Dear DGG

[RebLem]

Dear DGG [Deutsche Grammophon]:

I just bought the 8 CD box of the complete Beethoven piano sonate performed by  the recently deceased pianist Maurizio Pollini over a 40 year period.  I like the 8 CD album, and appreciate the fact that DGG got all 32 sonatas on 8 CDs when everyone else takes 9 CDs or more, and Pollini was certainly one of the great Beethoven pianists.

However, I do have a problem.  For some of the CDs, recording information for the CD is detailed and accurate.  We are given information for when and where each work was recorded.  But for 2 of the CDs, this is not so.  For CD 2, for example, we are told the album was recorded  in Lucerne,  KKL, 1/2012, and Munich, Residenz, Herkulesaal, 5 & 6, 2012, but we are not told which location and which recording month applies to each of thr 4 sonate on the CD..  CD 5 has 5 sonate, were are given recording dates of 6/2013 and 6/2014, but no information as to which date applies to which sonate.

Why?

[Florestan]

I just bought the 8 CD box of the complete Beethoven piano sonate performed by  the recently deceased pianist Maurizio Pollini

The reports of his death are greatly exaggerated. 

[Abuelo Igor]

If you are bothered by that, I advise you to steer clear of most Brillant Classics box sets, where you cannot even find recording dates attached inequivocally to each of the works, let alone the name of the record label the tracks were licensed from.

[MishaK]

the recently deceased pianist Maurizio Pollini

Don't freaking scare me like that. Dood's scheduled to perform here next seasons. As Florestan says, reports of his death are greatly exaggerated. What were you thinking of?

[Chris L.]

If you are bothered by that, I advise you to steer clear of most Brillant Classics box sets, where you cannot even find recording dates attached inequivocally to each of the works, let alone the name of the record label the tracks were licensed from.

It depends which Brilliant set you get, not all of them are consistent in quality. The Dvorak String Quartets Brilliant box I just bought has the recording dates and city where they were recorded listed on each disc, as well as the record label they were licensed from.

Besides, the OP payed good money for the DG set. I'd expect better out of DG too if I were him.

[jochanaan]

It depends which Brilliant set you get, not all of them are consistent in quality...

...that is to say, they're not all Brilliant?

[Chris L.]

...that is to say, they're not all Brilliant?

[Abuelo Igor]

But in fact the OP is right: DGG sometimes botches the job in some box sets: a prime offender is the "Boulez conducts Stravinsky" set, in which not only the discs come in featureless paper sleeves (which wouldn't be remarkable, except for the fact that apparently Stravinsky deserved a worse treatment than Bartók in the analogous box set), but also multi-movement works like the "Three pieces for clarinet" ot the "Dumbarton Oaks concerto", came in a single track. "The rite of spring" came in only two tracks, when the original release of the recording, and most of the reissues as well, have all the standard points of entry that are so useful when you want to compare several versions of this music. Budget cuts, lack of interest, or both?