Box Blather

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

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Mookalafalas

Quote from: aap1960 on September 07, 2015, 08:10:28 PM
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.

  Yeah, it is weird, isn't it... I think there are 3 Solti boxes now (2, 3, and 4) but no Western release.   With the Karajan boxes, they were released in very similar format in the west following the initial Korean sets.   However, with the Giulini and Westminster boxes, it seems that demand was not gauged to be strong enough, so the big boxes were abandoned and smaller sets were released.
   With Solti, however, everything seems to be on hold...  Soltissimo2 came out over 2 years ago :-\
It's all good...

The new erato

Theres' been a 60 CD (?) Szell Box in Korea as well (a far more interesting conductor than Solti); never available in the West. I think the list is pretty long.

Wanderer

Quote from: Mookalafalas on September 07, 2015, 10:36:54 PMSoltissimo2

Also, they couldn't have chosen a more cheesy title if they tried.

Mookalafalas

Quote from: The new erato on September 07, 2015, 11:25:59 PM
Theres' been a 60 CD (?) Szell Box in Korea as well (a far more interesting conductor than Solti); never available in the West. I think the list is pretty long.

Yeah, the Szell box is sweet ;D ;D  It was only about $150, too. 

   The Solti comes with quite a few DVDs, which might make it more attractive for some. It is all original jacket, but CD lengths are generally pretty short. 

    There was also a big box of live Wand performances---multiples of a bunch of Bruckner and Beethoven.  That's another that just kind of disappeared. 
It's all good...

aap1960

Quote from: Mookalafalas on September 07, 2015, 10:36:54 PM
  Yeah, it is weird, isn't it... I think there are 3 Solti boxes now (2, 3, and 4) but no Western release.   With the Karajan boxes, they were released in very similar format in the west following the initial Korean sets.   However, with the Giulini and Westminster boxes, it seems that demand was not gauged to be strong enough, so the big boxes were abandoned and smaller sets were released.
   With Solti, however, everything seems to be on hold...  Soltissimo2 came out over 2 years ago :-\

Al,
I actually purchased the Korean Guilini gigantic box that combined ALL of the Sony, DG and the 1 RCA and 1 Decca album. It has all the individual releases as original album art. Once again, the main booklet is heavily Korean tilted, but I liked the presentation. I then purchased the Warner Bros. "small" boxes of his EMI releases. WB generally does a very poor job for those of us who like the original album concept. I wasn't around or not into classical music when most of these titles came out, so I very much like all the original album releases.
Makes me mad that Sony didn't do that for Bernstein, especially after what they did for Rubinstein, Reiner, Cliburn and the small ones for Byron Janis and Richter. I don't mind the earlier replicas with the smaller timings. I just enjoy the miniaturization of those album covers and, of course, the remastering.

Tony

Mookalafalas

Quote from: aap1960 on September 09, 2015, 10:11:02 PM
I don't mind the earlier replicas with the smaller timings. I just enjoy the miniaturization of those album covers and, of course, the remastering.

Tony

I agree :)
  I got the Giulini box, too, and like the sleeves OK, but hated the way they were put in the box (in four "bundles"). I put all the discs on a shelf and put the box in storage.

    The Szell box doesn't have original artwork.  Very slim, flimsy sleeves, although the design is fairly classy.


   BTW, saw the new Argerich and Kovacevich boxes today "in the wild."  I bought most of the Argerich little boxes, so will have to give that one a pass.
    I was very disappointed that the Kovacevich didn't have his Schubert >:(  I'll be thinking about that one, but will try to hold off. I have a staggering backlog of solo piano music to get to know. 
It's all good...

Mookalafalas

There is an onslaught of new boxes these days! 
The new L'Oiseau-Lyre - Klassik & Romantik looks pretty sweet, as does the big live box of Vienna Phil New Year's Concerts.  New Biggies from Brendel, Gould, and Horowitz, among other piano sets (Radu Lupu, Kovacevich/Bishop, Argerich).  The Itzhak Perlman looks strangely attractive to me (the new Warner one).  I need to keep things under control and breathe deeply...   If Moonfish really is avoiding us to keep his habit down, he picked a good time and had better keep it up!

Two new Stravinsky boxes, Tchaikovsky, Anna Moffo, Italian Quartetto is pulling a BAT... What about Simon Rattle's CBso years??
  By the way, The Markovina CPE Bach box is 75 Euros from Amazon.de.

  I'm dusting off my old Yo Yo Ma box I got a couple of years ago.  I hardly played anything from it...until now  :) I'll try to stave off the craving for new boxes with old boxes  :P
It's all good...

Camphy

Quote from: Mookalafalas on September 18, 2015, 12:20:29 AM
By the way, The Markovina CPE Bach box is 75 Euros from Amazon.de.

I'm considering this box set. Amazon.fr offers it for 63 Euros.

Ken B

Quote from: Camphy on September 18, 2015, 09:29:59 AM
I'm considering this box set. Amazon.fr offers it for 63 Euros.

It's a superb set. Moonfish and I both think it was one of the best purchases we made that year.

Camphy

Quote from: Ken B on September 18, 2015, 09:35:10 AM
It's a superb set. Moonfish and I both think it was one of the best purchases we made that year.

Thanks, I read your enthusiastic comments about this particular purchase. One of the reasons I remembered this box and now the price is lower than I've ever seen it.

Mookalafalas

Just saw the new Gould and Perlman boxes at the music store.

  imgine Emojis salivating prodigiously here.

  I have the Gould I want already, and don't know much about Perlman (Que says "Run away!"--although I haven't disliked anything I've heard by him so far)--but the boxes themselves are truly gorgeous.  Probably unnecessarily large--but very substantial and what...? Elegant? Classy? Handsome? They're definitely done right. The Gould is about $150 and the Perlman closer to $300.  I suspect the price will plummet for the Perlman (a la the Rubinstein, Ma, and Perahia boxes). 

   I actually went to the music store to buy myself a birthday treat.  I held, weighed, and caressed the Kovacevich and the L'oiseau-Lyre Hogwood Bach boxes--both reasonably priced, but left empty handed. I just have too much unlistened to music on hand :'( :'(
It's all good...

Ken B

Quote from: Mookalafalas on October 03, 2015, 01:31:57 AM
Just saw the new Gould and Perlman boxes at the music store.

  imgine Emojis salivating prodigiously here.

  I have the Gould I want already, and don't know much about Perlman (Que says "Run away!"--although I haven't disliked anything I've heard by him so far)--but the boxes themselves are truly gorgeous.  Probably unnecessarily large--but very substantial and what...? Elegant? Classy? Handsome? They're definitely done right. The Gould is about $150 and the Perlman closer to $300.  I suspect the price will plummet for the Perlman (a la the Rubinstein, Ma, and Perahia boxes). 

   I actually went to the music store to buy myself a birthday treat.  I held, weighed, and caressed the Kovacevich and the L'oiseau-Lyre Hogwood Bach boxes--both reasonably priced, but left empty handed. I just have too much unlistened to music on hand :'( :'(.

Perlman is a wonderful fiddler. But I would not want his baroque stuff.  I also think he did a lot of filler crossover stuff. There are a couple small boxes that look good,  if I might risk insulting you with small boxes😀

As ever Al I run a service that listens to your unopened cds for you. 

Mookalafalas

Quote from: Ken B on October 03, 2015, 08:34:24 AM
Perlman is a wonderful fiddler. But I would not want his baroque stuff.  I also think he did a lot of filler crossover stuff. There are a couple small boxes that look good,  if I might risk insulting you with small boxes😀

As ever Al I run a service that listens to your unopened cds for you.

  Really it's just a CDCDCD thing...it's not that I want more of his music---I just want that box full of CDs!  I have access to his smaller original jackets box, and his Sony concertos box.  They are good, but certainly not "spend $270 to have more" good. 
   Speaking of big boxes with crossover stuff, I'm so glad I didn't get that James Galway box! I don't have an automatic dislike of crossover stuff--but I listened to some of his, and it is really low-grade schmalz.  The Erato Rampal boxes are definitely the way to go for flute repertoire. 
It's all good...

Jay F

Quote from: aap1960 on September 09, 2015, 10:11:02 PMI wasn't around or not into classical music when most of these titles came out, so I very much like all the original album releases.

Makes me mad that Sony didn't do that for Bernstein, especially after what they did for Rubinstein, Reiner, Cliburn and the small ones for Byron Janis and Richter. I don't mind the earlier replicas with the smaller timings. I just enjoy the miniaturization of those album covers and, of course, the remastering.

Tony

I don't know about the other composers whose work Bernstein conducted for CBS/Sony, but his Mahler cycle is available with the original LP covers. These feature the DSD remastering that was done for the Japanese SACD series, but they are not SACD.

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aap1960

Quote from: Jay F on October 03, 2015, 09:57:27 AM
I don't know about the other composers whose work Bernstein conducted for CBS/Sony, but his Mahler cycle is available with the original LP covers. These feature the DSD remastering that was done for the Japanese SACD series, but they are not SACD.

[asin]B005SJIP1E[/asin]

Yes!! I purchased that a few years back. At that time I had also just purchased his Beethoven
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and his Tchaikovsky
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It was shortly after this that I wanted to have a "more complete" collection of Bernsteins' CBS/Columbia output. After seeing what Sony did with Rubinstein, Riener, Perahia and Cliburn, I had hoped for something along the same lines, but was greatly disappointed.

I hope Sony does a better job on Szell and Walter than the boxes that came out of Korea a few years back.

Tony

Ken B

The cheap Spirales box is outstanding.

Brian

Quote from: aap1960 on October 04, 2015, 02:31:26 PM
It was shortly after this that I wanted to have a "more complete" collection of Bernsteins' CBS/Columbia output. After seeing what Sony did with Rubinstein, Riener, Perahia and Cliburn, I had hoped for something along the same lines, but was greatly disappointed.
Why were you so disappointed? The Bernstein Symphony Edition and the Bernstein Orchestral Works & Concertos Edition are totally outstanding box sets - two of my very favorites. I'm eager for the upcoming Bernstein Opera & Choral Edition (ETA next year, I think).

Ken B

Quote from: Brian on October 04, 2015, 03:41:04 PM
Why were you so disappointed? The Bernstein Symphony Edition and the Bernstein Orchestral Works & Concertos Edition are totally outstanding box sets - two of my very favorites. I'm eager for the upcoming Bernstein Opera & Choral Edition (ETA next year, I think).

Ditto. And what they did with that old crappy Columbia sound is incredible. Most of these sound fantastic.

That third box is on my must buy list.

Although the awkward packaging is annoying it looks great.

Sony did a great job on these outstanding boxes, and specially in giving them away for a pittance.

Mookalafalas

Quote from: Ken B on October 04, 2015, 03:45:11 PM
Ditto. And what they did with that old crappy Columbia sound is incredible. Most of these sound fantastic.

That third box is on my must buy list.

Although the awkward packaging is annoying it looks great.

Sony did a great job on these outstanding boxes, and specially in giving them away for a pittance.

  +2.   Original jackets are fun, but nice full discs are nothing to sneer at either. 
It's all good...

Jay F

Quote from: aap1960 on October 04, 2015, 02:31:26 PM

I wanted to have a "more complete" collection of Bernsteins' CBS/Columbia output. After seeing what Sony did with Rubinstein, Riener, Perahia and Cliburn, I had hoped for something along the same lines, but was greatly disappointed.


Have you seen the Bernstein Album Collection?

http://smile.amazon.com/Leonard-Bernstein-Album-Collection-Set/dp/B00LL4U1TE/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1444071835&sr=1-1&keywords=leonard+bernstein