Purchases Today

[Brahmsian]

My heart is full but the wallet is light. 

[JBS]

I can't speak about any of the others, but the British String Quartet set is table-shatteringly good.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

The Chandos download UX is the worst I have experienced. 

What happened?

PD

[Todd]

What happened?

You have to download and install the Chandos app, then wait as the download queue fills (mine took several minutes), then download a CHN file of the queue, then use the downloader to select the CHN file before the actual recordings download, single thread only.  It's amateurish garbage, even worse than Hyperion. 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

You have to download and install the Chandos app, then wait as the download queue fills (mine took several minutes), then download a CHN file of the queue, then use the downloader to select the CHN file before the actual recordings download, single thread only.  It's amateurish garbage, even worse than Hyperion.

That sounds like quite a lot of work!  Curious, how loss-less are the files that you can purchase from them?  And it seems strange for me that you would need to download an app in order to purchase some music.

PD

[Todd]

Curious, how loss-less are the files that you can purchase from them?

Chandos offers MP3, FLAC 16/44.1, ALAC 16/44.1, 24 bit "studio" (whatever that means), and 24 bit surround, depending on recording.  I don't pay for lossy files except in very rare cases (eg, Michael Houstoun's Morrison Trust LvB piano sonata cycle when I bought it, or $0.99 big boxes).

Hyperion also requires using an app to download, though the UX is less awful.  Qobuz has one as well, but you can also directly download right from their webpage.  7Digital has a simple, single zip download button for each recording which I prefer, and the Berliner Philharmoniker store had/has multiple options - if you buy one recording, you get up to seven different formats per recording, all mouse click simple.

[Brian]

You have to download and install the Chandos app, then wait as the download queue fills (mine took several minutes), then download a CHN file of the queue, then use the downloader to select the CHN file before the actual recordings download, single thread only.  It's amateurish garbage, even worse than Hyperion.

eep, guess we're getting what we pay for with that sale then.

[Brian]

I can't speak about any of the others, but the British String Quartet set is table-shatteringly good.

Any particular favorite Maggini volumes?

[JBS]

Any particular favorite Maggini volumes?

In terms of quality of performance--no favorites.
It would boil down to which composer or individual piece you prefer.

[Daverz]

Chandos offers MP3, FLAC 16/44.1, ALAC 16/44.1, 24 bit "studio" (whatever that means), and 24 bit surround, depending on recording.  I don't pay for lossy files except in very rare cases (eg, Michael Houstoun's Morrison Trust LvB piano sonata cycle when I bought it, or $0.99 big boxes).

Hyperion also requires using an app to download, though the UX is less awful.  Qobuz has one as well, but you can also directly download right from their webpage.  7Digital has a simple, single zip download button for each recording which I prefer, and the Berliner Philharmoniker store had/has multiple options - if you buy one recording, you get up to seven different formats per recording, all mouse click simple.

Yes, Qobuz has a "download as zip archive" button. 

You can download each track from Chandos without using their app, if you don't mind clicking "Download Track" then "Save" for each track and collating the files yourself (perhaps there's a browser extension that can do this for you).  I'm not sure why Chandos insists on doing it this way, but I think the reason is sociological, not technological.   

[Spotted Horses]

Yes, Qobuz has a "download as zip archive" button.

As I recall there is a limit on how many tracks can be included in a zip file. I ran up against it more than once.

The Chandos.net system is strangely convoluted, but once I figured it out it has worked reliably for me.

[Brian]

With fewer than 60 minutes to spare, I finally put in my Chandos web shop Naxos download order...



And guitar particularly



All in, US $77.

[JBS]

Don't know about the others, but that is a great recording (the Five Fragments particularly).

@Brian
Strongly endorse that. As well as the Martinu, Rota, and Guarnieri CDs.
But I thought you had the Guarnieri already? And if you didn't--why not get the second volume of the Choros as well?

[Spotted Horses]

With fewer than 60 minutes to spare, I finally put in my Chandos web shop Naxos download order...



And guitar particularly



All in, US $77.

Duh, it ends at midnight GMT. I was going to review and think about adding an extra item or two. Oh well...

[Brian]

@Brian
Strongly endorse that. As well as the Martinu, Rota, and Guarnieri CDs.
But I thought you had the Guarnieri already? And if you didn't--why not get the second volume of the Choros as well?

I have the second volume on physical CD but not the first.    (And the first disc of piano concertos on CD, but didn't have as much love for the later concertos.)

[Brian]

Also just purchased this from BRO:

Haydn, String Quartet, Op.74 No.3 'Rider'. Mozart, String Quartet, K.575. (Prazak Quartet. Total time: 45'21')

It's a Nuovo Era label recording; never heard of the label and was unable to find any photos of this disc online. BRO is requiring a minimum spend of $15 so I had to add some jazz albums to get to $15.

[Todd]

It's a Nuovo Era label recording; never heard of the label and was unable to find any photos of this disc online. BRO is requiring a minimum spend of $15 so I had to add some jazz albums to get to $15.

Your suffering is great, sir.

It sure would be great if Nuova Era would reissue their Prazak recordings, because it looks like there is an earlier LvB complete cycle that didn't even make it to Jens' list.

[ritter]

^^^

I think the Nuova Era label ceased operations some 20 years ago, and I have no idea who owns their catalogue now.  I have quite a few of their releases in my collection (obscure Italian operas and that kind of stuff).

THREAD DUTY:

From FNAC here in Madrid, really obscure Italian stuff.



I first came across the name Francesco Santoliquido recently, in Alfredo Casella's memoirs I Segreti della giara (who wrote that Santoliquido's newspaper articles were "hilarious because of their provincial illiteracy"  ). Many composers in pre-WW2 Italy —including Casella— flirted with or supported fascism (out of conviction, opportunism, or both, depending on the case), but Santoliquido went one step further, and advocated the racial laws passed by the regime in 1938 (lobbying for the music of e.g., Schoenberg and Milhaud to be banned in Italy). Let's see if the guy's music has any interest. 


Eliodoro Sollima (1926-2000) seems to have played a prominent role in Sicilian musical life in the second half of the 20th century.

And bought while in Cannes a couple of weeks ago (also at FNAC), but forgot to post it:



I'm not really a fan of the a capella choral genre, and even less so of the music of Saint-Saëns, but the Reynaldo Hahn completist in me of course had to get this  ...

[ritter]

Straying from my usual repertoire. A documentary last night on French TV5 about Louis XIV led me to order this reconstruction of a historical curiosity, the Ballet Royal de la Nuict (and it could be had for a pittance):

[DavidW]

Brian, I really like the Martinu cd.  I missed it before because your post was so long!