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[Sergeant Rock]

Arrived today: Volume 4 of Schiff's Beethoven cycle, including op. 26, 27/1, 27/2 and 28.




Sarge

[Wanderer]

Arrived today: Volume 4 of Schiff's Beethoven cycle, including op. 26, 27/1, 27/2 and 28.




Sarge

Good call! I was listening to it this morning. Hope you enjoy.

I think these recordings are some of the best, if not the best, Beethoven to come out in a long time.  I will eventually get the entire thing - maybe waiting until they issue a box.  But ECM is odd and might not do that.

I wholeheartedly agree, this is outstanding Beethoven and one of my favourite sonata cycles. I got it piecemeal (some of the issues upon release) and never regretted it. As you already noted, this being ECM, I wouldn't have high hopes for a boxset any time soon.

[Mirror Image]

Just bought:

[kishnevi]

Just bought:

Good one.  But is there anything in that BIS issue not in the Brilliant issue?

[Mirror Image]

Good one.  But is there anything in that BIS issue not in the Brilliant issue?

Hmmm...let me check:

Yes, in this BIS set, the following are included that aren't in the Brilliant set:

Excelsior!, Concert Overture
Snofrid
Serenade

[king ubu]

I'm like a bratty kid on Christmas, ripping the wrapping on one present after another.  No matter how much I like a disc--perhaps even more if I especially like it--I can hardly wait to get to the next treasure and see how good it is...

I was just that yesterday 

Here's what fell out of the boxes:

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[asin]B00AK3X32O[/asin]
[asin]B0000X81WQ[/asin]
[asin]B001JNN8QU[/asin]
[asin]B000JRYMDU[/asin]
[asin]B009GG4B8G[/asin]
[asin]B0000X81X0[/asin]
[asin]B0001K2KTS[/asin]
[asin]B00008NESS[/asin]
[asin]B005Q8LJXI[/asin]
[asin]B006GWT9PI[/asin]
[asin]B000003XI4[/asin]
[asin]B000003XI3[/asin]
[asin]B00078JZ7E[/asin]
[asin]B000CNEZ4C[/asin]

[ritter]

I was just that yesterday 

Here's what fell out of the boxes....

That explains the sudden surge in the Testament share price!  Great haul, king ubu! I've read marvels about that Pelléas, and have been eyeing it myself for some time...

THREAD DUTY:

Look what I found (new and cheap)  in my neighbourhood record shop yesterday evening  :


On first listen, the orchestral part is superb, Münch's recitation is charming in a quant way, but the vocal contributions are nothing special, and the chorus's pronunciation is appaling, while their singing is full of enthusiasm (but in a way that instead of being endearing, is rather annoying    )...

[king ubu]

That explains the sudden surge in the Testament share price!  Great haul, king ubu! I've read marvels about that Pelléas, and have been eyeing it myself for some time...

Thanks! Made good use of the sale at presto's - only the Elman box they couldn't deliver - went with evilA there and got a completely cracked-to-pieces box. Discs and booklet are okay, but I hate this, as I can't get these jumbo cases anywhere ...

As for "Pelléas", I coudn't restrict myself, actually just got a shipping notice from presto's for the one missing parcel (was crossing fingers they wouldn't cancel that as well) - so these will likely show up early next week:

[asin]B000003XKK[/asin]
[asin]B000009JNI[/asin]

[Mookalafalas]

Impressive Ubu!

    I put myself on a strict spending allowance. I have exceeded it by 4 months so should not be posting in this thread for a long time. 
   

[ritter]

Thanks! Made good use of the sale at presto's - only the Elman box they couldn't deliver - went with evilA there and got a completely cracked-to-pieces box. Discs and booklet are okay, but I hate this, as I can't get these jumbo cases anywhere ...

As for "Pelléas", I coudn't restrict myself, actually just got a shipping notice from presto's for the one missing parcel (was crossing fingers they wouldn't cancel that as well) - so these will likely show up early next week:

[asin]B000003XKK[/asin]
[asin]B000009JNI[/asin]

This Pelléas under Cluytens looks very attarctive as well (what a great artist Spain's own Victoria de los Ángeles was !!!!).

As for the Parsifal, it is a great achievement, and one that sheds a wonderful  new light on this masterpiece (even if this admiration is not universally shared). A milestone in the discography of the work and in Wagner interpretation!

[ritter]

I really shouldn't have, really,  but it was sooo cheap in AmSpain, that I followed king ubu's example  :

[asin]B009GG4B8G[/asin]

Pity I cannot use the same excuse for the Cluytens, but I'm sure its Zeit wird kommen! 

[king ubu]

Both of those Pelleas recordings are very good and assuming you already have the Roger Desormiere recording, they are nice additions.  After that I think this work really should be heard with modern sound, and we have a plethora of good choices, beginning with Abbado.  I recently watched the Robert Wilson production and loved it - all the elements put it very near the top of the choices (easily the best DVD, imo), the staging, the singers and the orchestra are all excellent.

Yes, the Désormière has been around for a while - it was the one that initially piqued my interest (upon recommendation of none less than Aldo Ciccolini - in the booklet of his EMI box he's quoted along the lines that this was a perfect recording and there were times when he played it daily). I've not played it often yet though (once only, in fact, if memory doesn't play tricks on me), but I look forward to exploring that opera in more depth. Other than the three (Désormière, Inghelbrecht and Cluytens, which hasn't yet arrived), I've got Ansermet (both 1952 and 1964, part of his French box), Boulez (Covent Garden, c. 1970) and Karajan (1978) around. But this will take a long time to digest, of course.

Anyway ...

.. it was sooo cheap ...

... the prestoclassical Testament sale was just too good to pass, I've been eyeing some of these discs for a long time, only had a dozen or so before (Elman Decca 1/Concertos and Rabin official/studio most recently, a few vocal discs, Solomon's Chopin, the Neveu/Hassid, the Stella Verdi/Puccini disc, some live Verdi w/Callas ...) and it definitely feels right to have the Schnabel, Goldberg and some of the others around now!

[Karl Henning]

Arrived the other day:

[Ken B]

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[kishnevi]

Hmmm...let me check:

Yes, in this BIS set, the following are included that aren't in the Brilliant set:

Excelsior!, Concert Overture
Snofrid
Serenade

Went looking for that individual CD.  One copy available at $79.99.  Will not be getting it anytime soon.  (I have the Brilliant set, so I don't need the set you got.)

[Mirror Image]

Went looking for that individual CD.  One copy available at $79.99.  Will not be getting it anytime soon.  (I have the Brilliant set, so I don't need the set you got.)

You could always sell your Brilliant set and get the BIS set. But that seems to be the only alternative.

[Madiel]

Arrived the other day:

Is this different from Jansons' box set of Shostakovich? I get confused partly because there are a lot of different orchestras in the box.

[Green Destiny]

Latest purchase :

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[Que]

Latest purchase :

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I still have the old black "brick" with the unappealing portraits of Wagner and Solti....

It might be a good idea to replace that with this budget reissue of the last remastering...

Q

[Jo498]

Is this different from Jansons' box set of Shostakovich? I get confused partly because there are a lot of different orchestras in the box.

I think it is the same one, but the symphony box lacks all or most of the fillers the separate discs had.