The Super-Duper Cheap Bargains Thread

[Coopmv]

Yes, mdt has to be cheaper on a per disc price to be worth it (and often are for some brands, like Opera Rara).

For those in the US and have a Saks credit card, I heard that Capital One bought them (or is now the bank behind the card), which would mean the Saks card would probably not charge a foreign transaction fee. Worth checking out if you already have a card...

I generally use my Citbank credit card, which charges a hefty foreign transaction fee when compared to my credit uninon CC.  Sometimes, dealing with a big bank with enormous foreign presence does have an advantage when you get into some dispute with a non-US merchant.  But thankfully, MDT has been excellent and always very responsive to my email inquiry since I have given them thousands of dollars worth of business over the past few years ...

[North Star]

Ozawa's Prokofiev Symphonies & Kijé  for 7.97 € (naturally just couple days after I bought it for 12 €, which is a steal, too)
http://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B00004SA89/

[Ken B]

Shipping costs is why I like Amazon UK vendors or Presto when ordering from the UK. In the US both the classical music superstore and blowitoutahere are cheap and fast, usually with good prices.

[Coopmv]

Shipping costs is why I like Amazon UK vendors or Presto when ordering from the UK. In the US both the classical music superstore and blowitoutahere are cheap and fast, usually with good prices.

Presto does have better shipping charge than most foreign e-tailers ...

[DaveF]

Only thing I will say is that I've found the shipping [from www.selections.com] to be very slow.  I mean weeks.  But it always gets here eventually. 

My Messiaen box

[asin]B0017HFREY[/asin]
arrived today - 4 working days after ordering.  So looks like items that are marked as "in stock" arrive fairly quickly.  And looking at their newly-revamped website, I can no longer see items marked "14-28" days; everything now seems to be either "in stock" or "out of stock".  So who knows?

DF

[bigshot]

My Membran Meister Konzerte box arrived today. The mono recordings are in that split frequency stereo thing where the low end is on the left and the high end on the right. But they sound great if you flatten them out to mono as you rip.

[bigshot]

Brilliant Classics Vivaldi and Telemann 40 CD boxes for 23 euro at Amazon.de

http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=amb_link_170629527_3?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A255882%2Cp_83%3AP1EA109PNTTY6MZE7P&pf_rd_m=A3JWKAKR8XB7XF&pf_rd_s=right-3&pf_rd_r=04PQ1CP9QV9JEZ18HS63&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=317355347&pf_rd_i=255966

Also Dvorak complete String Quartets StamItz 15 euro

[bigshot]

Another pair worth considering at Amazon.de...

Golden Age of the Romantic Piano Concerto (Brilliant Classics) 32 Euro

This set assembles a lot of very interesting material from the Vox Candide and Turnabout labels in the 70s. Little heard concertos by Balakirev, Berwald, Czerny, Glasunov, Goetz, Hummel, Lalo, Medtner, Reinecke, Roussel, Weber, etc.
Track list: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=526410

Ultimate Piano Concerto Collection 30 CD (Brilliant Classics) 23 Euro

Massive collection of piano stuff.
Track list: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=653498

40 CD collections of Handel, Liszt and Mendelssohn for 23 euro too.

[DavidRoss]

Ozawa's Prokofiev Symphonies & Kijé  for 7.97 € (naturally just couple days after I bought it for 12 €, which is a steal, too)
http://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B00004SA89/

Nice set and a steal, indeed!

[DaveF]

[www.selections.com] Sounds good.  Might have a bit of a browse there later.  (Some of their gardening stuff looks interesting... )

From the look of the link they sent me to review my purchase - http://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.selections.com - not everyone is as happy with them as I am.  But, as you say, that Fallen Fruits Ceramic Toad House has my finger trembling over the Add To Basket button...

DF

[Que]

A steal for €6 at jpc: http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Johannes-Brahms-1833-1897-Klaviersonaten-Nr-1-2/hnum/4979417

Q

[stingo]

Simon Rattle's Mahler symphony cycle - for under $23.35 shipped to the US from Presto Classical.

[DavidRoss]

Simon Rattle's Mahler symphony cycle - for under $23.35 shipped to the US from Presto Classical.

I keep getting tempted just because the price is so appealing--but whenever I'm about to pull the trigger, I think of some single issue I don't have yet that would be money better spent. But for those who don't have all the symphonies yet, this is a great, economical way to make their acquaintance!

[The new erato]

I keep getting tempted just because the price is so appealing--but whenever I'm about to pull the trigger, I think of some single issue I don't have yet that would be money better spent. But for those who don't have all the symphonies yet, this is a great, economical way to make their acquaintance!

I have 4 complete cycles and literally tons of single Mahler discs, and I don't even listen much to Mahler.....yet I still feel tempted, until rationality kicks in and I think like you. Thankfully I'm not completely insane.....

That said, there have been many fine cycles for little money over the years, I got both Bernsteins DG  and Gielens Hanssler cycles at around $30, Haitinks Philips cycle at 10 $ (!) on amazon.fr, and theTennstedt cycle seems to be hovering around 30 $ if you hunt around......, so I'm not sure I would go for Rattle even at that price. But with a choice of Rattle or nothing, that certainly is a good investment as you say.

[Coopmv]

A steal for €6 at jpc: http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Johannes-Brahms-1833-1897-Klaviersonaten-Nr-1-2/hnum/4979417

Q

With the Euro having dropped a good amount against the Dollar since the beginning of the year, I have yet to notice any super duper deals on CD's priced in Euro ...     

[Scarpia]

I keep getting tempted just because the price is so appealing--but whenever I'm about to pull the trigger, I think of some single issue I don't have yet that would be money better spent. But for those who don't have all the symphonies yet, this is a great, economical way to make their acquaintance!

The question isn't how much I'd be willing to pay to here Rattle's Mahler, but how much you'd have to pay me to listen to it. 

[kishnevi]

The question isn't how much I'd be willing to pay to here Rattle's Mahler, but how much you'd have to pay me to listen to it.

It's not quite that bad--but Rattle would be far down my list on sets to suggest. 
I have, from what you might call the "official" cycle, his Third, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, and Tenth.  Only the Tenth seems superior to me. 

His Third is the worst recording of that symphony I've encountered--dull, slow, bloated. 

The others are fine, but nothing outstanding and in fact entirely missable.

I have his most recent recordings of the Second and Ninth,  which are good, especially the Ninth, but if I understand it correctly, those two are not in the boxset.

If I got the boxset it would only be for the sake of having a complete set instead of a partial cycle, and I'm not moved that much to do so.

At the moment, the set I'd suggest to someone looking for their first and possibly only complete Mahler cycle is Inbal, which is available from Brilliant but probably not at a price that qualifies it for this thread.

[Coopmv]

It's not quite that bad--but Rattle would be far down my list on sets to suggest. 
I have, from what you might call the "official" cycle, his Third, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, and Tenth.  Only the Tenth seems superior to me. 

His Third is the worst recording of that symphony I've encountered--dull, slow, bloated. 

The others are fine, but nothing outstanding and in fact entirely missable.

I have his most recent recordings of the Second and Ninth,  which are good, especially the Ninth, but if I understand it correctly, those two are not in the boxset.

If I got the boxset it would only be for the sake of having a complete set instead of a partial cycle, and I'm not moved that much to do so.

At the moment, the set I'd suggest to someone looking for their first and possibly only complete Mahler cycle is Inbal, which is available from Brilliant but probably not at a price that qualifies it for this thread.

I really do not have many recordings by Rattle and fewer than 3 dozens by Abbado.  Truth is, after Furtwangler and Karajan, are there any principal conductors of the BPO that can fill their shoes ...

[eyeresist]

It's not quite that bad--but Rattle would be far down my list on sets to suggest. 
I have, from what you might call the "official" cycle, his Third, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, and Tenth.  Only the Tenth seems superior to me. 

His Third is the worst recording of that symphony I've encountered--dull, slow, bloated.

I agree that the 10th is the only essential recording from that set. I don't mind that 3rd (it's certainly not dull, slow, bloated next to Bertini ), but as so often with Rattle the finicky micro-management wears on repeated hearings.

[Scarpia]

It's not quite that bad--but Rattle would be far down my list on sets to suggest. 
I have, from what you might call the "official" cycle, his Third, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, and Tenth.  Only the Tenth seems superior to me. 

His Third is the worst recording of that symphony I've encountered--dull, slow, bloated. 

The others are fine, but nothing outstanding and in fact entirely missable.

I have his most recent recordings of the Second and Ninth,  which are good, especially the Ninth, but if I understand it correctly, those two are not in the boxset.

If I got the boxset it would only be for the sake of having a complete set instead of a partial cycle, and I'm not moved that much to do so.

At the moment, the set I'd suggest to someone looking for their first and possibly only complete Mahler cycle is Inbal, which is available from Brilliant but probably not at a price that qualifies it for this thread.

I don't mean to imply that Rattle is incompetent.  Certainly he has the skill to manage the performance of a complex musical score.  I don't think he has a particularly distinctive musical personality.  If I already have a recording of a well known piece, I can still find myself wondering, "what would Harnoncourt do with that?"  Or Karajan, Solti, Barbirolli, Maazel, Mackerrras, Vanska.  I don't find myself at all curious what Rattle would do with any particular score.