I know that many like to collect recordings ad hoc, based on reviews and their own auditions. But just as many like collecting complete series' of recordings - and I'm one of them. :)
For the past two or three years now, I've been back-collecting the BBC Music Magazine cover CDs, which some of you here will know (and with which some of you here have generously helped ;)). I've still got to track down close to 60 or 70 remaining discs, but I'm enjoying the hunt through charity shops and online stores, and the thrill of finding a new disc. And of course, I'm a subscriber to the magazine, so everything from Vol. 13 is already safely in my collection.
Why do I do it? I'm a completist, I suppose. At least, that was the initial rationale. But since beginning my search for every CD that ever featured on the cover of BBC Music Magazine, I've discovered not only a wealth of great recordings that were hitherto hidden in the BBC archives, but also been introduced to new works, and heard interpretations to rival some of my previous favourites.
So, what about you? Are there any series' which you're avidly collecting or have completed? Why did you start? Why do you continue? How do the recordings you've collected stack up against ad hoc discs you've acquired?
Mark, I don't think purple is the right coulor for you!
I don't collect series as such, because I don't want any duds. And I'm not a "completist".
But I more or less buy most issues of Opus 111's Vivaldi Edition because of their excellence.
Q
Currently only the Gardiner Bach Cantata series.
I don't usually collect series in classical music, but often I like to have all of the major works of a particular composer. For example, I have been collecting DVDs of Puccini's operas, and I am getting close to having at least one performance of each one. (They are all available.) In other styles of music, sometimes there is an artist who I like enough that I want everything that I can get. Lately, I have been buying Anita O'Day's Verve albums, and I have a feeling that I may end up going after all of them. This might include some expensive original LPs since not all of them have been reissued on CD. I might also get into Miles Davis to this degree, and he made a lot of recordings, so that could be a bit of a challenge. Just his Columbia catalog is massive. There are a few opera singers who I like well enough that I tend to buy whatever I find, and that could evolve into the desire to have everything. Mirella Freni is an example of this; when I see that she is in an opera recording, I am apt to buy it. However, she recorded so much that it would be extremely difficult to find everything.
Heather
No, I don´t collect series as such (if you mean the complete CPO catalogue like Harry). But I collect series of recordings by the same artist very often: Gustav Leonhardt, Glen Wilson, La Reverdie, Ensemble Organum to name some examples.
Anything by Richter, any Chopin Preludes or Nocturnes.
Quote from: erato on August 24, 2007, 04:46:33 AMCurrently only the Gardiner Bach Cantata series.
Same here, however, I have fallen quite a bit behind. I do intend to purchase them all eventually though.
Not really collecting. More like *thinking* about collecting...
Minnesota Orchestra Beethoven symphonies
Philips pianists (Brendel, Uchida, Arrau...) I seem drawn to them for some odd reason.
Reiner recordings
The Gardiner and Kuijken Bach cantata series. I think they complement each other very well. But even combined they're not a huge commitment - only 6 or 7 releases a year.
I guess I collect Robert King's recordings on Hyperion but it's a slow process (I have a few years to catch up now, I suppose...)
I don't collect any series, primarily because most series tend to include reissues of stuff that I already have, so the duplication defeats the purpose.
Quote from: Tancata on August 24, 2007, 05:20:57 AM
I guess I collect Robert King's recordings on Hyperion but it's a slow process (I have a few years to catch up now, I suppose...)
King will also have a few years to catch up while in prison.
Quote from: erato on August 24, 2007, 04:46:33 AM
Currently only the Gardiner Bach Cantata series.
I'm collecting the Gardiner series also as well as the Suzuki. I'm hesitant to get a disc from the Kuijken series, given that money doesn't grow on trees.
I also get every version I can find of the Goldberg Variations and Well Tempered Clavier. Same for the Mozart Great Mass in C minor, many of Schumann's solo piano works, the Chopin Preludes, Mahler symphonies (except for the 1st), Shostakovich symphonies, Bruckner symphonies.
However, I don't like to buy large boxes - gives me anxiety.
Nørgård symphonies on Chandos, Vänskä's complete Sibelius on BIS.
Wouldn't mind having complete Melodiya/BMG Musica non Grata and Decca's Entartete Musik series but both are oop. Generally don't collect any series.
Yes, DG's opera DVDs. Why? because 9 out of 10 times the opera productions are simply superb. They carry the MET-Levine collaborations and a handfull of GREAT opera movies- Strauss' Elektra and Salome. They might not always have the best singers but visually they are very appealing.
marvin
I'm seriously considering collecting the entire Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto series.
So far I have three titles ;)
Quote from: Solitary Wanderer on August 24, 2007, 01:39:20 PM
I'm seriously considering collecting the entire Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto series.
So far I have three titles ;)
Me, too. I have only two of these, both Litolff. I have the first in their Romantic Violin Concerto series, and wouldn't mind collecting all of those, as well.
Suzuki Bach Cantata series... ...26 discs so far. :)
Quote from: 71 dB on August 24, 2007, 01:46:45 PM
Suzuki Bach Cantata series... ...26 discs so far. :)
Anyone know how these compare with Gardiner's series?
Quote from: Mark on August 24, 2007, 01:45:51 PM
Me, too. I have only two of these, both Litolff. I have the first in their Romantic Violin Concerto series, and wouldn't mind collecting all of those, as well.
Yes, the three I have are all excellent. Piano concertos are my fave concertos and music from the Romantic era in particular whisks me away to a simpler, more idealistic, more in touch with nature and the arts time...
...thus those Romantic Piano Concertos touch me :)
Quote from: Mark on August 24, 2007, 01:47:53 PM
Anyone know how these compare with Gardiner's series?
We have a thread on the subject:
The Bach Cantatas (http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,117.0.html).
Q
Quote from: Que on August 24, 2007, 01:58:20 PM
We have a thread on the subject: The Bach Cantatas (http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,117.0.html).
Q
Much obliged, Que. Thank you. :)
Quote from: Solitary Wanderer on August 24, 2007, 01:54:45 PM
Yes, the three I have are all excellent. Piano concertos are my fave concertos and music from the Romantic era in particular whisks me away to a simpler, more idealistic, more in touch with nature and the arts time...
...thus those Romantic Piano Concertos touch me :)
Do you have the green Medtner one?
Quote from: George on August 24, 2007, 02:01:41 PM
Do you have the green Medtner one?
Ooooh! I do! Which means I lied earlier: I
also have three discs from this series. ;D
Quote from: Mark on August 24, 2007, 02:05:37 PM
Ooooh! I do! Which means I lied earlier: I also have three discs from this series. ;D
Isn't that one outstanding? :)
Quote from: George on August 24, 2007, 02:07:17 PM
Isn't that one outstanding? :)
I'll be honest, I've only heard half of it, and only once. What I heard was very good though, yes. :)
Quote from: George on August 24, 2007, 02:01:41 PM
Do you have the green Medtner one?
No, George...not yet ;)
I have these three:
(http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/jpegs/67508.jpg)
SACD
(http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/21PWVSAV0VL.jpg)
(http://www.musicweb-international.com/Themed_releases/Hyperion_piano/10_Weber.jpg)
Quote from: Que on August 24, 2007, 03:37:28 AM
But I more or less buy most issues of Opus 111's Vivaldi Edition because of their excellence.
I have the same opinion on their releases.
Quote from: Mark on August 24, 2007, 02:05:37 PM
Ooooh! I do! Which means I lied earlier: I also have three discs from this series. ;D
Mark, as we both have three titles perhaps we should see who can collect all forty-two :o titles in the series first ;) :P
Quote from: Drasko on August 24, 2007, 01:15:45 PM
Wouldn't mind having complete Melodiya/BMG Musica non Grata
Don't get me started! I only began "collecting" that when it was already going out of print - so I ended up with one volume ::) (the Denisov). All the others I ordered turned out to be out of stock. :'(
Does it count if the series is small? Like 12 volumes? The Amadeus Chamber Orchestra/Agnieszka Duczmal series is up to volume 12 now, and I intend to get the whole set. I only have 5 so far though:
(http://www.merlin.com.pl/images_product/20/PRCD085-2.jpg)(http://www.merlin.com.pl/images_product/16/PRCD090-2.jpg)(http://www.merlin.com.pl/images_product/21/PRCD095-2.jpg)(http://www.merlin.com.pl/images_product/22/PRCD096-2.jpg)(http://www.polskieradio.pl/_admin/cm/cf/_photoHPAlbum/Duczmal5_HP.jpg)
(the Brahms disc apparently has an inferiority complex)
Boulez's Mahler. Jacobs's Mozart. Segerstam's Rautavaara. Zinman's Beethoven.
Robert King, prison?
Quote from: Michel on August 27, 2007, 01:40:18 PM
Robert King, prison?
Robert King + indecent assault = Robert King in prison. ;)
Quote from: Michel on August 27, 2007, 01:40:18 PM
Robert King, prison?
Sad but true. He was convicted of molesting children. Of course, he denies he did anything wrong. Think he's in the joint for 3 or four years. The whole thing is disgusting. I loved his Handel conducting and was blown away when I heard the news. For the time being, Hyperion will continue keeping his discs in the inventory (a very large inventory).
What's next? Julia Fischer puts terminally ill people to death?
Quote from: Don on August 27, 2007, 02:16:25 PM
Sad but true. He was convicted of molesting children. Of course, he denies he did anything wrong. Think he's in the joint for 3 or four years. The whole thing is disgusting. I loved his Handel conducting and was blown away when I heard the news. For the time being, Hyperion will continue keeping his discs in the inventory (a very large inventory).
What's next? Julia Fischer puts terminally ill people to death?
I'm not sure why you find his conviction so surprising. He was, on occasion, working with underage boys. If he "swings that way", as the - very insensitive - expression goes, it is not at all
unfathomable that he is guilty as charged. And I prefer this outcome to something like what happened with a certain Polish film-director-cum-paedophile, highly talented as the latter might be. ::)
(Not to say that anyone working with an underage person of the sex they are attracted to is necessarily a paedophile. But if he/she anyway had such tendencies, it would only make it worse. Thus, I'm not
surprised by King's current predicament.)
Apologies if my off-colour reference derailed the thread.
Mark, on the Bach cantatas thread, there isn't too much direct comparison of the different cycles. There is a little, but it's mostly people describing the qualities of this or that cycle. There is a bit more on the thread from the old forum.
If you want a complete cycle, then it has to be Harnoncourt, Leusink, Suzuki, or Gardiner. Leusink on Brilliant is not quite complete, AFAIK, with some movements left out here and there when personnel weren't available. Suzuki and Gardiner are still in progress (I calculate Gardiner to finish 2011, Suzuki a couple of years later). All these are traditional performances with a choir and soloists (Suzuki's forces smaller than Gardiner's).
Don said on the Bach cantata thread that Gardiner is more celebratory, Suzuki more reverential. That's spot on. Suzuki's recordings are also somewhat more polished since they weren't done "live". So there are occasional moments of raggedness and mistakes on the Gardiner recordings.
Suzuki's soloists are generally decent, with some great ones (the bass Peter Kooij, alto Mera) and some mediocre ones. Gardiner's soloists are mixed. Some superb ones - Mark Padmore, James Gilchrist, Magdalena Kozena, Dietrich Henschel; many fine ones of Suzuki standard or better (Malin Hartelius, Daniel Taylor, Nathalie Stutzmann) and some genuinely sub-par ones (Stephen Varcoe, and a selection of struggling altos taken from his choir).
They are both great cycles.
Recently Sigiswald Kuijken has begun a OVPP cycle that takes a very different approach with its own strengths and weaknesses. His soloists create a wonderful blend but are sometimes a little bland in the solo numbers. It's only a 20-CD cycle which will cover one liturgical year (Kuijken's favourite cantata from each Sunday and Feast Day).
Quote from: Solitary Wanderer on August 24, 2007, 01:39:20 PM
I'm seriously considering collecting the entire Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto series.
So far I have three titles ;)
I hope you're below the age of 40 or else at that rate you'll be dead before you have it all....
hehe
Another Vote for the Mahler symphonies conducted by Boulez on DGG. Only the Eighth is left, unless he intends to tackle the Tenth, completed or otherwise.
Any news on that last item?
Only by default.
Once I had acquired the last issued, the 11th, I found that I had all the symphonies of Robert Simpson.
Havergall Brian. Never ever performed in the country of his birth except in the recording studio.
The orchestral works of William Alwyn. I get one and am persuaded to buy another which is no hardship on Naxos.
Lyrita. I had a lot of this stuff on LP. It is close to becoming an addiction which, I am told, can be cured by your GP as long as you attend the Addiction Clinic, or am I confusing that with smoking?
No, smoking costs more ;D
Quote from: johnQpublic on August 28, 2007, 05:29:17 AM
I hope you're below the age of 40 or else at that rate you'll be dead before you have it all....hehe
34. So there's hope yet. ;D
Quote from: Mark on August 28, 2007, 08:18:11 AM
34. So there's hope yet. ;D
You look young for your age. :D
I am collecting the complete Myaskovsky symphonies on Olympia/Alto and the Arnell symphonies on Dutton.