Box Blather

[jlaurson]

You mean a 3 disc set? The individual SACDs are a bit on the expensive side! 

So I have noticed. :-( I guess if they are part of some "Original" box, they'd be in sleeves, on a single disc each? But unfortunately they won't be sold that way, I suppose.
Am kindof looking into those SACDs from Japan, though.

[Ken B]

Thanks Jens - interesting read! I've got both Abbado boxes around, but I'm not completely sold on either of them so far. The Mozart - in both boxes - didn't convince me at all, but I quite enjoyed the Mendelssohn, I'm afraid. Where else should I look for better Mendelssohn then? Guess that's off topic here, though, sorry.

Anyway, I've still only heard small parts of both sets and am looking forward to crawling through them as time goes by.

In the DG box I live it all but I think the real standouts are
Brahms
Mahler
Mendelssohn

[bigshot]

Where else should I look for better Mendelssohn then?

Munch, Stokowski, even Norrington.

[Ken B]

Hey!

Where is the big Warner Previn box?
Zubin Mehta is getting a box.
Where is the Previn box? Are the guys running Warner crazy?

[PerfectWagnerite]

Hey!

Where is the big Warner Previn box?
Zubin Mehta is getting a box.
Where is the Previn box? Are the guys running Warner crazy?

Previn? Can't think of any good recordings by him, so maybe whoever is putting out these boxes know what they are doing afterall.

[jlaurson]

Previn? Can't think of any good recordings by him, so maybe whoever is putting out these boxes know what they are doing afterall.

That's probably a bit unfair; there are some excellent Previn recordings... but they're spread out across his career and across labels ... and any such box would a.) be slim... and b.) would have to be extremely well curated... to the point of where it's more an insult to the conductor than an act of honoring him. :-)

Here's some of his best:

Strauss, Alpine, WPh, T
RVW, Sy.5, RPO, T
Walton, Cello Concerto, YoYo, LSO, R
Walton Sy.1 & Viola Cto., Bashmet, LSO, R
Ned Rorem PC, Milanov Curtis, N
DSCH VC1, Mullova, RPO, P
Messiaen, Turangalila, LSO, E/W
Barber / Korngold VC, Shaham, LSO, D
Korngold Seahawk, LSO, D
Korngold, Symphony, LSO, D
Ravel L'enfant Et Les Sortileges LSO, D
Sibelius VC, Mutter, Dresden, D
Nielsen Sy.1, LSO, R


Sarge might add a Kyung Wha Chung recording, or two to this list...

[king ubu]

Munch, Stokowski, even Norrington.

Some of the former two here (but mostly I think just the "Italian").

Anyway: listen to what I have first  (and I also have Sawallisch, which will be the cycle to re-listen next, before looking for more - but the Dohnányi has already been ordered, it's too late  ).

[Brian]

That's probably a bit unfair; there are some excellent Previn recordings... but they're spread out across his career and across labels ... and any such box would a.) be slim... and b.) would have to be extremely well curated... to the point of where it's more an insult to the conductor than an act of honoring him. :-)

Here's some of his best:

Strauss, Alpine, WPh, T
RVW, Sy.5, RPO, T
Walton, Cello Concerto, YoYo, LSO, R
Walton Sy.1 & Viola Cto., Bashmet, LSO, R
Ned Rorem PC, Milanov Curtis, N
DSCH VC1, Mullova, RPO, P
Messiaen, Turangalila, LSO, E/W
Barber / Korngold VC, Shaham, LSO, D
Korngold Seahawk, LSO, D
Korngold, Symphony, LSO, D
Ravel L'enfant Et Les Sortileges LSO, D
Sibelius VC, Mutter, Dresden, D
Nielsen Sy.1, LSO, R


Sarge might add a Kyung Wha Chung recording, or two to this list...

Great list indeed. To which I would add a few EMI/Warner recordings: the legendary Rachmaninov Symphony 2, and his various Shostakovich efforts - the quality of his Tenth really surprised me.

EDIT: One might also want an album of Previn's own compositions, for the buyer to make up their minds about.

[bigshot]

Previn? Can't think of any good recordings by him

Then you should get the box and realize the error of your ways. Previn was a very fine conductor.

[PerfectWagnerite]

Then you should get the box and realize the error of your ways. Previn was a very fine conductor.

Box? What box???

[jlaurson]

We've got boxes. We've got boxes. We've got lots and lots of boxes! Of incomplete stuff!

The 11th (!) installment of the Beethoven Survey!




Beethoven Sonatas - A Survey of Complete Cycles
The Great Incomplete Cycles


http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2015/07/beethoven-sonatas-survey-of-complete.html

Which ones have I missed? What data did I get wrong?

[Todd]

Which ones have I missed? What data did I get wrong?

Off the top of my head.




18 sonatas.  19 if you include the dual 110 recordings.  Other stuff is included - some Bagatelles, Op 35, the C Minor concerto and the Choral Fantasy.  106 is not.  It shares some of the same sources as the non-Philips sets you mention.

You still also need to add Kikuchi and Costa to the complete sets.

[jlaurson]

Off the top of my head.




18 sonatas.  19 if you include the dual 110 recordings.  Other stuff is included - some Bagatelles, Op 35, the C Minor concerto and the Choral Fantasy.  106 is not.  It shares some of the same sources as the non-Philips sets you mention.

You still also need to add Kikuchi and Costa to the complete sets.

Very good! Do you know where either this or the Praga Digitals were taken from? Are they just all over the place, time and location-wise? I feel kindof weird to have included Richter at all... but I suppose one ought to, even if there is nothing cyclical (to my eye) about these collections, at all...


Right, thanks! Costa is for real, right? It's Claudio Colombo who is the fraud.
Yusuke Kikuchi    recorded from 2010 to 2011 on Triton, I reckon. I have yet to find the first two volumes on Amazon... must search better.

[jlaurson]

Yusuke Kikuchi    recorded from 2010 to 2011 on Triton, I reckon. I have yet to find the first two volumes on Amazon... must search better.

Done!


Beethoven Sonatas - A Survey of Complete Cycles
Part 8, 2010 - 2013

http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2013/07/beethoven-sonatas-survey-of-complete.html

[Todd]

Do you know where either this or the Praga Digitals were taken from?

It includes dates, but not much else.  There is some overlap with other reissues.  This appears to be the most convenient way to get a big slug of sonatas, excluding 106.

Costa is for real, right?

Costa is real.  I have two volumes that I bought from the Vianna da Motta foundation before it stopped selling.  Costa's set is available as single volumes in the UK, with at least some available in the states. 

Also, Houstoun's second set was recorded in 2014, not 2013.

[Pat B]

I feel kindof weird to have included Richter at all... but I suppose one ought to, even if there is nothing cyclical (to my eye) about these collections, at all...

I hear you, but step back and look at Richter's overall Beethoven discography. I think much the same could be said for Gould and Serkin. All three "incomplete cycles" spanned decades, and none of the three performed or intended to record all of the sonatas. The only difference is that Gould and Serkin happened to stick with one record company, which was presumably a business decision.

I take it you are a fan of the Arrau/EMI recordings. He also did #7 for EMI in 1951. I have it (along with 14 and 18) in the EMI/Warner "Rarities" set (ASIN B00FJZQS9I), but haven't heard any of the others.

[Sergeant Rock]

Here's some of his best:

Strauss, Alpine, WPh, T
RVW, Sy.5, RPO, T
Walton, Cello Concerto, YoYo, LSO, R
Walton Sy.1 & Viola Cto., Bashmet, LSO, R
Ned Rorem PC, Milanov Curtis, N
DSCH VC1, Mullova, RPO, P
Messiaen, Turangalila, LSO, E/W
Barber / Korngold VC, Shaham, LSO, D
Korngold Seahawk, LSO, D
Korngold, Symphony, LSO, D
Ravel L'enfant Et Les Sortileges LSO, D
Sibelius VC, Mutter, Dresden, D
Nielsen Sy.1, LSO, R

Sarge might add a Kyung Wha Chung recording, or two to this list...

I would. The Walton Concerto with Chung, superb. I like the two Prok VCs also. Other worthy Previn additions:

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto 3 with Ashkenazy
Saint-Saens Piano Concertos with Collard
Elgar Symphony No.1


Sarge

[jlaurson]

Also, Houstoun's second set was recorded in 2014, not 2013.

Really? So they weren't recorded at the 2013 recitals but later? I reckon you have the set and the numbers, but somehow I had gotten the impression that 2013 was the right year.

[Todd]

Really? So they weren't recorded at the 2013 recitals but later? I reckon you have the set and the numbers, but somehow I had gotten the impression that 2013 was the right year.

I checked the liner notes, and now I can say I do not know.  All copyright dates are 2014, and no recording dates are given.  The cycle may have been/probably was recorded in 2013, but it does not sound like they were recorded at the reCYCLE recitals, unless NZ concert audiences make no noise at all or the noise was perfectly removed in post-production.  (The sound is very much studio-like.)  The recording venue is given as the NZ School of Music in Wellington, but the recitals appear to have been in multiple locations, so my guess would be that he recorded a program before or after performing it live.

[aap1960]

Haven't seen any movement on this thread for a while. Was wondering if anyone has heard any information about any future Georg Solti box(es) to be released. I've seen the Korean boxes, which seem impressive, but I've been burned before with buying the Vivarte 60 CD Collection from Korea and paying quite a lot, and then a few months later the box was released in the US for a lot less and with an English booklet.
It seems to me that Solti is probably the last "great" conductor/artist with a long list of releases on a major label that hasn't been given a nice retrospective yet. I know that he has a spotty reputation, but his "albums" continue to be inserted in the various Decca box sets individually, and Decca have released the Ring twice in the last 3 years.