The Super-Duper Cheap Bargains Thread

[jut1972]

thanks for that bigshot, had a look round and spotted the paul lewis beethoven sonatas for 27 euro, so picked one up.

[bigshot]

Another mega box bargain coming down the pike at the end of the month. This time it's EMI and it looks like a doozy.

1000 Classical Masterpieces (61 CDs)
http://www.amazon.it/Classical-Masterpieces-Limited-Various-Classics/dp/B009I6PF2A/

90 Euro shipped to the US from Amazon.it

No track listings yet, but the performers include...  Alban Berg Quartet, Maria Callas, Elly Ameling, Lucia Popp, Luciano Pavorotti, Placido Domingo, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Paul Tortelier, many more Kathleen Battle (Performer), Leonard Bernstein, Simon Rattle, many more Sir Thomas Beecham (Conductor)

The breakdown of disks is like this...

Cd 1-3: Johann Sebastian Bach
Cd 4-6: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Cd 7-9: Ludwig Van Beethoven
Cd 10-12: Renaissance & Baroque
Cd 13-14: Baroque
Cd 15: Classic & Romantic
Cd 16-19: Romantic & 20th Century
Cd 20-24: 20th Century
Cd 25-30: Opera
Cd 31-33: Choruses
Cd 34-35: Overtures
Cd 36-37: Operetta
Cd 38-43: Sacred Music
Cd 44-45: Piano
Cd 46-47: Violin
Cd 48-49: Cello
Cd 50: Guitar
Cd 51-52: Piano Concertos
Cd 53: Violin Concertos
Cd 54: Various Concertos
Cd 55-56: Waltzes
Cd 57: Polkas
Cd 58-60: Ballet
Cd 61: Tango

[Coopmv]

Another mega box bargain coming down the pike at the end of the month. This time it's EMI and it looks like a doozy.

1000 Classical Masterpieces (61 CDs)
http://www.amazon.it/Classical-Masterpieces-Limited-Various-Classics/dp/B009I6PF2A/

90 Euro shipped to the US from Amazon.it

No track listings yet, but the performers include...  Alban Berg Quartet, Maria Callas, Elly Ameling, Lucia Popp, Luciano Pavorotti, Placido Domingo, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Paul Tortelier, many more Kathleen Battle (Performer), Leonard Bernstein, Simon Rattle, many more Sir Thomas Beecham (Conductor)

The breakdown of disks is like this...

Cd 1-3: Johann Sebastian Bach
Cd 4-6: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Cd 7-9: Ludwig Van Beethoven
Cd 10-12: Renaissance & Baroque
Cd 13-14: Baroque
Cd 15: Classic & Romantic
Cd 16-19: Romantic & 20th Century
Cd 20-24: 20th Century
Cd 25-30: Opera
Cd 31-33: Choruses
Cd 34-35: Overtures
Cd 36-37: Operetta
Cd 38-43: Sacred Music
Cd 44-45: Piano
Cd 46-47: Violin
Cd 48-49: Cello
Cd 50: Guitar
Cd 51-52: Piano Concertos
Cd 53: Violin Concertos
Cd 54: Various Concertos
Cd 55-56: Waltzes
Cd 57: Polkas
Cd 58-60: Ballet
Cd 61: Tango

This should be a good set for some folks who want to be marginally involved in classical music but will do nothing for me since my collection is many times more superb than what this set has to offer ...

[bigshot]

I stand in awe of your superbness!

I can't really tell what's in it yet. But EMI has one of the best classical music libraries to draw upon in the world.

[kishnevi]

I stand in awe of your superbness!

I can't really tell what's in it yet. But EMI has one of the best classical music libraries to draw upon in the world.

Yes, but you'd never know that looking at what they re-issue.  They don't take advantage of that gigantic back catalogue.  They re-issue the same performances ten times over, instead of issuing new ones or re-issuing less well known performances and performers. Odds are, once we see the actual performances involved, that at least half the people here have half that box already, and the reason they don't have the other half is because the works involved don't particularly thrill them.   I'd rather have a smaller box filled with re-issues of lesser known artists.

Coop is right: it's a great set for someone who's only slightly into classical music,  but nothing more.

[bigshot]

Everyone used to complain that these big boxes were full of lesser known artists. Now they complain that they're full of top name artists...

I probably have close to 10,000 classical 78s, LPs and CDs. I've bought the Living Stereo, Mercury Living Presence, Philips and Decca Sound boxes. Every one of them have been well worth the price. And every one was packed with great performances I've never heard before. Classical music is such a broad field, I can't imagine someone saying, "I already have that stuff." Maybe you have a Beethoven's 9th, but do you have Furtwangler's, Walter's Kletzki's, Abbado's, Szell's and Reiner's? How many different great performances are too many?

Back catalog is going for pennies on the dollar right now. You can turn up your nose now, but wait till the majors stop releasing CDs unless the demand justifies a big pressing run. You'll be stuck with streaming services and iTunes downloads. The handwriting is on the wall for CDs. We're seeing the last blowout sale on them right now. A dollar twenty a 65 minute CD packed to the gills with major recordings? I say, "yes, thank you".

[Coopmv]

Everyone used to complain that these big boxes were full of lesser known artists. Now they complain that they're full of top name artists...

I probably have close to 10,000 classical 78s, LPs and CDs. I've bought the Living Stereo, Mercury Living Presence, Philips and Decca Sound boxes. Every one of them have been well worth the price. And every one was packed with great performances I've never heard before. Classical music is such a broad field, I can't imagine someone saying, "I already have that stuff." Maybe you have a Beethoven's 9th, but do you have Furtwangler's, Walter's Kletzki's, Abbado's, Szell's and Reiner's? How many different great performances are too many?

Back catalog is going for pennies on the dollar right now. You can turn up your nose now, but wait till the majors stop releasing CDs unless the demand justifies a big pressing run. You'll be stuck with streaming services and iTunes downloads. The handwriting is on the wall for CDs. We're seeing the last blowout sale on them right now. A dollar twenty a 65 minute CD packed to the gills with major recordings? I say, "yes, thank you".

I agree with most of your points.  My collection is somewhat like yours - close to 10,000 recordings spread across LP's, CD's, open-reels and cassettes but no 78's and thankfully, I also have functional playback devices I can use for the respective physical media.  I am not a download guy and that is why I have stepped up my CD purchases over the past few years and probably bought over 1000 CD's in a single year two years ago.

[kishnevi]

Everyone used to complain that these big boxes were full of lesser known artists. Now they complain that they're full of top name artists...

I probably have close to 10,000 classical 78s, LPs and CDs. I've bought the Living Stereo, Mercury Living Presence, Philips and Decca Sound boxes. Every one of them have been well worth the price. And every one was packed with great performances I've never heard before. Classical music is such a broad field, I can't imagine someone saying, "I already have that stuff." Maybe you have a Beethoven's 9th, but do you have Furtwangler's, Walter's Kletzki's, Abbado's, Szell's and Reiner's? How many different great performances are too many?

Back catalog is going for pennies on the dollar right now. You can turn up your nose now, but wait till the majors stop releasing CDs unless the demand justifies a big pressing run. You'll be stuck with streaming services and iTunes downloads. The handwriting is on the wall for CDs. We're seeing the last blowout sale on them right now. A dollar twenty a 65 minute CD packed to the gills with major recordings? I say, "yes, thank you".

I'm not actually arguing with you.  Your prognostications are probably correct.  At the moment, I have at least 2500 recordings on CD (no LPs or tapes or older media), and the number will presumably go higher; but when the CD printings stop,  I'll have more, and more than enough for my needs.  And if I've caught up to the technology,  I'll download.  Also I'm not nearly as interested in older recordings as many other people here.  I've got about twenty five recordings of the Beethoven 9, but only five* of them don't involve relatively contemporary conductors and orchestras --Furtwangler (Bayreuth), Toscanini (NBC Symphony), Karajan (DG I), Clutyens, and Blomstedt/Dresden.   And half of my B9s are part of larger cycles (in fact, of the ones I listed, only the Furtwangler was not part of a larger set).   I won't say I'm not interested in Reiner/Szell/Walter/etc. recordings of the Ninth.  But they are far enough down the list of priorities that if I never get them, I shall not weep.   The Mercury box is on my wishlist,  and the only reason I'm not more interested in the others you mention is the fact that, unlike the Mercury box, I've already got a sizeable number of the recordings in those boxes as individual CDs.

My criticism is this--that EMI keeps re-issuing the same things over and over again, and very often while the earlier re-issue is still in print.  Callas is listed as among the performers.  Is there an EMI recording of Callas that is not currently in print?  This (I'm extrapolating from EMI's usual practices) will simply be a big box of highlights of EMI's in-print catalogue.      A box of truly historical performances would pique my interest, but this doesn't seem to be anything like that.

*ETA: make that six.  I forgot I had Ormandy.

[Scarpia]

Another mega box bargain coming down the pike at the end of the month. This time it's EMI and it looks like a doozy.

1000 Classical Masterpieces (61 CDs)
http://www.amazon.it/Classical-Masterpieces-Limited-Various-Classics/dp/B009I6PF2A/

90 Euro shipped to the US from Amazon.it

No track listings yet, but the performers include...  Alban Berg Quartet, Maria Callas, Elly Ameling, Lucia Popp, Luciano Pavorotti, Placido Domingo, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Paul Tortelier, many more Kathleen Battle (Performer), Leonard Bernstein, Simon Rattle, many more Sir Thomas Beecham (Conductor)

The breakdown of disks is like this...

Cd 1-3: Johann Sebastian Bach
Cd 4-6: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Cd 7-9: Ludwig Van Beethoven
Cd 10-12: Renaissance & Baroque
Cd 13-14: Baroque
Cd 15: Classic & Romantic
Cd 16-19: Romantic & 20th Century
Cd 20-24: 20th Century
Cd 25-30: Opera
Cd 31-33: Choruses
Cd 34-35: Overtures
Cd 36-37: Operetta
Cd 38-43: Sacred Music
Cd 44-45: Piano
Cd 46-47: Violin
Cd 48-49: Cello
Cd 50: Guitar
Cd 51-52: Piano Concertos
Cd 53: Violin Concertos
Cd 54: Various Concertos
Cd 55-56: Waltzes
Cd 57: Polkas
Cd 58-60: Ballet
Cd 61: Tango

I find myself somewhat mystified as the the market being targeted by that thing, but presumably the people who decide to issue these sets are guided by the sales numbers and experience. 

I find myself with a lot of big boxes, but I am attracted to the ones that are focused on something I am interested in.  (Artist boxes like the complete Karajan and Ciccolini Boxes from EMI, for example, or complete composer editions like the Bach set from Teldec and Liszt set from Hyperion.)   These big scatter-shot boxes don't attract me, because there is a lot there I'm not interested in and I suspect that whatever is in the box that I am interested in, I probably already have.

[Opus106]

Such a set might come in handy in schools or perhaps other places whether the teach the history of and intro. to western classical music to the lay public.

[bigshot]

I find myself with a lot of big boxes, but I am attracted to the ones that are focused on something I am interested in.  (Artist boxes like the complete Karajan and Ciccolini Boxes from EMI, for example, or complete composer editions like the Bach set from Teldec and Liszt set from Hyperion.)

I have the Hannsler Bach and the Hyperion Liszt, but those serve a different purpose to me. They're about having a collection of *something specific*. That's fine, but the boxes with wider ranges give me clues about things I don't know more than what I already know. I've discovered amazing things in all of the big boxes with "assorted candies", in particular the Membran Meister Konzerte box that was spectacularly curated and the Decca Sound box which included many wonderful recordings I hadn't heard because I already had versions of particular works and wasn't on the lookout for them. I enjoy the "grab bag" approach because it holds surprises I don't expect, which give me avenues for further exploration.

I could easily say, "I've already got three Rite of Spring CDs, why do I need any more?" But the truth is, great works invite more than three different interpretations. These boxes have replaced my "old standby" recordings with better alternatives in many cases.

[Coopmv]

Such a set might come in handy in schools or perhaps other places whether the teach the history of and intro. to western classical music to the lay public.

Classical music is probably dying in the US.  There are fewer and fewer listeners with every new generation ...

[bigshot]

A box of truly historical performances would pique my interest, but this doesn't seem to be anything like that.

That's the Meister Konzerte set. You can pick that up at Amazon.es for a song.

[Opus106]

I could easily say, "I've already got three Rite of Spring CDs, why do I need any more?" But the truth is, great works invite more than three different interpretations. These boxes have replaced my "old standby" recordings with better alternatives in many cases.

Then this, my friend, is just for you:



All 38 recordings from Universal's catalogues.

[Coopmv]

Then this, my friend, is just for you:



All 38 recordings from Universal's catalogues.

I think I probably have only one version of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and on LP, not on CD.  I have never developed much love for this work.  Unlike some other baroque and classical masterpieces where 20+ to 30+ versions are the norm ...

[bigshot]

I want a 100 CD box of that!

[Opus106]

I want a 100 CD box of that!

You'll have to be patient. One crazy, desperate old label at a time.

[hafod]

That's the Meister Konzerte set. You can pick that up at Amazon.es for a song.

Amazon.es is far more expensive at present - try Am.de, it or uk for example.
https://pricenoia.com/meisterwerke-the-masters-of-music

[Ken B]

MDT is having a big sale, including clearance on some Brilliant boxes, and Naxos. mdt.co.uk

[stingo]

Brilliant's Beethoven Edition is available for just under $70 (for 85 CDs) shipped from Amazon US marketplace.

[asin]B004HGQXB8[/asin]