The Super-Duper Cheap Bargains Thread

[PerfectWagnerite]

Nice catch! Ordered!

Me too. Even though it is unlikely that box will ever be opened.

[Elgarian]

I came close to pulling the trigger on the Handel box... but I already have more Handel than I'll ever listen to, so I decided no.  It rankles though!

[kishnevi]

Dadgummit.  I don't need another doorstop.  But, $21 for 65 CDs is a Super-Duper Cheap Bargain!

Me as well.

[Elgarian]

Alright, so my iron will lasted less than 24 hours. Click.

[mc ukrneal]

Alright, so my iron will lasted less than 24 hours. Click.

I am trying to hold strong...so far so good....

[albanberg]

Arkiv's having another one-day sale:

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/listPage.jsp?list_id=4326&page_size=100&page_type=4

I grabbed the Adolf Busch 3-CD Bach set for $5:

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=205079

[Karl Henning]

I am trying to hold strong...so far so good....

My strategy has been:  immersion in the Kitayenko/Shostakovich set!

[Elgarian]

I am trying to hold strong...so far so good....

I'm full of admiration. But this morning I asked myself ... why resist?

And couldn't find a sensible reason....

[mc ukrneal]

I'm full of admiration. But this morning I asked myself ... why resist?

And couldn't find a sensible reason....

I hear you, and yet, I have to really want a box to enjoy it. I have discovered that I rarely seem to listen to the bigger boxes in my collection.

[springrite]

I hear you, and yet, I have to really want a box to enjoy it. I have discovered that I rarely seem to listen to the bigger boxes in my collection.

It's not necessarily for listening. It's for ego boost. 

[Karl Henning]

Hah!

[Elgarian]

I hear you, and yet, I have to really want a box to enjoy it. I have discovered that I rarely seem to listen to the bigger boxes in my collection.

I've long suspected it, and this confirms it. You are a very wise fellow.

That's true of me too. I justify the purchase on the ground that I'm buying the potential to listen, but I know there's more to it than that, and that there's a purely acquisitive impulse lurking not very far below the surface. I just don't want to admit it to myself.
Sigh ....

[PerfectWagnerite]

I'm full of admiration. But this morning I asked myself ... why resist?

And couldn't find a sensible reason....

For $20??? When a drink at Starbucks cost $5 and a bar drink costs $10? Even if you think you might be remotely interested in it you should just buy it.

[Jo498]

Considerations of space? I am pretty sure I would not buy a 60 disc box with Donizetti operas for 30 EUR because it would mainly/only take away space.

The Handel box is a great bargain even if one wants only a fraction of the music contained, but I have almost all of the music and sometimes the same interpretations from earlier Brilliant issues (I got Brilliant's first Handel box with 35 or so discs in the early 2000s), so I'll pass.

[Elgarian]

Considerations of space? I am pretty sure I would not buy a 60 disc box with Donizetti operas for 30 EUR because it would mainly/only take away space.

The Handel box is a great bargain even if one wants only a fraction of the music contained, but I have almost all of the music and sometimes the same interpretations from earlier Brilliant issues (I got Brilliant's first Handel box with 35 or so discs in the early 2000s), so I'll pass.

Yes, yes, that was how my thinking went too. But then I thought that if I had it, and found that it proved redundant after all, I could just choose to give it away.

[mc ukrneal]

So I finally went through the contents of the Handel box and it is missing operas. So the one thing that potentially attracted me is missing. I only mention this for others who may be considering the box. Otherwise, it has a lot of his works...

[PerfectWagnerite]

So I finally went through the contents of the Handel box and it is missing operas. So the one thing that potentially attracted me is missing. I only mention this for others who may be considering the box. Otherwise, it has a lot of his works...

Actually the reason I bought it is because it doesn't have the operas

[Jo498]

It's not quite clear to me which recordings are included in the new Brilliant Handel box. I think the chamber music is still the crd recordings that have been included in the very first and were also available as a separate box. They are sometimes a little dry but not bad (and it will certainly cost you more than $20 to get better recordings).

The concerti grossi are probably Brown/ASMF (from Haenssler). The organ concerti are Brilliant's own (Schmidt/Matt), modern instruments but quite lively and pretty good. (Of course both the concerti grossi and the organ concerti are a rather crowded field.)

Apparently Brilliant recorded another batch of keyboard music with Roberto Loreggian (discs 24-28), including several rarely recorded pieces. (I'd be interested in these but they are probably not going to be issued separately.)

#29 the German Arias are probably still with Auger (Berlin Classics), very good.

30-35 probably Brilliant's own recordings of some italian cantatas (I have not heard any of them, the old edition had two discs licensed from hungaroton with Maria Zadori, they were very good.)

Not sure about the rest.
42 and 43 are a curiosity: East German recordings of the Dettingen Te Deum and the Birthday (translated into German or rather changed to "peaceful", socialism-compatible texts).

The Jephtha might still be Creed (Berlin).

Of the other oratorios, I guess that Judas, Semele, Solomon and Theodora are Somary's ca. 1970 recordings. They are all abridged, certainly show their age, the chorus can be quite mediocre but some of the solo singers are absolutely first rate (Forrester!), so I think at least Judas and Theodora still merit one's attention. (If they are Somary's, the weakest is "Solomon" with the title role re-cast with a bass and the mediocre chorus does not help in this piece either.)

[Walt Whitman]

We'll see how this one pans out, but...

Brilliant Classics is coming out with a 65 CD "Handel Edition" Box August 21 on Amazon US. Amazon's "Preorder Guarantee" price is $20.99 plus shipping. My order is in, but I'm not holding my breath; I just wonder what the "We're sorry..." response will be like, though stranger things have happened.

Who knows, this may turn out to be a pleasant surprise!

/optimism

Shhh!

Hurry!

[Karl Henning]

We'll see how this one pans out, but...

Brilliant Classics is coming out with a 65 CD "Handel Edition" Box August 21 on Amazon US. Amazon's "Preorder Guarantee" price is $20.99 plus shipping. My order is in, but I'm not holding my breath; I just wonder what the "We're sorry..." response will be like, though stranger things have happened.

Who knows, this may turn out to be a pleasant surprise!

/optimism

Shhh!

Hurry!

I fully expect Amazon to honor that price as legitimate.