Past Purchases (CLOSED)

[DavidW]

What's wrong with $80 for a 11 cd set?  That's bargain priced!

[Coopmv]

Are you sure? Hyperion say the postage is free. Might be worth checking with them.

Free airmail to the US?  Did you buy the set directly from Hyperion?  I  bought many Hyperion titles about a month ago from MDT.

[Lilas Pastia]

Debussy's La Mer and Ravel's Daphnis et Cloé, BSO Munch (RCA). Plus Capriccio and piano concerto by Stravinsky, Magaloff and Ansermet (Decca).

[DavidRoss]

Saw an offer I couldn't refuse.

[Coopmv]

Just ordered this set at a great price.  This will be my 17th Beethoven Symphonies Cycle.

[DavidRoss]

Just ordered this set at a great price.  This will be my 17th Beethoven Symphonies Cycle.

<$4/disc?

Which are the other 16?  And which do you like most and why? 

[SonicMan46]

Just ordered this set at a great price.  This will be my 17th Beethoven Symphonies Cycle.

Stuart - well, I just have 3 complete sets, but one is the Gardiner shown which I do enjoy - but I must mirror David's comment on which set(s) do you enjoy the most - just curious?  I guess one can always acquire another Beethoven Symphony Set -    Dave

[Brian]

Just ordered this set at a great price.  This will be my 17th Beethoven Symphonies Cycle.

My (current) favorite Ninth.  Enjoy!

[Coopmv]

Stuart - well, I just have 3 complete sets, but one is the Gardiner shown which I do enjoy - but I must mirror David's comment on which set(s) do you enjoy the most - just curious?  I guess one can always acquire another Beethoven Symphony Set -    Dave

I think my favorite is the Karajan's 1963 cycle for being the most outstanding all-rounder.  The 1968 Jochum's, the Bernstein's and the Harnoncourt's cycles probably come in next without any specific ranking.  For the Hogwood's cycle, I think the early symphonies sound fresh and energetic, but the 9th was a disaster IMO.  Karajan's 1955 cycle (on EMI) is quite nice too, though it is monaural, which limits its appeal.  Two of the 16 cycles I currently have are on LP and they are the Karajan's 1977 cycle and the set by Ansermet.

Here are the 14 cycles on CD

Symphonies No. 1 - 9    NBC Sym. Orch/Toscanini
Symphonies No. 1 - 9    Philharmonia Orch/Karajan
Symphonies No. 1 - 9 (1963)   Berlin Phil./Karajan
Symphonies No. 1 - 9   Tonhalle Orch, Zurich/Zinman
Symphonies No. 1 - 9 & Overtures   Berlin Phil./Karajan
Symphonies No. 1 - 9 & Overtures   Academy of Ancient Music/Hogwood
Symphonies No. 1 - 9   Gewandhaus Leipzig/Masur (SACD)
Symphonies No. 1 - 9   London Sym. Orch/Haitink (SACD)
Symphonies No. 1 - 9 (1963)   Berlin Phil./Karajan (SACD)
Symphonies No. 1 - 9   Royal Concertgebouw/Jochum
Symphonies No. 1 - 9   Royal Concertgebouw/Sawallisch
Symphonies No. 1 - 9   Vienna Phil Orch/Bernstein
Symphonies No. 1 - 9   Dresden Staatskapelle/Blomstedt
Symphonies No. 1 - 9 & other works   Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Harnoncourt

Gardiner's cylce will be cycle no. 17.

[Brian]

Hate to do this to you, but

Symphonies No. 1 - 9   London Sym. Orch/Haitink (SACD)
Symphonies No. 1 - 9   Dresden Staatskapelle/Blomstedt

How do you like these?

[DavidW]

Coop, haven't heard all of them, but I have heard most of them.  My favorite for traditional performance is Blomstedt, and my favorite HIP is Hogwood.  I can see you picking Karajan '63 though, it's pretty darned good.

[Bogey]

Coop, haven't heard all of them, but I have heard most of them.  My favorite for traditional performance is Blomstedt, and my favorite HIP is Hogwood.  I can see you picking Karajan '63 though, it's pretty darned good.

Have not heard Blomstedt.....the other two are nice pickings.  How about a dash of some Furtwängler?  Good to see you back David.  Thought the Daleks had snapped you up, good doctor.

[Coopmv]

Hate to do this to you, but

How do you like these?

They are both excellent recordings.  But for the 9th, Karajan'a 1963 and Bernstein's just tower over all other sets IMO ...

[Coopmv]

Coop, haven't heard all of them, but I have heard most of them.  My favorite for traditional performance is Blomstedt, and my favorite HIP is Hogwood.  I can see you picking Karajan '63 though, it's pretty darned good.

I actually have 2 sets of Karajan '63's - the SACD set and the redbook set.  I have not been able to play the SACD layer since I do not yet have an SACD player.  Hopefully that will change later this year ...

[DavidW]

Have not heard Blomstedt.....the other two are nice pickings.  How about a dash of some Furtwängler?  Good to see you back David.  Thought the Daleks had snapped you up, good doctor.

Nah just been traveling about in the tardis.

[haydnguy]

I actually have 2 sets of Karajan '63's - the SACD set and the redbook set.  I have not been able to play the SACD layer since I do not yet have an SACD player.  Hopefully that will change later this year ...

I just bought the Jochum set. It's good to know its decent!    (Haven't broken it open yet.)

[FideLeo]

Another instalment in my collection of HIP Eroica performances.  Japanese reissue of a recording which
I have not recently seen on CD and about which I have heard good things said on the German
Tamino forum.  I often forgot about Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra being an American
period-instrument group.  Unfortunately No.2, which is part of the original set, is not included.  

[Elgarian]

Did you buy the set directly from Hyperion?

Yes - they have a sale on at the moment. That's why the price of the Vivaldi box is so low. Whether the free postage extends outside the UK I don't know, but 'twould be worth an email to find out.

( sales@hyperion-records.co.uk )

http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/

[jlaurson]

Hate to do this to you, but

How do you like [Blomstedt/Dresden & Haitink/LSO]?

Beethoven, Symphonies Blomstedt, Dresden - Berlin Classics

Beethoven, Symphonies Haitink, LSO - LSO live (SACD)

For what it's worth: Blomstedt is one of the best "standardized" cycles... Wrote about it here... an excerpt:

This Beethoven cycle is the epitome of everything that is good about "Kapellmeisterdom" –  significantly broader than Karajan's (Blomstedt also ignores the exposition repeats), these are 'old-Europe' readings, steeped in the long tradition of the wonderful sounding Dresden Staatskapelle. Even if it sounds nonsensical, I find these very well recorded readings – made between 1975 and 1980 in Dresden's St. Luke's church – "spectacularly solid" and even. There simply isn't a weak spot in the lot – and while no single symphony (I am trying to avoid the word "interpretation", because it might insinuate the injection of overt personality on part of Blomstedt, which is wholly absent in a way comparable to Günter Wand) might make anyone's first choice, as a whole this is one of the 'standard' cycles to compete with the very best, more famous ones.

I never gave Haitink/LSO that many spins, but I wasn't impressed with any of the individual releases and I wasn't terribly impressed with the cycle. Alas, there are people--whose ears I respect--who like this rather more, so I'd probably have to give it a few more spins to really come down on it with a lasting, informed opinion.

[Wanderer]

Whether the free postage extends outside the UK...

It does.