If you have any particular album you'd like me check I'd be happy to, any excuse to listen to more Szell is a good one FWIW I might not be placing much importance in the bass if you are hearing it will all those various versions. To me the most important things are for it sound as close to live music as possible, and for me those important areas I focus on are timbral fidelity, soundstage depth, width, imaging, micro and macro dynamics. When I attend the symphony I don't hear that much bass other than some occasional percussion. A bit of lighter bass from cellos and larger horns. Oh and full size concert grands are able to project a decent amount of bass even from seats far from the stage. ---- Has anyone received their Maria Callas Studio recordings box from Amazon UK (I am wondering how their packing is)? I have a few things as part of that order and this is one of them; Amazon UK are holding off sending my order because I have the Backhaus Decca box as part of that preorder which I'm now thinking of cancelling since I believe the Japan "Wilhelm Backhaus Edition" is about as complete as it gets and the mastering on this set is exceptional.
I received the Callas Studio set several weeks ago. It arrived promptly without incident here in Florida. I ordered it from Amazon.co.uk but it seems to have been sent from a French warehouse. It was packed with the original foam inserts protecting it on all sides, so arrived in pristine condition. That was the sole item in that order, however. I hope they don't take it out of the original packaging to fulfill your order, hvbias.
And it was just revised again with a shipping notice saying I'll receive Bruno Walter tomorrow. Yay! (As if I don't have enough Beethoven Complete boxes to work through...)
I received the Warner Beethoven 2020 80-CD set last night, and although I haven't been able to do much with it, it's a very interesting combination of old and new. They really have gone all out for new recordings of the less common material. Virtually all of the folk song arrangements are new recordings, and most of the other vocal works are newly recorded as well. The booklet has an index of works but nothing much else. There is a handy listing of what they did not include in the box and why. Track listings are on each individual CD sleeve, so for some of the more crowded items (CD 80 in particular with the canons and Italian partsongs) the text is nearly microscopic. No texts for lyrics, etc similar to Naxos' box. Unlike Naxos and DG, which use fairly generic sleeves for each grouping of type of work, Warner has a different period painting illustrating each disc, which will mean a lot of scanning of cover art will be necessary if you're ripping the discs. The new recordings are mostly by folks I've never run across before, so I can't vouch for their quality, but the major works of the canon are well represented by notable artists. They've basically committed firmly to the new Kinsky-Halm catalogue, and nearly everything listed there is included in the box (with the notable exceptions of the spurious op.63 and 64, WoO 12 and 16, and the sketchy Erlkönig WoO 131). If it's complete, and it's listed in Kinsky-Halm 2d edition, it's almost certainly here. The musical greetings WoO 205 aren't included (Warner dismisses them as "obscure"), but they're not in the Naxos or DG boxes either. A few items found only in the Hess catalogue that have entered the repertoire are included (piano pieces, such as Hess 58 and 59, in particular). I note that Warner is the only box to include the three duets for clarinet and bassoon WoO 27; DG ignores them completely, while Naxos offers a modern version for flute and bassoon. An example for the varying degrees of interest in fragmentary/incomplete works: The c.1793 sonata quasi una fantasia Biamonti 213 (Unv 12) has a pretty much complete first movement, a nearly complete second movement and a sketchy and slightly rambling continuity draft that's worked out in places for the finale. *Naxos includes a completion of the entire sonata. *DG includes a recording of just the first movement. *Warner doesn't include it at all. So without having listened to much of anything in the box, it does look like a very attractive option. It's not as complete as Naxos for fragments, etc., and rather it follows a similar path as the DG box but at a much lower price point. You're not getting any of the massive texts (10 books) that accompany the DG box or deluxe packaging, as Warner had to cut corners somewhere. So if you're not particularly interested in the minutiae of Beethoven compositions or getting all the alternative versions possible, and can live without texts or notes, it should be quite satisfactory.
Now a proud owner of the Walter and Mehta box sets. I agree that the market has really been flooded during the last years, but I think this will stop once CDs are a thing of the past. The labels will recognize that it's better to make big bucks with downloads instead of making these boxes. Hopefully, some of the material that has not yet been collected will see a release until that point.
I like the old box design better. Never did pick this one up, so this is tempting -- though I have 4 complete cycles plus several partials and one-offs.
Thank you! I ended up cancelling that order, the more I listen to the Japan Backhaus Edition I just can't see this being improved upon sound wise, if anything the new set might try to make these old 50s tapes sound more "modern" by filtering some of the upper range. I'm going to make a separate order with the Callas as the sole item and have it marked as a gift. This will also mean I get the Boulez Erato set much earlier than having to wait until January and I have been in a real Schoenberg mood lately.
Edit: apparently Paul Badura-Skoda's Astree cycle of Beethoven Piano Sonatas on period instruments is coming back in print. I might have to hear more of the late sonatas to determine if I want to buy this, I am leaning towards yes to have at least one complete set on period instruments. Prestomusic has this listed now Beethoven: The Complete Piano Sonatas Played on Period Instruments [/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE] I hope to see more comings back. Beethoven anniversary is also my last hope to see the stereo Vegh string quartet cycle finally re-released...
Malcolm Binns' 1978-81 10-disc Beethoven Sonata set played on fortepiano are part (20%) of the (still available!) L'Oiseau-Lyre Classical and & Early Modern box. As a newbie (1.5 years) to classical I usually find keyboard sonatas a bit tiresome, even when written by Beethoven. (I come from the Rock world, more specifically the no-solo '80s "Alternative Rock" world) Anyway, have you had a listen to the Binns interpretations? If so, what do you think?
I hope to see more comings back. Beethoven anniversary is also my last hope to see the stereo Vegh string quartet cycle finally re-released...[/QUOTE] Sadly I don't think I've ever seen anything Naive related come back in print by their own label once it's gone. Naive never released PBS' fortepiano cycle, only one of the ones he made on piano. Prior to this there was basically the Auvidis CDs or a super expensive Japan XRCD box. I wonder who owns the license or masters to them. I would like to see Vegh's mono cycle come out by a non-bootleg label. This might not scratch your Vegh itch, but one cycle that will easily make my best of 2019 purchase list is Budapest's mono cycle that Sony released in a box set. This sounds much better than all previous individual CDs I've heard. Edit major brain freeze that was supposed to say Budapest
I couldn't resist getting the Warner set (even though I'm just after buying the hefty DG). I'm quite pleased so far with the 80 CD set and it is reasonably "complete". However - and I would like to be proved wrong - there seems to be a very important omission, namely the alternative finale to Opus 130. The box contains the complete Artemis set of the string quartets and they have favored the Grosse Fuge finale in Opus 130 but - unlike most other complete quartet sets - do not provide the later alternative finale. As this was practically Beethoven's last complete work - as well as being a tremendous piece in its own right - I think it's a major omission. I haven't had a chance to explore the Warner box set in detail, but I don't think it's in there!
Today I have received the Maria Callas Complete Studio Recordings, but unfortunately I had to refuse the delivery. They upgraded the delivery from "Standard Delivery" to "Priority", with the best of the good intentions I´m sure. But the problem is that the "Priority" is via the nightmarish DHL, which as usual, overcharged de import fee. Instead of charging the normal 60% Import Fee, which is the correct amount according to local laws, they charge other additional fees which sums up to 119,9% instead of 60%. Fortunatelly the seller promptly attended me by chat, and in less than 2 minutes placed another order with the correct shipping method. Callas will not arrive on time for Christmas... but I happy she will arrive.
That is the very reason I decided in the end to et BOTH Warner and Naxos sets. (DG too xpensive for me, and the Sony offers too little)
The "bad" Warner Beethoven box is now sold for 67 euros by Amazon.it https://www.amazon.it/Beethoven-Complete-Works-Box-80/dp/B07X7D9W6N/
What do you mean for non-bootleg? Both scribendum that membran have released some excellent recordings of this cycle!
Amico, non è "bad"! I got mine and like it very much! Guess I have more nimble fingers than you! I would highly recommend it for those how can't splurge on the DGG version. At €67, it's a great deal! A dopo....
Totally agree. After viewing this thread, I opened the box very carefully. Once you take out the booklet (and leave it out) it's much easier to access the CDs. There are many fine performances in this set.
I ordered the Bruno Walter box set from jpc last weekend. I just checked the progress of my order and it turns out they have sent it to London, Canada instead of London, England
I don't wish to get in a long drawn out argument over this as these things can often devolve into I mean public domain labels that don't pay any licensing/royalties and do not have access to original sources, but get their music from vinyl, 78s or other CDs. Essentially getting by with European Union's lax copyright laws. I do not think Scribendum's Vegh box sounded very good, and I have yet to hear a Membran release that sounded good. Every Membran release I've heard use noise reduction and on box sets like the big Furtwangler one it's to the point where it sounds like the orchestra are playing underwater with a blanket thrown over the speakers. IMHO one doesn't even need to be an audiophile to hear it on that release. And it's not because the recordings are poor, they are actually quite decent recordings. I have been meaning to check out the Music & Arts release of Vegh's mono when I find the time. (I'm not sure where Music & Arts fall on this spectrum, some of their releases sound good others not so much)
Amico, You lack irony! I'll buy mine when the price will decrease around 40 euros. In the meantime I bought this for 33 euros (waiting Walter box to decrease its price too) https://www.amazon.it/Complete-Rca-Columbia-Album-Collection/dp/B07NHQHWVC/
