Box Blather

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

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Brian

Brilliant Classics' new Complete Chopin Edition is actually pretty good.

Concertos: Ewa Kupiec backed up by Stan Skrowaczewski
Orchestral works that are not concertos: Abbey Simon
Half the polonaises: Alessandra Ammara (not famous, but very excellent - go buy her superb Ravel CD!)
Ballades, impromptus, preludes: Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy (ditto)
Scherzos: Ivan Moravec
Nocturnes: Earl Wild

Having said that, I've never heard of the people doing the mazurkas, etudes, or waltzes.

Mookalafalas

Quote from: Abuelo Igor on February 27, 2015, 03:34:36 PM
Why are they so few, if any, chamber music mega-boxes? I really cannot think now of a single 40- or 50- disc set that encompasses, say, the most important string quartet cycles by a single top-flight ensemble, or an extensive historic panorama of the violin sonata, or chamber wind music, or whatever.

Nobody has apparently thought either of repackaging tons of the contemporary stuff in massive boxes, as in "100 years of the Donaueschingen festival" or "70 years of Darmstadt".

Maybe only big labels are able to put out such products and they are positive that chamber or contemporary wouldn't sell, as opposed to mainstream orchestral, piano or opera?

  Pappy Oil just announced in the "new releases" thread that there is going to be a 60 disc "Beaux Arts trio" box coming out.
ASIN: B00VL4Q0A8   
  According to Amazon UK, it's coming out in July.
It's all good...

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: Mookalafalas on April 15, 2015, 04:33:58 PM
  Pappy Oil just announced in the "new releases" thread that there is going to be a 60 disc "Beaux Arts trio" box coming out.
ASIN: B00VL4Q0A8   
  According to Amazon UK, it's coming out in July.

Still, this is the exception which proves the rule. With only few exceptions, I am not an orchestral music fan, and solo keyboard is peripheral for me, so I don't get a lot of benefit from Big Boxes, probab;y a reason why I don't have but one, the Haydn. I hadn't really thought about it until now. But the BAT box could well be an exception, they are one of my very favorite MI ensembles.  :)

8)
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

Ken B

Quote from: Mookalafalas on April 15, 2015, 04:33:58 PM
  Pappy Oil just announced in the "new releases" thread that there is going to be a 60 disc "Beaux Arts trio" box coming out.
ASIN: B00VL4Q0A8   
  According to Amazon UK, it's coming out in July.

I expect a lot of interest in that here.

I certainly am. I worry about the cost though ...

Moonfish

Quote from: Ken B on April 15, 2015, 04:50:19 PM
I expect a lot of interest in that here.

I certainly am. I worry about the cost though ...

   < 100 euros at Amazon.de...   >:D
"Every time you spend money you are casting a vote for the kind of world you want...."
Anna Lappé

Mookalafalas

Quote from: Moonfish on April 15, 2015, 05:09:32 PM
   < 100 euros at Amazon.de...   >:D

Whoa Nelly! That's a nice price--especially with the Euro as cheap as it is now.

  Why the " >:D" Moonfish?!  Seems like a  :) or  :D or a  ;D would be more appropriate for news like that.
It's all good...

Moonfish

Quote from: Mookalafalas on April 15, 2015, 05:24:48 PM
Whoa Nelly! That's a nice price--especially with the Euro as cheap as it is now.

  Why the " >:D" Moonfish?!  Seems like a  :) or  :D or a  ;D would be more appropriate for news like that.
0:)

Except for that the shipping is high. For some odd reason it typically goes down (the S&H) closer to the actual release date.  :-\
"Every time you spend money you are casting a vote for the kind of world you want...."
Anna Lappé

Ken B

Quote from: Mookalafalas on April 15, 2015, 05:24:48 PM
Whoa Nelly! That's a nice price--especially with the Euro as cheap as it is now.

  Why the " >:D" Moonfish?!  Seems like a  :) or  :D or a  ;D would be more appropriate for news like that.

You need to remember that Moonfish and Ken B wants to tempt you!

kishnevi

Quote from: Moonfish on April 15, 2015, 05:25:12 PM
0:)

Except for that the shipping is high. For some odd reason it typically goes down (the S&H) closer to the actual release date.  :-\

And if you order too early you use the benefit of Amazon Currency Converter, if  that comes into play (on Amazon UK but not all the others).

Mookalafalas

This may be the mother of all boxes.  I am in love with everything I play.  I knew it would be good, but not like this...
   If you have 20, 30, 35 of the discs already, it really doesn't mean much. It would still only be the price you would pay for a box of 40 or 50 discs, and as there are 85 total, you would still have 50-65 new ones.  I've only played 20 so far (well, plus the 20 I already had), but the overall quality has been stupendous.

[asin]B00KXJD58M[/asin]

  It's also an unusually rugged box, with well built sleeves with the names clearly visible on the spines.  The book is unusually solid and handsome, although its main purpose is just to give all the details for each disc which didn't fit on the back of the sleeves (all the technicians and such who worked on the recording, and other related details).  Frankly, I don't expect to examine it too frequently.
It's all good...

Ken B

Quote from: Mookalafalas on May 02, 2015, 09:18:24 PM
This may be the mother of all boxes.  I am in love with everything I play.  I knew it would be good, but not like this...
   If you have 20, 30, 35 of the discs already, it really doesn't mean much. It would still only be the price you would pay for a box of 40 or 50 discs, and as there are 85 total, you would still have 50-65 new ones.  I've only played 20 so far (well, plus the 20 I already had), but the overall quality has been stupendous.

[asin]B00KXJD58M[/asin]

  It's also an unusually rugged box, with well built sleeves with the names clearly visible on the spines.  The book is unusually solid and handsome, although its main purpose is just to give all the details for each disc which didn't fit on the back of the sleeves (all the technicians and such who worked on the recording, and other related details).  Frankly, I don't expect to examine it too frequently.

>:( :'(

Mirror Image

The Sibelius Edition orchestral sets seem to have me completely hypnotized. I have been listening to very little else for the past few days. The sets I bought: Symphonies, Orchestral Music, Theatre Music, Voice & Orchestra, and Tone Poems could very well be my favorite purchases of the year.

Ken B

Quote from: Mirror Image on May 05, 2015, 11:58:39 AM
The Sibelius Edition orchestral sets seem to have me completely hypnotized. I have been listening to very little else for the past few days. The sets I bought: Symphonies, Orchestral Music, Theatre Music, Voice & Orchestra, and Tone Poems could very well be my favorite purchases of the year.

Koechlin shaven?

Mirror Image

Quote from: Ken B on May 05, 2015, 01:40:48 PM
Koechlin shaven?

Not completely. I still have that Seven Stars' Symphony recording on RCA on the way. :)

Ken B

Quote from: Mirror Image on May 05, 2015, 01:46:23 PM
Not completely. I still have that Seven Stars' Symphony recording on RCA on the way. :)

I meant the avatar  8)

Mirror Image


Madiel

Quote from: Mirror Image on May 05, 2015, 11:58:39 AM
The Sibelius Edition orchestral sets seem to have me completely hypnotized. I have been listening to very little else for the past few days. The sets I bought: Symphonies, Orchestral Music, Theatre Music, Voice & Orchestra, and Tone Poems could very well be my favorite purchases of the year.

Are you listening all the bits and pieces - first drafts and the like?

That's what put me off. I've no doubt there's a lot of fine music in there, but in a lot of the sets it felt like having every single possible version and arrangement of a piece translated into an excess of padding.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Mirror Image

Quote from: orfeo on May 05, 2015, 04:23:31 PM
Are you listening all the bits and pieces - first drafts and the like?

That's what put me off. I've no doubt there's a lot of fine music in there, but in a lot of the sets it felt like having every single possible version and arrangement of a piece translated into an excess of padding.

Oh yeah, I'm listening to all earlier and later versions of works. Hearing the 'Yale Version' of The Oceanides for example was ear-opening as it sounds completely different in the final version. The same can be applied to a work like Origin Of Fire, which I heard for the first time today. I actually liked the 'Original Version' compared to the later, revised one. I don't generally go for hearing every bar a composer has written, but Sibelius is an exception. I haven't heard anything I haven't liked. I even enjoyed his sole opera The Maiden in the Tower which NEVER gets mentioned or talked about. Anyway, what you see as a negative, I see as a plus, but we're obviously two different listeners who thirst for different things.

Madiel

Quote from: Mirror Image on May 05, 2015, 04:34:33 PM
Oh yeah, I'm listening to all earlier and later versions of works. Hearing the 'Yale Version' of The Oceanides for example was ear-opening as it sounds completely different in the final version. The same can be applied to a work like Origin Of Fire, which I heard for the first time today. I actually liked the 'Original Version' compared to the later, revised one. I don't generally go for hearing every bar a composer has written, but Sibelius is an exception. I haven't heard anything I haven't liked. I even enjoyed his sole opera The Maiden in the Tower which NEVER gets mentioned or talked about. Anyway, what you see as a negative, I see as a plus, but we're obviously two different listeners who thirst for different things.

Well, I'm not sure we are: you just said yourself that Sibelius was an exception when it came to wanting to hear every bar.

Truth be told, a couple of the sets that you've mentioned are among the ones that seemed to be less problematic, eg I think the Theatre Music set would be among the most interesting. The more off-putting sets were the ones that really seemed to be getting down into minutiae, eg I think one set (perhaps piano music) has a whole bunch of exercises and sketches that are about 10 seconds long.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Mirror Image

Quote from: orfeo on May 05, 2015, 04:43:07 PM
Well, I'm not sure we are: you just said yourself that Sibelius was an exception when it came to wanting to hear every bar.

Truth be told, a couple of the sets that you've mentioned are among the ones that seemed to be less problematic, eg I think the Theatre Music set would be among the most interesting. The more off-putting sets were the ones that really seemed to be getting down into minutiae, eg I think one set (perhaps piano music) has a whole bunch of exercises and sketches that are about 10 seconds long.

Being an orchestral fan, I suppose I'm just thinking of this part of his oeuvre. I wouldn't mind getting those chamber music sets at some point, but the solo piano, a cappella choral works, and voice/piano sets don't interest me at all. So maybe, in hindsight, I don't actually want to hear every note he wrote. :) The completist inside of me wants to own the whole series, but, at the same time, I want to be practical and honest about this: I just don't want it all. There are several genres of which I have absolutely no affinity for whatsoever, but, again those chamber sets look interesting as, next to orchestral music, chamber is one of my favorites.