Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #24)

The order total was $259, I have had more expensive orders with no tax. I contacted Presto and this was their response:

Thank you for your e-mail, I'm sorry to hear your order has attracted a customs duty charge. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do about this as this charge is made by the United States authorities in accordance with their import regulations. We do state in the terms and conditions on the website that such a charge is a possibility.

Experience has shown that they may not always apply the charge, and that smaller packets have a greater chance of getting through.

In my e-mail I offered to pay the charge and they could give me a store credit. I do not like any bill in my name not getting paid. I've spent thousands with them over the years and they didn't take me up on the offer of a credit. IMO You always find out if a business is one you want to be loyal to by how they handle a problem.

 

While it is far from perfect, at least the Chinese have a secondary school music education priority policy, unlike the US, which is ever increasingly becoming an insurance company with an army.

 

Now playing CD4 from this highly enjoyable set for a first listen ...



This CD is the same recording as the following single ...

 

I still think there must be some dollar threshold as US Customs cannot arbitrarily decide to charge an import duty on an item of modest declared value - $259 is by no means excessive.

 

Now playing on Spotify:

 

And in their case quantity at some point can transform to quality, at least there're more "pro's" than "con's" in this approach. Lang Lang isn't the best representative of the Chinese music industry, it's for sure.

On a side note, it's always fascinating to hear fabulous new names and orchestras from places like Turkey or New Zealand, which have distinct chances of becoming "big" ones. The debut recital CD of an Istanbul orchestra pictured below has become a big hit in my current play-list. It's that good!

 

Guys, if you live in the US, please keep all US members of this Corner informed if the US Customs stick you with a bill for CD's ordered from Europe. Thanks.

 

But what kind of music does that music education emphasize? Western music or Chinese music?

 

Days were good in Oz, no duty for anything under AU$1000, now here in the UK I'm not only getting charged 20% VAT for every tiny import over $50 but on top of that have to pay a flat handling charge of $13 irrespective of the mail carrier. It really isn't funny any more.

 

Probably this is a unfortunate case when the parcel was too big and an usual ignrance of the customs finally turned to some kind of sinister attention. It also happens when orders a made on a quite regular basis.

Once I got a parcel which was below any risky estimation but its content (a pair of new steampunk sunglasses looking like a weird ancient device) was considered more valuable than it was in reality. I was forced to pay all the f***ing fees.

 

I really like the classical selection on Spotify, makes it nice to explore before you buy.

 

No problems, if there is red ink, there are always new taxes ...

 

George beat me to it.

I love Casadesus' Mozart piano concertos.

 

Ron P has gotten my attention for the bill he received from the US Customs. We frequent buyers do not like new taxes and there are no lips to read either ...

 

Sorry, no. I've found the Janowski to be more than adequate for my needs.

I would almost be willing to take a chance on the Bychkov. He recently got on my radar via his excellent Mahler Third. He's got his regional band playing their hearts out.

 

Now playing CD5, the last CD from this highly enjoyable set for a first listen ...



This CD is the same recording as the following single ...

 

Radu Lupu
Complete Decca Solo Recordings

CD8 - Schubert IV

Piano Sonata no.13 in A, D664
Piano Sonata no.21 in B flat, D960

 

Things are even worse here in Latvia - we are forced (by the same dumb EU directive) to pay 21% VAT + 3,5% postal fees for any purchase from, say, USA (oops, sorry for the rhyme) which exceeds the unbelievably stupid 10-euro limit. So no more orders from US/etc. e-tailers, excluding some occasional "used gifts" from friends and some uber-cheap single CDs.

 

According to the samples I heard, Bychkov is near the top - I liked his approach best, together with Luisi which is sadly OOP and costs a fortune (I was stupid enough when let the Luisi go on eBay for just few euros a year ago while still deciding on participating in that auction). Also, Bychkov doesn't underplay the Storm and seems to have a really powerful and detailed sound.

He's much cheaper than most of the competition too (except the Jansons).

 

Last played:

Schumann
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 23
Uto Ughi/Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks/Wolfgang Sawallisch
Fantasie für Violine und Orchester, Op. 131
Gidon Kremer/Wiener Symphoniker/Heinz Wallberg
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 129
Steven Isserlis/Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie/Christoph Eschenbach
"Robert Schumann - The Great Romantic (Masterworks Edition)" set, CD 12 of 25
2010 Sony Music

 

Now playing:

Sibelius
Symphonies Nos. 1 & 6
New York Philharmonic/Leonard Bernstein
"Bernstein Symphony Edition" set, CD 54 of 60
2010 Sony Music

 

I bought this set last year, which is still in its shrink-wrap. The set includes 35 CD's and may be OOP.

 

Now playing CD7 - B7 from this set for a first listen ...

 

This is a massive set, a much larger set than the following set by Karajan I bought at Amazon UK in 09. So far, I have only played the first 2 CD's of 38 ...

 

Yes, this DG cube already seems OOP. But if it weren't I would probably still go with my Sony cube since for me it has a bit more "spicy" artist roster (personally, I wasn't that excited about getting a period set of Schumann symphonies, so I chose the Levine, although it's become the third complete cycle in my collection) and I slightly prefer Sony's approach to sound engineering to that of DG.