Box Blather

Started by Ken B, April 19, 2014, 07:07:51 PM

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Ken B

Quote from: André on November 18, 2019, 05:31:12 PM
That's the spirit! When I miss on an item I covet, I just shrug it off as it was not meant to be. Another temptation is waiting around the corner  >:D
I never wanted to date Kim Basinger anyway.

Mookalafalas

Quote from: André on November 18, 2019, 05:31:12 PM
That's the spirit! When I miss on an item I covet, I just shrug it off as it was not meant to be. Another temptation is waiting around the corner  >:D

  Speaking of...the Callas BIG box is $70, including shipping, from Amazon UK (or was 2 days ago...).  I bought one for $97 and considered it a steal.  I do not consider myself a philistine if I profit from art, so am just waiting for it to go OOP and then resell it. (sorry, Peter :-X)
It's all good...

Moonfish

Quote from: Mookalafalas on November 19, 2019, 05:36:03 AM
  Speaking of...the Callas BIG box is $70, including shipping, from Amazon UK (or was 2 days ago...).  I bought one for $97 and considered it a steal.  I do not consider myself a philistine if I profit from art, so am just waiting for it to go OOP and then resell it. (sorry, Peter :-X)

Heresy!  *image of Al consumed in the flames of the opera demons*


I got two boxes just in case I wear out the first one!   >:D
"Every time you spend money you are casting a vote for the kind of world you want...."
Anna Lappé

Mookalafalas

Couldn't resist any longer on the Paillard box. Price went down in UK, so got it, w/shipping for $137, or almost exactly a dollar a disk.
[asin]B07VBH5BMB[/asin]

  What pushed me over the edge was going back to this gem
[asin]B00EDXH116[/asin]
   And playing the Paillard disks.  Suddenly his big box seemed a no-brainer.
It's all good...

Mookalafalas

Alas, box enthusiasm has plummeted :(

    I've been selling quite a few items on Ebay (like the big Furtwangler)...but also buying some, especially when irresistibly cheap. I have very little WAM outside of the symphonies and PCs, and saw this for $111 with shipping from Amazon.UK
[asin]B00L2SQVVQ[/asin]

    However, I was a little disappointed by some of the upgrades from this earlier box, such as jettisoning Klara Wurtz for the piano pieces.
[asin]B000A0HFZS[/asin]
    What is a serious collector to do? Well, I checked the Used sets on Amazon.de, and someone was selling it for 30 Euros. Hard to beat a price like that...so got both 8)
   Looks like 2020 is going to be a WAM year for me.
It's all good...

j winter

I got the older (red) Brilliant Mozart box many moons ago, and have honestly never gotten close to hearing the whole thing.  You're right that the Klara Wurtz sonatas are worthwhile, and I've always liked Jaap Ter Linden's PI symphony set -- to my ear it's got considerably more oomph than Pinnock...
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted.

-- William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

Brian

I'm excited for this big guy:



Also for some time I've been debating the big Alicia de Larrocha box on Decca and the big Boston Symphony box on Deutsche Grammophon. Right now, the two of them are $171 shipped, together, from Amazon DE (compared to about $250 on Amazon US). 98 CDs combined. Should I do it?!?!

And I made myself a little "dream list" of hypothetical future box sets that I'd snap up:
- Leif Ove Andsnes complete EMI/Virgin
- Igor Markevitch complete DG
- Leonard Slatkin complete RCA
- Eric Heidsieck everything that's not Beethoven??
- Eugene Ormandy complete recordings currently held by Sony

Past boxes that I regret missing: the Reiner big box

vers la flamme

^I'm surprised that there has not yet been an Ormandy/Sony box. It would be massive, but surely worthwhile. I always enjoy his conducting.

j winter

Quote from: vers la flamme on March 18, 2020, 12:39:15 PM
^I'm surprised that there has not yet been an Ormandy/Sony box. It would be massive, but surely worthwhile. I always enjoy his conducting.

+1  They may be having the same problem with Ormandy that I presume they've had with Bernstein -- there's literally too many recordings to fit into a box.  Amazon would have to deliver it on a pallet...  :laugh:
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted.

-- William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

JBS

#1029
Quote from: Brian on March 18, 2020, 11:57:09 AM
I'm excited for this big guy:



Also for some time I've been debating the big Alicia de Larrocha box on Decca and the big Boston Symphony box on Deutsche Grammophon. Right now, the two of them are $171 shipped, together, from Amazon DE (compared to about $250 on Amazon US). 98 CDs combined. Should I do it?!?!

And I made myself a little "dream list" of hypothetical future box sets that I'd snap up:
- Leif Ove Andsnes complete EMI/Virgin
- Igor Markevitch complete DG
- Leonard Slatkin complete RCA
- Eric Heidsieck everything that's not Beethoven??
- Eugene Ormandy complete recordings currently held by Sony

Past boxes that I regret missing: the Reiner big box

How available is Heidseck's Beethoven now? I have it as part of a cheapo EMI France set that I think is OOP.

ETA
This is the set
[asin]B000NA2PCS[/asin]

Other big box comment:

I recieved the Naxos Complete Beethoven set today. It turns out that they included the three sonatas Boris Giltburg recorded for them (IIRC) last year in place of Jando's recordings. So now I have one more duplicate CD and an incomplete Jando cycle.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

André

Quote from: j winter on March 18, 2020, 12:55:07 PM
+1  They may be having the same problem with Ormandy that I presume they've had with Bernstein -- there's literally too many recordings to fit into a box.  Amazon would have to deliver it on a pallet...  :laugh:

They could make it in installments:

- The Minneapolis years
- The Philadelphia years (mono)
- The Philadelphia years (stereo) I : orchestral works, and II: concertos / vocal works.

T. D.

Quote from: JBS on March 18, 2020, 04:03:34 PM
How available is Heidseck's Beethoven now? I have it as part of a cheapo EMI France set that I think is OOP.

ETA
This is the set
[asin]B000NA2PCS[/asin]

...
I made an effort to find that set. Through US Amazon it was only available through momox, a seller I don't trust. French Rakuten had lots of sets, used  quite inexpensive, but my credit card company denied efforts to purchase and I tired of the hassle. Wound up purchasing Heidsieck's 32 through Discogs, though not as cheaply as the 50-disc Chefs d'Oeuvres de Beethoven would have been from Rakuten.fr. French Rakuten still looks like a source for the big box if you can conveniently shop there.

JBS

Quote from: T. D. on March 18, 2020, 06:40:36 PM
I made an effort to find that set. Through US Amazon it was only available through momox, a seller I don't trust. French Rakuten had lots of sets, used  quite inexpensive, but my credit card company denied efforts to purchase and I tired of the hassle. Wound up purchasing Heidsieck's 32 through Discogs, though not as cheaply as the 50-disc Chefs d'Oeuvres de Beethoven would have been from Rakuten.fr. French Rakuten still looks like a source for the big box if you can conveniently shop there.

Quick check  suggests Heidseck's sonatas are the only important segment of the 50CD set not available in some other form.

And it is a very cheap set, in terms of materials.  The "box" is actually just a paper sleeve around 50 CDs in paper envelopes and the track listing booklet.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Jo498

It is very cheaply done, both in materials and presentation. But while available separately the Violin (Ferras), Cello sonatas (Tortelier/Heidsieck) and the string quartets (Hungarian) are also quite desirable and the piano and string trios are quite good and I am not sure if these are easily available separately. When that Beethoven box sold for about 40 Euros it was a fantastic bargain.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

Mookalafalas

Quote from: Jo498 on March 19, 2020, 01:47:17 AM
It is very cheaply done, both in materials and presentation. But while available separately the Violin (Ferras), Cello sonatas (Tortelier/Heidsieck) and the string quartets (Hungarian) are also quite desirable and the piano and string trios are quite good and I am not sure if these are easily available separately. When that Beethoven box sold for about 40 Euros it was a fantastic bargain.

  I got this Sony complete LvB box for a similar price a couple (few?) years back, and it is also terrific.  The one "New" one at US Amazon is $599, but used ones are still about $60. Having this, I was never tempted to get another.
[asin]B000NDEMAI[/asin]
It's all good...

Madiel

I don't know so much about the merits of the recordings in the Naxos Beethoven 250 box, but I think it's worth saying that the website for it is exemplary.

Rarely have I seen a large box where it's so easy to view the contents. And furthermore, if you click on individual works, it will duly show you in another window the original single album that the recording comes from.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

JBS

Quote from: Madiel on March 20, 2020, 08:50:14 PM
I don't know so much about the merits of the recordings in the Naxos Beethoven 250 box, but I think it's worth saying that the website for it is exemplary.

Rarely have I seen a large box where it's so easy to view the contents. And furthermore, if you click on individual works, it will duly show you in another window the original single album that the recording comes from.

The chief attraction for me is all the stuff no one ever talks about.
At the moment, I am listening to CD 72, which includes
--the complete music to The Ruins of Athens, Op 113, including pertinent bits of dialogue and narration--never heard this in full before
--the March from the Ruins of Athens, Op 114, in its version as a completely independent work
--the Consecration of the House Overture Op 124
--two choruses for The Consecration of the House, Hess 118 and WoO 98,  respectively.--I didn't even know these existed until now.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Brian

In the past couple days I've ordered a couple big boxes as "shelter in place" entertainment: the DG box of almost all their recordings of the Boston Symphony - god it's annoying that they forgot two CDs, but the box still looks like quite a trove of stuff - and Vladimir Ashkenazy "artist's choice" retrospective of solo, chamber, and lieder recordings. Each a little over 50 CDs. Should keep me busy for a few months, especially since I'm still going through an earlier 2020 purchase, the Andre Cluytens box.

Mookalafalas

Quote from: Brian on March 21, 2020, 08:31:20 PM
In the past couple days I've ordered a couple big boxes as "shelter in place" entertainment: the DG box of almost all their recordings of the Boston Symphony - god it's annoying that they forgot two CDs, but the box still looks like quite a trove of stuff - and Vladimir Ashkenazy "artist's choice" retrospective of solo, chamber, and lieder recordings. Each a little over 50 CDs. Should keep me busy for a few months, especially since I'm still going through an earlier 2020 purchase, the Andre Cluytens box.

  Is the Ash box this one?

   If so, that's a beauty.  They top off each disk essentially with another disk. 
It's all good...

Brian

#1039
Quote from: Mookalafalas on March 21, 2020, 10:52:02 PM
  Is the Ash box this one?
   If so, that's a beauty.  They top off each disk essentially with another disk.
Nope, it's this one, just a bit bigger and also all original jacket (but without fillers because many of the discs are newer and longer I think):



The conceit is that the artist personally selected all the recordings he wanted in the box to represent his best work. Really diverse repertoire, from Bach's WTC to Shostakovich's preludes and fugues (and trios...and viola/cello sonatas...and piano quintets...and songs) with a big helping of all the other Russian composers, Brahms chamber music, the Scriabin sonatas, helpings of Mozart and Chopin, etc.

EDIT: I looked up the contents of your 50th box to see what the overlap is. Prokofiev solo piano music, the Franck/Brahms chamber CD with Perlman, Rachmaninov preludes, suites for two pianos, and Sonata 2, all the Ravel solo/chamber stuff + one Debussy miniature, Shostakovich P&F, and Beethoven Diabelli Variations are notable overlaps. There are Schumann recordings in both boxes but he recorded them twice and they might be different - I believe that the purple one has earlier 60s recordings. The purple box obviously doesn't have anything involving an orchestra, and also doesn't have any Beethoven piano sonatas (but cello sonatas yes).