Classical "Mega" CD Box Sets

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by dajokr, Jan 28, 2012.

  1. Andy Dursin

    Andy Dursin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Providence RI
    Also was surprised to find a couple of out of print (?) Sony sets on Amazon.ca, pretty reasonable by today's standards (not the bargains they may have been years back, but not bad):

    Murray Perahia First 40 Years - $135 (US)
    https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B008NBEY3C/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB

    John Williams Guitarist - $175 (US)
    https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00UOFCG94/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&psc=1

    Doesn't include shipping but it's not outrageous (adds another $10-15)
     
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  2. Black Elk

    Black Elk Music Lover

    Location:
    Bay Area, U.S.A.
    Anyone interested in the technical side of recording/remastering may find this interesting:

    Equipment | Polyhymnia International

    I've worked with Philips Classics/Polyhymnia many times, and their custom electronics are really spiffy!




    Regarding the Mozart 225 box: can't remember whether it has been mentioned before, but it is all on TIDAL.
     
  3. likes2listen2beethoven

    likes2listen2beethoven Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ
    It would be nice to see a box set from Warner and from DG for Gavrilov also
     
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  4. likes2listen2beethoven

    likes2listen2beethoven Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ
    I was on the fence too. I fell off a few days ago and somehow I found myself ordering one.

    If you are seriously considering the Mozart 225, you may want to act soon. Looks like I purchased the last available copy from Amazon.com a few days ago and it is now showing a 1-2 month delay. It IS still available from other sources but the 15,000 series (not sure if that is total or for each language version) may be nearing the end.

    Hold on tight to that fence!!
     
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  5. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    It's Rubinstein, Ogdon, Katchen and Kempff. Just in case people want to do a search :)
     
  6. Andy Dursin

    Andy Dursin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Providence RI
    You are pushing me over lol. The Musicvaultz site in Canada has it for about $300 (US) shipped after the discount coupon.

    My guess it's better spending a little bit (or a lot) more on the 225 set than the Bargain Classics box. And also, probably, there aren't a lot of discounted prices on the 225 box these days -- especially if it's nearing the end of its print run.

    I really do enjoy all of my Mozart discs, and I'd probably get a lot of mileage out of it...hmmmmmm......
     
  7. Åke Bergvall

    Åke Bergvall Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mariestad, Sweden
    Thanks. Yes I did rattle off the names a bit too fast.
     
  8. DEVA

    DEVA Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brasil

    With regarding Classical Music recordings, price is not proportional with quality, there are a lot of cheap CD´s with amazing recordings while there are a lot of expensive CD´s with mediocre recordings. Now when it comes to Mozart box-sets... well... Comparing price Brilliant´s Mozart Complete Works costs 1/5 of Mozart 225. But comparing the overall quality, Brilliant box is 1/100 of Mozart 225 box. I sold my copy of Brilliant Mozart box 2 years ago, and will soon sell my Brilliant Bach box as well. Apologies for being so honest and direct but they are beyond comparison :)
     
  9. ClassicalCD

    ClassicalCD Make audio great again

    Location:
    Bogotá, Colombia
    I haven't listened to the Mozart Brilliant set, however I'm greatly enjoying my Haydn Brilliant one. I hope you're exaggerating or are already settled on your favorite versions.
     
  10. DEVA

    DEVA Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brasil
    Well I´m exagerating regarding the Bach box :).
    And the Haydn box happen to have my favourite set of his symphonies, the one with Adam Fischer.
    Now Mozart´s... hmmm :)
     
    ClassicalCD likes this.
  11. Phillip Walch

    Phillip Walch Forum Resident

    So who is excited for the Bach333 box? I am really excited to put all that music into one place but I am not excited about paying for it.
     
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  12. Jerry

    Jerry Grateful Gort Staff

    Location:
    New England
    Those that want to talk about politics will be gently escorted out of this room, starting now. No exceptions.

    PS. What Stravinsky piece is in the Salonen box? I saw his Firebird at Boston Symphony Hall a few years back and love his recordings. I think he bought Igor's house in California if I'm not mistaken. And also apropos of nothing, there's an interesting connection between Stravinsky and Warren Zevon that's worth looking into.
     
    Last edited: Aug 17, 2018
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  13. DEVA

    DEVA Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brasil
    Conductor based box-sets: Szell, Toscanini, Furtwangler, Karajan, Kubelik, Bernstein, Böhm, Solti, Monteaux, Reiner, Munch, Abbado, Dutoit, Wand, Stokowski, Gardiner, Jochum... a number of conductors have had either mega box-sets or at least comprehensive medium-sized box-sets dedicated to them in the past decade. Different styles so personal taste, emotional conections and old memories make each classical music lover to have his/hers own favorites. What are, according to your personal opinions, the most important conductor-based box-sets released in the past decade or so, sorted by preference? I let to yourselves the definition of "most important" in this context :). I hope this is not off-topic.
     
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  14. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    I think you mean Monteux :)

    You didn't mention one of my favourite conductors, Klemperer; EMI (now Warner) released several boxes a few years ago.
     
    Last edited: Aug 17, 2018
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  15. crispi

    crispi Vinyl Archaeologist

    Location:
    Berlin
    To me, the Fricsay box(es). So many great performances, and a lot of interesting music not much recorded by anyone else.

    I would also mention the Kubelík box, but I didn’t get that one since I already had a many of the recordings.
     
  16. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    Yes, Fricsay is a must, at least Vol.1 with his orchestral recordings. An underrated and now almost forgotten conductor with an excellent body of work. The Monteux San Francisco box is also excellent, and I'm glad I got the big Reiner and Munch boxes. I don't have the big Toscanini box, too many operas; I got a few Toscanini separates instead. As for Furtwängler, the Membran box is a disaster as far as I'm concerned. Bad sound, and very mixed performances, varying from good to bad. I also got Furtwängler separates instead, especially on Tahra and Furtwängler Société CDs. I have the Kubelík and Abbado Symphony boxes, and feel no need right now to get their bigger sets; both have too much stuff I don't really care for. The Cluytens box is very nice.
     
    Last edited: Aug 17, 2018
  17. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    The conductors that made many recordings before WWII would be of historic importance. But that doesn't take into account the taste of the listener and sound quality (usually the best sound comes from buying individual CDs on specialized labels), so it's all subjective.
     
  18. HDOM

    HDOM Well-Known Member

    Ps. Thank you for the i
    You said: i dont think any boxes are mafe whit tubes you :doh: didnt said any orchestra boxes :tsk: so that is why i answer:

    Because that Miles is a box set! :agree:
     
  19. Åke Bergvall

    Åke Bergvall Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mariestad, Sweden
    The violin concerto with Cho-Liang Lin (the only Stravinsky CD in the box I have had time to listened to, a fine version IMHO that makes me eager to hear the rest, which is) Petrushka, Orpheus, The Firebird, Jeu de cartes, Le Sacre, Symphony in 3 Movements, Pulcinella (whole ballet), Ragtime, Renard, Octet, Capriccio, Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, and Movements (all three with Paul Crossly), Symphonies of Wind Instruments, Apollon musagète, Concerto in D, Cantata, and Oedipus Rex.
     
    Jerry likes this.
  20. David*M

    David*M Forum Resident

    An overview of the upcoming Oscar Levant set...

     
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  21. likes2listen2beethoven

    likes2listen2beethoven Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ
    Which Monteux San Francisco box are you referring to? Is that the "Sunday Evenings With Pierre Monteux: Broadcast Performances From California, 1941-1952"?

    Thanks
     
  22. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    No, the 40CD The Complete RCA Album Collection. I call it his San Francisco box because many performances were with the SFSO, but I admit that it's a bit misleading. His RCA Boston SO recordings are also included, of course, plus a few with other orchestras.

    [​IMG]
     
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  23. Papageno

    Papageno Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
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  24. Kate_C.

    Kate_C. abyssus abyssum invocat

    Eventually this should have something to do with the thread topic. A few years ago I sought to remedy an apparent lack of balance between modern versus overwhelmingly historical listening (distinguished informally by a measurable heartbeat among talent behind and afore the podium); though my search for new music proved only marginally more successful than Jason Kessler's recent motivational skills, I did discover the magnificent David Zinman, whose union with the Tonhalle Orchestra/Zurich produced a veritable trove of bright, energetic, and largely magnificent interpretations of standardbearing work by LVB, Brahms, and particularly Mahler. I'm entranced by those marriages of conductor and orchestra, which, like Phil Jackson and the Jordannaires on the court, raise[d] both to previously unimaginable levels of achievement; comparable instances in this case might be Szell/Cleveland and Reiner/CSO. That's a long-about way of saying that the 50 cd documentary of that symbiotic pairing - comprising fantastic sounding releases from the 90s & 00s - should be counted among a list desirable box sets.
    [​IMG]
    For those taking notes in the hunt for your next big box: please don't let talk of sound negatives and uneven performances deter you from exploring the Furtwangler Legacy set. It's my favourite among dozens - in fact, since purchase in November 2011 (for $89!) I've made 2 longitudinal passes (106 music cds) plus numerous spot-listening and it's proved by far the most intriguing and immersive listening journey I've taken with respect to any artist; as with Tolkien , between readings I'm possessed by a growing desire to rejoin Bilbo's eleventy-first birthday celebration and lose myself again in Middle Earth. Like many sets, WF's box is broken into smaller boxes and, for awhile, I would jot notes on stickies adhered to each mini-box (Wagner's cases came to look like yellow-feathered canaries!) until they became too numerous and I started transcribing them into a notebook: the richness and intrigue of stuff like this can only be measured in celestial dimensions.

    Szell is here and I'm so pleased not to have pulled the trigger on the The Edition at secondary market prices over the last few years...enjoying what little feedback has hit the board and looking forward to more.
     
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  25. Black Elk

    Black Elk Music Lover

    Location:
    Bay Area, U.S.A.
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