New Releases

[Brian]

I'd wish companies would make some clever selections instead of churning out this colossal "bricks".

I really don't need more Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Strauss waltzes from these conductors....

Q

I respect the sentiment but unfortunately most of these companies seem incapable of the cleverness needed to make the right selections... I'm thinking of the Blomstedt San Francisco box that was a random assortment of half his legacy there, the big Academy of St Martin in the Fields box that had tons of Joshua Bell for marketing reasons and not enough 20th century music, some of those "Decca Sound" and "Living Stereo" boxes of classic recordings everyone already has, etc. Or even the "complete Boston Symphony on DG" box where those clever people managed to forget two albums  The Decca box where they asked Vladimir Ashkenazy to choose his own personal top 50 favorite albums is really good, though. Maybe giving artists more control is key. Sad Ormandy can't help!

[Que]

I respect the sentiment but unfortunately most of these companies seem incapable of the cleverness needed to make the right selections... I'm thinking of the Blomstedt San Francisco box that was a random assortment of half his legacy there, the big Academy of St Martin in the Fields box that had tons of Joshua Bell for marketing reasons and not enough 20th century music, some of those "Decca Sound" and "Living Stereo" boxes of classic recordings everyone already has, etc. Or even the "complete Boston Symphony on DG" box where those clever people managed to forget two albums  The Decca box where they asked Vladimir Ashkenazy to choose his own personal top 50 favorite albums is really good, though. Maybe giving artists more control is key. Sad Ormandy can't help!

I remember for the Philips "Great Pianists of the 20th Century" series they took some expert advice, and the selections were generally excellent!

Q

[Todd]

Or even the "complete Boston Symphony on DG" box where those clever people managed to forget two albums

Were any licensing issues involved?  Sometimes it may not be possible to put together truly complete boxes for legal reasons.  And with older recordings, there have been cases where original source material is gone or not usable.  If the artist or ensemble appeals, and a couple items are missing, that's fine.  Maybe I've just abandoned hopes and worries about completeness (LvB sonata cycles aside), and instead choose to revel in the unlimited amount of entertainment available for nickels.

[Brian]

I remember for the Philips "Great Pianists of the 20th Century" series they took some expert advice, and the selections were generally excellent!

Q

Yes! I think Sony's recent program reissuing boxes dedicated to various pianists famous and obscure (Janis, Masselos, etc.) was partly advised by Jed Distler. And Eloquence has done excellent jobs choosing everything for their boxes.

Were any licensing issues involved?  Sometimes it may not be possible to put together truly complete boxes for legal reasons.  And with older recordings, there have been cases where original source material is gone or not usable.  If the artist or ensemble appeals, and a couple items are missing, that's fine.  Maybe I've just abandoned hopes and worries about completeness (LvB sonata cycles aside), and instead choose to revel in the unlimited amount of entertainment available for nickels.

In the case of the DG BSO box, the omissions were a Franck symphony with Ozawa and a Gidon Kremer concerto coupling of Shostakovich 2 and Shosty's re-arrangement of the Schumann concerto. Both have since been released by DG in other boxes I think (complete Kremer concerto box and some sort of Ozawa tribute). It is still, disc for disc, a consistently super good box and one of my favorites...just the other day re-sampled Tilson Thomas's early Piston and Debussy.

Agreed with the rest of your post, although Barenboim disowning his Liszt sonata made me even more curious to hear it.

[Todd]

In the case of the DG BSO box

But what are the licensing requirements, and were they addressed at the time the BSO box was issued?  These things can change over time, apply to defined issues/reissues only, and so on.  Without detailed knowledge we only surmise.  The licensing issue could potentially apply to any big box.  And given the current state of the recording industry, where artists explicitly own copyrights more and more frequently, future reissue programs will likely become more convoluted, not less.

[André]

According to someone on r.m.c.r, this is just the mono recordings.

That's entirely possible, but that would mean Ormandy recorded the Franck symphony, the Prokofiev 7th, Scheherazade and the Brahms PC 2 with Serkin twice in mono ? That's a lot of time spent in the studio, as he also recorded all of those again in stereo. We might have an 180 disc stereo box coming !!

[Daverz]

That's entirely possible, but that would mean Ormandy recorded the Franck symphony, the Prokofiev 7th, Scheherazade and the Brahms PC 2 with Serkin twice in mono ? That's a lot of time spent in the studio, as he also recorded all of those again in stereo. We might have an 180 disc stereo box coming !!

There are only two Brahms PC2s with Ormandy in the Serkin box.  So it must be mono and early stereo recordings.

[Mirror Image]

Coming in April:



I have no idea what's on the program, but I'll do a little research and post my findings here.

[T. D.]

Coming in April:



I have no idea what's on the program, but I'll do a little research and post my findings here.

Please do, but good luck.
This looks intriguing, so I searched around a bit to absolutely no avail.

[Mirror Image]

Please do, but good luck.
This looks intriguing, so I looked around a bit to absolutely no avail.

Like you, I haven't found any info on it. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I could imagine Berio's Folk Songs being on this program, but that's just speculation of course.

[T. D.]

Yeah, Folk Songs seem most likely, but I'm not particularly interested in another recording thereof. Hoping against hope for some more novel selections.

[Mirror Image]

Yeah, Folk Songs seem most likely, but I'm not particularly interested in another recording thereof. Hoping against hope for some more novel selections.

We'll just have to wait and see.

[Madiel]

The goal of many of these big boxes is to persuade you to buy music you already have, in exchange for a few bits and pieces that you don't.

[Brian]

This March, Brilliant is releasing a box set of the complete nine symphonies cycle of one of the least famous composers who wrote nine symphonies... Ecuadorian Luis H. Salgado. The recordings feature Ecuador's own Cuenca Symphony Orchestra.

[Todd]

Wikipedia states that Salgado "was regarded as one of the most influential and prolific composers of his country."  I believe that to be true.

[Brian]

This just appeared on Naxos Music Library - it was posted to iTunes in 2010, but I am taking this opportunity to tell you what's on it.



Contents of "I Am Hungover":

Britten - Young Person's Guide to Orchestra (Maazel)
Bizet - Petite Suite (Martinon)
Debussy - Children's Corner (Weissenberg)
Dukas - Sorcerer's Apprentice (Levine)

Apparently hungover people appreciate music for children? 

[Ras]

According to German amazon L. Schayegh's recording of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin will be released on Feb. 5. - label: Glossa:

[asin]B08QW6FLZ6[/asin]

[Todd]

Debussy - Children's Corner (Weissenberg)

Weissenberg would not be my first or second or third choice for dealing with a hangover.

[JBS]

This just appeared on Naxos Music Library - it was posted to iTunes in 2010, but I am taking this opportunity to tell you what's on it.



Contents of "I Am Hungover":

Britten - Young Person's Guide to Orchestra (Maazel)
Bizet - Petite Suite (Martinon)
Debussy - Children's Corner (Weissenberg)
Dukas - Sorcerer's Apprentice (Levine)

Apparently hungover people appreciate music for children? 

The Dukas would definitely not be on my list of hangover cures.

In other news, I found out today  that while the CDs are available in the UK and downloads are  available everywhere, physical CDs of  Stile Antico's Decca debut [Josquin]  are not yet available in the US due to the current situation.  They seem to be unsure of when CDs will be available here.

[PaulThomas]

Klemperer Live from Amsterdam 1947-61 on 24 SACDs

An (almost) complete Beethoven cycle, Mahlers 2 & 4, Bruckners 4 & 6 and more...

Full listing here

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8874184--otto-klemperer-conducts-the-concertgebouw-orchestra