Topic: How satisfied are you with those big box purchases?

[bigshot]

For those who prefer more of an HIP approach, the big label boxes full of Karajan, Jochum and Bohm would probably be considerably less appealing than a Brilliant Classics box full of more modern performance styles. In general, I find the Brilliant Classics baroque and classical music to be the best. Except in the cases when they license older recordings for the romantic boxes, like the Strauss box. (I don't care for Sawallisch's Mendelssohn symphonies though.)

Brilliant has some really good soloists and conductors in their stable. I'd put them up with any of the superstar conductors today (if such a thing still exists).

[kishnevi]

I'm coming close to finishing at long last a complete runthrough of this one (six CDs of Haydn to go)

I'm not suggesting you pay the Amazon MP prices (IIRC, I got mine for about $100US from an Amazon MP European vendor), but if it ever gets reissued, it's well worth getting.   Fischer's Haydn, Barshai's Shostakovich (those two combined would have cost me more than the set) Goodman's Schubert,  Blomstedt's Beethoven, and several sets that are worthwhile on their own but fall to lesser rank in the presence of the ones I own.  Not everything is a complete cycle--Tchaikovsky only gets Numbers 4-6, for instance--and some composers are represented by a mix of conductors--most importantly Mendelssohn and Mahler.
But it's a set I'm quite happy to have.

[Sammy]

In my mind there are two kinds of big boxes: The super cheap, super comprehensive "180 disc Bach/Haydn/Mozart" etc that introduce a lot of music for well under a dollar a disc, but most of it is only "Pretty good" quality wise, and the "brand-name show-off" boxes, or "famous conducter" ouvre boxes, that are usually $2-3 a disc and are mostly 4-5 star quality level, at least by some judges standards (say, penguin or gramophone, or whatever).  If you regularly buy music and are actually going to listen to them, I think both are simply common-sense purchases (although I only get the second type). 
    To me there is something unreasonable in saying "I don't buy big boxes" and yet buying tons of full priced singles of the core repertoire. 
  PS: the post man just dropped off the 60-disc baroque box--lots of lovely Kuijken and Leonhardt)--and I mean minutes ago

I think it's unreasonable for me to buy a 60cd box I don't want instead of three brand-new single recordings that I very much want.

Your mistake is in assuming that the rewards I will reap from a big box are in the same neighborhood as the rewards you will reap. 

Both of us are trying to maximize the gain of our respective expenditures.  Let's leave it at that.

[marvinbrown]

  Buying big boxsets has never been my style......until that is I ran into this:

 

  With the sole exception of maybe 2-3 operas the rest are either top drawer or highly recommendable.

  After all this box set is an amalgamation of some of DECCA, DG and EMIs' best or highly recommendable recordings. Aida with Karajan, Otello with Chung, Simon with  Abbado, Rigolleto with Guilini, all the early operas with Gardelli are some of the many many highlights of this boxset. Utterly superb!

  NB: The only  2 operas I don't like are Ernani and I Vespri but I challenge anyone here to find a boxset that sets a standard as high as this one across 75 CDs!!

  marvin

[Madiel]

    To me there is something unreasonable in saying "I don't buy big boxes" and yet buying tons of full priced singles of the core repertoire.  My father grew up during the depression and is very tight with money. I remember how angry he used to get at my brother, who was a pretty heavy smoker, for buying cigarettes a pack at a time at the convenience store.  "If you're going to smoke, at least don't throw your money away! Wait til their on sale and buy cartons!".   I buy boxes of CDs. My father would be proud (Maybe. He loves a bargain, but thinks buying music is a waste of money when you can just turn on the radio).   

False analogy. Each cigarette is completely interchangeable with each other cigarette. They're designed to be identical to each other. They are also designed to be single use.

Neither of these things is true of CDs.

[(: premont :)]

I think it's unreasonable for me to buy a 60cd box I don't want instead of three brand-new single recordings that I very much want.

Because these two desires are not mutually exclusive, some, f.i. like me, have the problem, that we want both the 60 CD box and the three brand new single recordings.

[North Star]

And some want 60 new single recordings and three boxes..

[Mookalafalas]

False analogy. Each cigarette is completely interchangeable with each other cigarette. They're designed to be identical to each other. They are also designed to be single use.

Neither of these things is true of CDs.

 You and Sammy are both ignoring the central sentence in my quote "If you regularly buy music and are actually going to listen to them".  If you don't believe you would want to play the discs, then of course it is a bad purchase, or would even be bad to receive for free.  Speaking for myself, I am planning to play--and expect to enjoy--virtually every disc I have purchased.  There was a disc of Tippet in the Teldec box I really disliked.  That is the only thing I have heard so far that I would say that about.  It wouldn't surprise me at all if later I grow to like it. 

[Madiel]

You and Sammy are both ignoring the central sentence in my quote "If you regularly buy music and are actually going to listen to them".  If you don't believe you would want to play the discs, then of course it is a bad purchase, or would even be bad to receive for free.  Speaking for myself, I am planning to play--and expect to enjoy--virtually every disc I have purchased.  There was a disc of Tippet in the Teldec box I really disliked.  That is the only thing I have heard so far that I would say that about.  It wouldn't surprise me at all if later I grow to like it.

That may well be true, but it still doesn't make the analogy any less flawed. The cigarette purchases depend on notions of stockpiling that just don't work in the context of CDs, because using a CD doesn't deplete your stock.

[bigshot]

Dare I say it?

I think some people are jealous that the little woman won't let them bring a big box of music in the house without a whole lotta grief!

[Ken B]

Dare I say it?

I think some people are jealous that the little woman won't let them bring a big box of music in the house without a whole lotta grief!

 

[Mookalafalas]

That may well be true, but it still doesn't make the analogy any less flawed. The cigarette purchases depend on notions of stockpiling that just don't work in the context of CDs, because using a CD doesn't deplete your stock.

  An analogy, by definition, compares dissimilar things.  To elements only have to be comparable in one dimension to serve in an analogy.  If you like Reiner's work with the CSO, you could buy each of 60 cds over the next few years for $17 a pop, or you could have bought the box for $100.  It's cheaper to bulk purchase this kind of consumer good rather than drag it out with expensive individual purchases.  That's a mathematical fact which is also true of buying cigarettes in bulk.  If I buy a pack of cigarettes, I will smoke them all and later buy more. If I buy a box of CDs I will listen to them all and eventually buy more.  If you want to argue that there is no box you would want to listen to or own more than 10 discs of, then the analogy does not hold in your case, and buying boxes is a bad idea for you.  You should still be able to follow the reasoning, however. 
   The topic of this thread is not semantics, btw. It's "how satisfied are you with those big box purchases".  I explained that I am VERY happy with mine aesthetically, economically, and because I feel I am being frugal and saving money, morally as well, and gave the reasons for my feeling this way. Perhaps you might want to say something about your feelings about a box you have purchased.

[Ken B]

  An analogy, by definition, compares dissimilar things.  To elements only have to be comparable in one dimension to serve in an analogy.  If you like Reiner's work with the CSO, you could buy each of 60 cds over the next few years for $17 a pop, or you could have bought the box for $100.  It's cheaper to bulk purchase this kind of consumer good rather than drag it out with expensive individual purchases.  That's a mathematical fact which is also true of buying cigarettes in bulk.  If I buy a pack of cigarettes, I will smoke them all and later buy more. If I buy a box of CDs I will listen to them all and eventually buy more.  If you want to argue that there is no box you would want to listen to or own more than 10 discs of, then the analogy does not hold in your case, and buying boxes is a bad idea for you.  You should still be able to follow the reasoning, however. 
   The topic of this thread is not semantics, btw. It's "how satisfied are you with those big box purchases".  I explained that I am VERY happy with mine aesthetically, economically, and because I feel I am being frugal and saving money, morally as well, and gave the reasons for my feeling this way. Perhaps you might want to say something about your feelings about a box you have purchased.

The simplest way to prove your point, and I am a mathematician by training, you can trust me on this, is to make the two situations perfectly analogous in all the relevant dimensions, or isomorphic as we say. What is Ken on about you ask, how does arcane mathematics help me? It is simple. Send me each disc once you have played it, thus depleting your stock, establishing said isomorphism, and proving your case beyond doubt or question.

[Mookalafalas]

The simplest way to prove your point, and I am a mathematician by training, you can trust me on this, is to make the two situations perfectly analogous in all the relevant dimensions, or isomorphic as we say. What is Ken on about you ask, how does arcane mathematics help me? It is simple. Send me each disc once you have played it, thus depleting your stock, establishing said isomorphism, and proving your case beyond doubt or question.

  But I wouldn't send you my exhaled cigarette smoke, so it seems to me this actually adds complexity.  What I need to do is roll up each disc after I play it and toke on it for while...

[Madiel]

  An analogy, by definition, compares dissimilar things.  To elements only have to be comparable in one dimension to serve in an analogy.

The only comparable dimension is that they cost money. You might as well compare boxes of cigarettes with motorcycles, or CDs with pet parrots. If you're going to completely ignore any characteristics of the objects being bought, and all you care about is that there's some kind of discount for buying more than one at a time, then all your analogy is saying is that the cost per unit goes down.

Well, duh.  In that case, I'm going to go and buy 5 houses at once and save on the realtor's fees.

It's not mere semantics, by the way. You went out of you way to not just say you were satisfied with your big boxes, but to openly criticise people who bought music in smaller quantities.

[Madiel]

Dare I say it?

I think some people are jealous that the little woman won't let them bring a big box of music in the house without a whole lotta grief!

I'm gay and single. Guess again.

[Daverz]

Of recent boxes, I think Russell Davies's Haydn box was superfluous, and I was disappointed with the Kempe Icon box.

[Mookalafalas]

You went out of you way to not just say you were satisfied with your big boxes, but to openly criticise people who bought music in smaller quantities.

 
  Then I apologize.  I meant to say that if it is music you would buy anyway, it's more sensible to pay $2 than $17.  I can sincerely say I didn't mean that as a criticism of you, and I'm sorry that you took it that way.  Are we OK now? I really don't want to argue with you, or mess up this thread. 

[Madiel]

 
  Then I apologize.  I meant to say that if it is music you would buy anyway, it's more sensible to pay $2 than $17.  I can sincerely say I didn't mean that as a criticism of you, and I'm sorry that you took it that way.  Are we OK now? I really don't want to argue with you, or mess up this thread.

We are OK, yes, thank you.

(The 'if' is of course the crux of the matter, and how often it's going to be fulfilled will vary enormously from one person to another and will also depend on timing considerations.)

To return to the original purpose of the thread: the biggest box I have is 'The Great EMI Recordings' for Paul Tortelier and I have quite mixed feelings about it. In cases where I have duplicates of the repertoire to directly compare to, either I tend to prefer the other recording or honours are even. In the case of the Faure cello sonatas I actively sought out an alternative, which is a pretty rare thing for me.  On the other hand, the box has exposed me to a few bits of repertoire that I otherwise might not know and have enjoyed - Kodaly's sonata for solo cello being a significant highlight. It also exposed me to at least one piece by Tcherepnin that I can't stand...

[bigshot]

I'm gay and single. Guess again.

Yippee! Then you won't be paying college tuition for a kid. Spend the money on music instead!