Box Blather

[Mookalafalas]

The temptation contains its own remedy. The Amazon link leads to "page not found".

Only at Amazon.jp

[Ken B]

Only at Amazon.jp

Fortunately they don't ship abroad. They don't even ship outside Tokyo I hear ...

[Mookalafalas]

Fortunately they don't ship abroad. They don't even ship outside Tokyo I hear ...

  They ship anywhere, and are extremely cheap and FAST.
    However, as with Amazon Italy (if I recall correctly),  you have to make a new account with them--they won't recognize the US Amazon password etc, automatically, like British and German Amazons.

[Brian]

I wonder what the overlap is between the "Legendary Soviet Recordings" box and the "Historic Russian Legends" box...

[asin]B000T2ONOI[/asin]

One of the reviews mentions that there is some overlap, which I would expect. However:

Sometimes amazing conglomerations of stars.  Right now I am playing the Shostokovich PCs, played by Shostokovich himself. Where violin is required, it is David Oistrakh. It is such a treasure trove. 

There's no Shostakovich playing Shostakovich in my Brilliant box, and where violin is required, it's a mixture of Oistrakh, Kogan, Tretiakov, and Kremer. (including a potential GOAT Tchaikovsky concerto from Kogan which I really oughta listen to again sometime.)

Come to think of it, it's been a long time since I pulled out that Brilliant box at all...

EDIT: I just found your tracklist/contents translation on the Other Classical Music Forum and am reading that to check for overlap.

[Mookalafalas]

I wonder what the overlap is between the "Legendary Soviet Recordings" box and the "Historic Russian Legends" box...

[asin]B000T2ONOI[/asin]

One of the reviews mentions that there is some overlap, which I would expect. However:

There's no Shostakovich playing Shostakovich in my Brilliant box, and where violin is required, it's a mixture of Oistrakh, Kogan, Tretiakov, and Kremer. (including a potential GOAT Tchaikovsky concerto from Kogan which I really oughta listen to again sometime.)

Come to think of it, it's been a long time since I pulled out that Brilliant box at all...

EDIT: I just found your tracklist/contents translation on the Other Classical Music Forum and am reading that to check for overlap.

  Brian, someone in the other forum went through the whole set to compare it with the old one. As I recall, there was very little overlap. I want to say between 5 and 10 disks, although it may have been more.
   Right now listening to the Gilels& Shafran. Another gem.  All the sleeves are stamped 96/24 remastering. I originally assumed it was marketing BS. After all "Yedang entertainment company" for under $1 a platter....however, even the Mono Carnival of Animals from 1951 sounds marvelous. 

[Brian]

Any owners of the Boston Symphony DG box on here? I am somewhat intrigued.

Ditto the DG Paul Badura-Skoda box of old Westminster recordings.

[Mookalafalas]

This is $89.99 at Amazon.  I'm curious what reason people give for not buying this.  If you have all the disks, obviously that is an excellent reason. But only having half is a terrible reason, IMO. Hating pre-classical era music is a good reason, but sort of thinking you may not like pre-classical era music is a terrible reason because once you play a few minutes of pretty much any of these disks you'll change your mind very quickly...

[asin]B0765S8NY4[/asin]

[Brian]

This is $89.99 at Amazon.  I'm curious what reason people give for not buying this.  If you have all the disks, obviously that is an excellent reason. But only having half is a terrible reason, IMO. Hating pre-classical era music is a good reason, but sort of thinking you may not like pre-classical era music is a terrible reason because once you play a few minutes of pretty much any of these disks you'll change your mind very quickly...

[asin]B0765S8NY4[/asin]

Hmmm, that is a good question. I've never been shamed into buying CDs! There are only about 20 CDs in there that currently interest me, but that still works out to a relatively good $4.50 per. Am amused by the Amazon reviewer who did not actually buy the set, just looked at the preview images, and decided incorrectly that there are 14 (!) discs of English harpsichord music.

I'm thinking about the Sony Tafelmusik box because that's a band whose sound and approach I consistently enjoy. It's on Amazon DE for like US $45.

[Biffo]

This is $89.99 at Amazon.  I'm curious what reason people give for not buying this.  If you have all the disks, obviously that is an excellent reason. But only having half is a terrible reason, IMO. Hating pre-classical era music is a good reason, but sort of thinking you may not like pre-classical era music is a terrible reason because once you play a few minutes of pretty much any of these disks you'll change your mind very quickly...

[asin]B0765S8NY4[/asin]

No, it is a very good reason, especially if you are not interested in the other half. Having an interest in pre-classical music, and I have, doesn't mean you have to like every thing from that era.

Several of the works I already have in multiple versions and I am not currently interested in having more. £70 (the UK price) could be better spent on more focused buying. Yesterday I spent over £30 pounds on discs I actually want (Charpentier, Schutz, Bach) and want to listen to and absorb those before buying any more.

Realistically, I probably would never listen to 100 discs, even working through them gradually; some people seem to be able to listen dozens of discs a day, I can't. I am still working my way the the large HM Baroque Opera box I bought months ago.

[mc ukrneal]

Hmmm, that is a good question. I've never been shamed into buying CDs! There are only about 20 CDs in there that currently interest me, but that still works out to a relatively good $4.50 per. Am amused by the Amazon reviewer who did not actually buy the set, just looked at the preview images, and decided incorrectly that there are 14 (!) discs of English harpsichord music.

I'm thinking about the Sony Tafelmusik box because that's a band whose sound and approach I consistently enjoy. It's on Amazon DE for like US $45.

Discs 84-97 are indeed English Harpsichord music. That part is not incorrect.

[Brian]

Discs 84-97 are indeed English Harpsichord music. That part is not incorrect.

But disc 85 is "Carnival in Venice" with a choir and orchestra...and disc 89 is French trios...etc.??

[Mookalafalas]

Yeah, just disk 84 is English Harpsichord music.  You got some bad info there, MC. 85-97 is a crazy eclectic mix.

  Anyway, I was initially only interested in a minority of these disks--but mostly because I only have a passing knowledge of a lot of this repertoire.  Unlike some of you guys, I have alternate versions of very few of these, so for me it is a gold mine.  I keep putting in disks with no particular expectations and then being delighted.  Certainly the technical standards in playing and recording are very high. 
   I also must admit, I have a lot of listening time. I play 10-12 disks a day. Those of you with a huge backlog and limited listening time...well, that is a good reason not to buy a big box.

   And Brian, the Tafelmusik box is fantastic. Good as this is, I would get that one first. 

[Ken B]

Yeah, just disk 84 is English Harpsichord music.  You got some bad info there, MC. 85-97 is a crazy eclectic mix.

  Anyway, I was initially only interested in a minority of these disks--but mostly because I only have a passing knowledge of a lot of this repertoire.  Unlike some of you guys, I have alternate versions of very few of these, so for me it is a gold mine.  I keep putting in disks with no particular expectations and then being delighted.  Certainly the technical standards in playing and recording are very high. 
   I also must admit, I have a lot of listening time. I play 10-12 disks a day. Those of you with a huge backlog and limited listening time...well, that is a good reason not to buy a big box.

   And Brian, the Tafelmusik box is fantastic. Good as this is, I would get that one first.

My excuse is I have all the contents already, in the form of the earlier boxes, including the Tafelmusik. All splendid stuff. Mook is right.

[mc ukrneal]

But disc 85 is "Carnival in Venice" with a choir and orchestra...and disc 89 is French trios...etc.??

You're right. There is a break right before the English Harpsichord music, so it appears on a quick glance that the next discs are harpsichords. My bad!

[Muzio]

If one has the DHM-100 set and the Tafelmusik set, is the 30-disc Naxos "The Early Music Collection" box a worthwhile purchase?

[JBS]

If one has the DHM-100 set and the Tafelmusik set, is the 30-disc Naxos "The Early Music Collection" box a worthwhile purchase?

I have the Naxos set on backorder at Arkivmusic.
1) I already have some of the CDs included in the set, and all of them are good performances.
2) Most of the music in the Naxos set is pre1600, so there is only a slight overlap in the music presented. And the Naxos recordings are by different performers even when they do overlap.

[Jo498]

Hmmm, that is a good question. I've never been shamed into buying CDs! There are only about 20 CDs in there that currently interest me, but that still works out to a relatively good $4.50 per. Am amused by the Amazon reviewer who did not actually buy the set, just looked at the preview images, and decided incorrectly that there are 14 (!) discs of English harpsichord music.

I'm thinking about the Sony Tafelmusik box because that's a band whose sound and approach I consistently enjoy. It's on Amazon DE for like US $45.

I would not get the big box. It is very odd mix of some very good stuff, some fairly obscure recordings like early 1970s Collegium Aureum, lots of run-of-the mill HIP recordings from the 80s-00s that will often have been surpassed by others. So unless one is a big fan of baroque music and also interested in the last 50 years of historically informed performance practice, I think it is bound to collect dust on most shelves.
The Tafelmusik box seems far more attractive to me. I have heard/owned about a dozen of their discs. They are usually very good, while usually not being the last word in expression. I.e. compared to more excentric musicians like Harnoncourt, Jacobs, Savall, Minkowski, even Brüggen, they usually remain within the polite and well behaved anglo-tradition of baroque music. Which could be read as praise or as damning with faint praise. I also find some of the choral stuff with Weil a bit on the (sonically) "thin" side.
But  there are also some fairly rare repertoire like Mozart's symphonies after serenades or Gazzaniga, Geminiani etc.

[Muzio]

I have the Naxos set on backorder at Arkivmusic.
1) I already have some of the CDs included in the set, and all of them are good performances.
2) Most of the music in the Naxos set is pre1600, so there is only a slight overlap in the music presented. And the Naxos recordings are by different performers even when they do overlap.

Thanks very much.  Into the cart it goes! 

[Madiel]

This is $89.99 at Amazon.  I'm curious what reason people give for not buying this. 

1. Because it's Amazon, and there are a whole lot of issues wrapped up in that particularly for ordering in Australia.

2. Because spending $90 (more in my own currency) is not a bargain unless you actually want the thing you are purchasing and value it at more than $90. If you don't value it at all you've just wasted $90.

3. Because I don't want to drown in an ocean of stuff.

[Brian]

I would not get the big box. It is very odd mix of some very good stuff, some fairly obscure recordings like early 1970s Collegium Aureum, lots of run-of-the mill HIP recordings from the 80s-00s that will often have been surpassed by others. So unless one is a big fan of baroque music and also interested in the last 50 years of historically informed performance practice, I think it is bound to collect dust on most shelves.
The Tafelmusik box seems far more attractive to me. I have heard/owned about a dozen of their discs. They are usually very good, while usually not being the last word in expression. I.e. compared to more excentric musicians like Harnoncourt, Jacobs, Savall, Minkowski, even Brüggen, they usually remain within the polite and well behaved anglo-tradition of baroque music. Which could be read as praise or as damning with faint praise. I also find some of the choral stuff with Weil a bit on the (sonically) "thin" side.
But  there are also some fairly rare repertoire like Mozart's symphonies after serenades or Gazzaniga, Geminiani etc.

Thanks for this very helpful and perceptive post. The 100 CD box did seem like a grab bag to me and while I love some of the performers (like Tafelmusik, Hengelbrock, Oni Wytars) others don't have that appeal (e.g. not the biggest La Petite Bande fan). Your assessment of Tafelmusik seems right too. I own a great deal of Savall and all of Brüggen's Haydn, and a gigantic Freiburg Baroque box would be a very appealing purchase, but Tafelmusik did such a huge range of repertoire, and never badly.