, but his music is so important to me. On the whole, we probably do give artists too much leeway and buy into the tortured genius thing too much. (I personally thought the slant on the Turk article was very troubling.) At the same time, people have the right to draw their own lines in the sand. And there are a few artists I do refuse to listen to and certainly will not pay to see.

And I saw a man pigging out while walking!

I'm interested to know what/how many titles are on the Pettiford (13), Thomas (14) & Monk (16) discs - these will be mighty short if it's just the 10" tracks Does the Wilen (20) disc contain 15 titles as in the Vogue black digipak release (ie alternate takes) - BTW AFAIK this was never released as a 10" LP If the Wilen disc does contain all 15, it would be worth buying the box just for this disc - going for decent sums now This site seems to have a bit more detail: http://klassik.sonymusic.de/Various/Jazz-On-Vogue-The-Perfect-Collection-35-Original-Albums/P/2690812 The Konitz is 11 tracks (some alternate takes) and clocks in at closer to 35 minutes. There are a number of CDs that are really on the light side, including the Monk, Mulligan, the Schifrin, On the other hand, the Wilen does have all 15 tracks, and it appears to be a straight reissue of Tilt. I'm just torn. The presentation is so much nicer than what I have currently (and there is at least some material I don't have), but would it really have killed them to include some of the sets on the Bebop in Paris 1 and 2? The Foster, Gryce and McGhee sets are all fairly short and wouldn't have been out of place filling in some of the shorter CDs. I think I just have to hold back and see if the price comes down or a used set comes up before I take the plunge.

Another short piece here. Unless I am mistaken, Wyatt fell out a window at a party that Ayers' was throwing (maybe he was not the only person throwing the party?), which probably did put some massive and perhaps unspoken stresses on the friendship. There was some documentary about a Canadian athlete who was paralyzed in an auto accident (his friend was driving). The main focus was on how he became a powerful advocate for the disabled -- even traveling the Great Wall of China in his wheelchair -- but part of the story was how hard it was for the two to get past the guilt/anger and remain friends. Not that I am implying Ayers' ought to have felt guilty about Wyatt's condition, only that such feelings are common in tragic situations such as this.

I know this is totally a tangent, but I remember looking through the used CD rack and they were charging through the nose for a very marginal (but OOP) rock/pop CD. Yes, it was OOP, but even a quick glance at Amazon would tell you that the going rate was about $2! I have lost a lot of respect for DMG over the years and basically never even think of shopping on-line with them anymore. Even when I am in Manhattan, I rarely drop into the store.

That would be something. Not sure the most current composer they've done. I was going to say Lutoslawski, but that was an immersion thing, not Composer of the Week. They have done John Adams, I guess. And Philip Glass. Still not a likely choice. Anyway, I was wrong, at the moment, Max has two weeks and Fiona has two weeks on Late Junction (I vastly prefer his shows, but I still listen to hers). Assuming he hasn't pre-taped it, he might be able to add a track to tomorrow's show. I'll keep a look out.

I think Max Reindhardt's week is up at Late Junction at BBC Radio 3. (I think he has one week a month, but not sure.) Otherwise he would be fairly likely to do a tribute. I guess there's an outside chance Jazz on 3 will play a track or two off of a Soft Machine LP.

I just gotta have more hi-hat!

Maybe it is/was legit in Miles' eyes but still broke some copyright rules or not everyone on the recording was compensated. Or the Dragon release only covered one publication of the material and these subsequent releases aren't kosher. Or the radio company really has the rights but only for the Netherlands and not the rest of the EU. It could be anything, including perfectly legit. I don't know, nor do I worry too much about it. I do think a huge number of recordings, particularly live ones, have a question mark hanging over them, and in most cases the purchaser really doesn't know if it 100% legit or not. I've stopped worrying overmuch about it.

If the radio stations don't own the rights of their Miles Davis recordings and don't have the right to license them, then why didn't the actual owners for instance stop the Dragon set, which was released way before the old 50-year EU copyright limit? As Kevin posted above they did so with other releases. Furthermore, as was discussed on this board (Lon's first link above), Miles got royalty payments from Dragon and thanked them for it; I don't think that would have happened if the release had been illegit. Why don't copyright holders stop Amazon from selling PD material that shouldn't be brought into the US? Sometimes the fight isn't worth it. Just because they haven't stopped this release doesn't prove it's legit, esp. if it just slipped under the wire for PD status in the EU.

I do find it rather droll that in virtually any discussion that turns to the avoidance of bootlegs or grey market because the artist doesn't get a penny from them, in nearly all cases once you start digging the artist and/or estate still wouldn't get the money for one reason or another and it "should" be going to the label. If we were truly concerned about artists not being fairly compensated and boycotted all the morally grey cases, we would be restricted to a very small number of recordings indeed.

I really only went for the Elgar, and it did make the concert worthwhile. I believe this is the 2nd time I've seen it performed. Well, there are always exceptions, but honestly, I don't care for Bruckner or Mahler and generally prefer the Shostakovich pieces that are under an hour. Not even that taken by Beethoven's 9th. All of them could have been edited down and improved. It's obviously a personal preference, but I think anything that needs to be said and expressed in a piece of music can be conveyed in that amount of time. I find that even among the relative elite lay folk that attend concerts, 45 minutes is the limit beyond which you can't even recall how the piece started. Furthermore, an awful lot of recent pop and jazz albums would be better and certainly tighter if they stuck to 45-50 minutes.

Saw the VSO doing Delius's Brigg Fair, Britten's Violin Concerto, and Elgar's Enigma Variations. The Delius was ok and I quite enjoyed the Elgar. I did not care for the Britten, neither the performance nor the piece itself. It had all these interminable false endings, like I was watching Jackson's Lord of the Rings. I just wanted the f'ing performance to be over and it went on and on. With only a few exceptions, I really think concertos should bow out at 20-25 minutes max and symphonies should strive for 45 minutes. This was at least 30 minutes, moving into 35 minute territory. And I just thought all the super high pitched playing didn't do much or go anywhere interesting. It didn't help that this was right in the middle of the Passacaglia. A few modern composers have been able to get away with this high pitched playing, like Messiaen or Shostakovich in the early String Quartets, but usually only as the very ending of the piece. It is too hard to retreat from this and then keep the piece moving forward. There was one amusing moment, however, where the violin player takes the melody, such as it was, up into the rafters, and then it was taken over by the piccolo. A bit more of that, and I might have been a bit more open to the piece. Anyway, this is definitely a composition I will avoid in the future.

Really wasn't trying to nit-pick. The Interpretations of Monk is a really interesting grouping of sets.

While this is certainly an interesting project, I don't think it really qualifies, given that each set is from a different group and you don't have any sense of the group settling down into a medium-length residency at a club. At least I thought that was what was being discussed. Certainly some of these sets don't really qualify. Not precisely the same but the Goodman Madhattan Room Broadcasts might be of interest. Not sure there is a legit source for them at the moment (as a box set that is).