Amazon France is even cheaper - I've just edited my post above. FNAC has the lowest for the Haitink box price I've seen so far, 276 euros including VAT: https://www.fnac.com/a17528406/Collectif-Bernard-Haitink-Concertgebouworkest-Complete-Studio-Recordings-CD-album#omnsearchpos=1
As HistPerf mentioned, we also have to factor in the local sales tax. Amazon.fr will add it, while FNAC and JPC won't.
After VAT removal and shipping to USA the Abbado box comes to only (LOL) $655 USD, I may have to order it, doubt it'll be cheaper ever...
The Robert Craft box is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com (here) and Amazon.it (here). These boxes are getting expensive, though. $240 or €316 for 44 CDs.
I guess they are trying out the market. I wonder what would happen if we don't bite: cheaper prices or no more boxes?
I have so many records that three lifetimes would not be enough to listen to them. I can stand at the window and buy only the essentials. Moreover, the space where to place them begins to become a problem!
Fortunately, DG is still relatively inexpensive. Pinnock box is ~250 EUR for 100 cds. Compare that with Robert Craft - 320 EUR for 44 cds I think those boxes are collectable items, just like vinyls nowadays.
This worries me regarding the price for the elusive Ormandy Stereo box. I could see them charging anywhere from $400-$600 for a 200 CD set.
Doesn't worry me. 90% of what I and I think most of us ever wanted was already released. Times are changing. Now its Backwards. Less produced CDs and niche products =higher price 20-25 years ago it was normal to pay € 40-60 for one opera recording. € 20-30 for classical single disc. (I remember paying nearly € 100,-- for Soltis Meistersinger 4CD. This recording was in the big Chicago box for which I paid € 119,-- for 108 discs) The DGG Originals, Emi century series started it all. Cheap prices for big classic label releases. Far away from a box. (Beethoven complete edition DGG over € 1.500, Rubinstein and Mozart much more) Karajan's Ring des Nibelungen (14 CD) for € 160,-- was extreme cheap. For Robert Craft which is clearly not a big seller € 7 per CD seems ok to me. Ormandy stereo if it happens will be released in 2 volumes. After what I heard from Sony/Columbia people they didn't even finished their plans or started to remaster the recordings after the disappointing low sellings of Ormandy Mono, Bernstein and Mitropolous.
Which Bernstein didn't sell well? Sony released quite a few Bernstein sets over the years. I still hope Sony will eventually remaster and reissue his orchestral and concerto recordings in one big box - probably a pipe dream As for the Ormandy mono and Mitropoulos, I guess quite a few people passed on those because they're pre-stereo and some of the recordings are pre-tape. I assume there will be more interest in Ormandy's stereo recordings, and I hope Sony will go ahead with the planned boxes.
I immediately ordered the Robert Craft Webern box before sampling it which was unusual for me (there is so little Webern I had to have it) and found his performances below average. I understand his relationship with Stravinsky but he recorded a lot of it on Naxos in superb sound quality. My other complaint about the Webern box- many of the recordings sounded like they were made in a padded room. I have some of the Schoenberg LPs and listened to others on Youtube, these are better than the Webern but there is so much great Schoenberg out there and in modern sound quality and just like the Stravinsky often re-recorded on Naxos in great sound. This box will be an easy pass for me at any price.
I guess the latest one - Bernstein Remastered 100 cds. It was possible to get it very cheaply on Amazon - something like 80-90 EUR for 100 cds.
I couldn’t imagine paying much more than 100 (dollars) for the Robert Craft box. The truth is that his renaissance choral recordings are unidiomatic and weird. Likewise, none of his modern recordings meet today’s performance standards. That makes up the bulk of what’s in the box. It really is a box of curiosities. I happen to love boxes of curiosities, but not at these prices. Pass.
Newest acquisition The box is really beautiful Gorgeous cover art on the box, thick envelopes in the style of Sony boxes, a nice booklet with photos of both Simon Preston and the inside of the church in Oxford. But I may not be very objective, because I'm a big fan of Simon Preston In addition, a very good packing by Amazon Poland. Double boxed (including original manufacturer's box) plus bubble wrap and paper padding. Express delivery, too
The remastered edition extremely poor. Far behind their lowest expectations. The main mistake was to release including the composer box four boxes. The Symphony Edition was released before the big boxes in vinyl format (over 100Cds Rubinstein was the first one for one artist. Yoyo ma was also big with 90 discs). They didn't plan to release the other works in a box after the blue Prince Charles Bernstein Edition of the 90s. After releasing more artist boxes they went back to Bernstein but decided to make vinyl format editions to match the first one. DGGs team wanted to stand next to Sony and decided to make it unusual the same style (Vinyl Format). Later they revised it like Karajan to make one big box Sony wanted to make something special for the 100 anniversary in the now usual box style with original covers but didn't have the guts for a complete edition. To remaster all the stuff would have taken two more years, so they just make a "best of" remastered edition in hope that it will sell because of the new remastering and original covers. But they miscalculated the whole thing....so I doubt there is a chance for a complete remastered sony box with original covers .
How do you know the sales figures, or do you have contacts at Sony? These box sets aren't being sold to just people with knowledge of the classical repertoire/recordings, many of them are being sold to people that know little about classical. Bernstein is pretty much considered the greatest conductor in the US, I imagine many of them sold to people that just recognize his name which would not be uncommon if you grew up in the LP era, he was a major figure including having a TV series on a major network. He is getting a biopic played by an A list actor, it's the biggest classical film since Amadeus.
He also gave a series of 6 lectures at Harvard; they're available on YouTube. Just go to YT and search 'The unanaswered question Leonard Bernstein'.
You're correct of course, but then those recordings cost a lot of money to produce: in addition to the large cost of the recording itself, whether a symphony orchestra or an opera production, they also had to pay the artists for their labor. When they reissue these recordings there are none of those expenses, only the cost of the physical product (+ whatever remastering and promotion they make). The Swedish company BIS, according to their boss Robert von Bahr, was the first to introduce paying the artists a percentage of the sales in perpetuity rather than a fixed sum, and I expect a small number of other companies have followed suit, but I suspect the older recordings by the bigger companies (and they are the ones to produce these mega boxes) paid he artists a one time amount, which means they get nothing out of these sets. Ergo, there is no reason (except to max the profit, which of course is why these kind of companies exist) why a reprint should be as expensive as the original issue.
I've listened to it, but I haven't noticed it. I might give another listen tonight and I'll let you know. If this is the case, then I, too, will look for an original CD release sans remastering.
Two additional observations about Simon Preston box: 1. They included Argo and L'Oiseau-Lyre recordings. Couldn't they include the 2-cd set of Purcell works on Archiv? It is also Universal Music and it would make the collection complete. I mean it's not a problem for me because I have the 2-cd set anyway (it's in one of the Archiv boxes), but still.... 2. The booklet is really nicely done but it is quite surpising that it is English only (no essays in German, French, etc.). Does it mean that Decca stopped bothering with the translations? Or maybe they think that Simon Preston is little known outside UK and the box is targeted at English-speaking audience only?
I was initially interested in the Bernstein Remastered Edition, but I didn't like the random track selection, so I decided against it. I heard from others that they passed on the set for the same reason.
