Richter Collection

[Ferretfancy]

I've just had an email from Amazon telling me that all the recordings that Sviatoslav Richter made for Decca, Philips and DG are to be released in a 51 CD box on January 5th. Amazon's pre-order price is £89.99 for this 51 CD set.

I'm tempted, although it would mean quite a few duplications. The problem is that so many Richter performances have been issued in a rather random way over the years, often in awkward compilations, and not always in very good sound. There doesn't seem to be any way of telling if the new box will have been remastered. I do wish that Amazon would give full contents listing for compilations of this kind.

There is also the question of when I will find time to listen to this amount of material, but this has not deterred me in the past. Any Comments?

[Bryn]

Here you go.

[pastoralguy]

Well done. Thank you.

[umslopogaas]

There has been a torrent of these enormous bargain boxes recently: I already have the Callas and Toscanini 50plus CD sets, and am due to pick up the Boulez one tomorrow. There has to be a reason for this flood of ludicrously low-priced discs, and I think it is this.

These are all recordings that have been issued many times before, initially at full price on LP, then several times more on LP and then CD. The owners of these copyrights are spotting one last chance to make a bit of money from their ageing tapes before the younger generation breaks their copyright for ever and puts everything they ever controlled out on public access on the internet for no money.

There is a view that the younger generation regards music as free. If that's true, its very worrying and everyone who knows it isnt true should stock up at bargain prices while they can. I suspect that when no-one can make money from issuing recordings of music, no one will, and we will all be the poorer.

It must be tough if you want to make a new recording of, lets say, Rossini's William Tell. There are already, ahem, a few good examples, including Callas and Serafin, and Caballe and Gardelli. I was interested enough in the Gardelli set to pay almost £100 for four CDs, because that was the only way I could get a copy. But I got Callas and Serafin for about six quid and they sound marvellous. There is a problem here, not only for the industry, but for all of us.

Comments welcome, I know nothing of the music business, but as a consumer of recorded classical music, that's how it looks to me.

[Ferretfancy]

There has been a torrent of these enormous bargain boxes recently: I already have the Callas and Toscanini 50plus CD sets, and am due to pick up the Boulez one tomorrow. There has to be a reason for this flood of ludicrously low-priced discs, and I think it is this.

These are all recordings that have been issued many times before, initially at full price on LP, then several times more on LP and then CD. The owners of these copyrights are spotting one last chance to make a bit of money from their ageing tapes before the younger generation breaks their copyright for ever and puts everything they ever controlled out on public access on the internet for no money.

There is a view that the younger generation regards music as free. If that's true, its very worrying and everyone who knows it isnt true should stock up at bargain prices while they can. I suspect that when no-one can make money from issuing recordings of music, no one will, and we will all be the poorer.

It must be tough if you want to make a new recording of, lets say, Rossini's William Tell. There are already, ahem, a few good examples, including Callas and Serafin, and Caballe and Gardelli. I was interested enough in the Gardelli set to pay almost £100 for four CDs, because that was the only way I could get a copy. But I got Callas and Serafin for about six quid and they sound marvellous. There is a problem here, not only for the industry, but for all of us.

Comments welcome, I know nothing of the music business, but as a consumer of recorded classical music, that's how it looks to me.

I think you are right, what interests me is the question -"How many of us are there?" In other words how many complete Richter sets or whatever will be sold?

Classical listeners form only a small part of the buying public, and of that proportion only a small minority are likely to invest in huge boxed sets. It's easy to forget what a small community of enthusiasts we are. I think that cheap downloads may take over completely, music completely on tap. I can't help remembering Benjamin Britten's Forebodings about the sheer availability of music and the subsequent devaluing of it.

[cloughie]

Often I now see boxes like this and think wow - that looks good - then I think can I afford it? - probably - have I got space for it? - possibly, but really no! - will I listen to it? - well yes but when and how much of it? Oh and how many duplicates will it give me. It goes on the save for later list. Sometimes the price is well so irresistible however. The jury is still out on the Richter!

[VodkaDilc]

Often I now see boxes like this and think wow - that looks good - then I think can I afford it? - probably - have I got space for it? - possibly, but really no! - will I listen to it? - well yes but when and how much of it? Oh and how many duplicates will it give me. It goes on the save for later list. Sometimes the price is well so irresistible however. The jury is still out on the Richter!

I have similar thoughts with big boxes, but then ask myself whether these CDs will be available in the future if I put off buying now. I fear the answer is "probably not".

[amateur51]

I bought the Richter box in 'a moment of madness' - it was going for about £40 somewhere aeons back - and I have not regretted it. it's a marvellous way to hear some stunning pianism and artistry, at the service of some remarkable music.

Take it easy is my recommendation

I see that there are at least three boxes from other sources too plus the ICON

[Nick Armstrong]

I bought the Richter box in 'a moment of madness' - it was going for about £40 somewhere aeons back - =

Not the same box as Ferret's on about though?

[amateur51]

Not the same box as Ferret's on about though?

Certainly not - that's a ludicrously big box - the one I bought is only 33 CDs :laugh;

[richardfinegold]

It is OT, but I am listening to the second disc in a 20 CD Haitink ("The Phillips Years") release as I type. I only wanted it for about two pieces, I already had a few of the discs, etc. but when the price went down to about $2/disc I jumped. No, I don't have space for it and yes, I already had multiple recordings of everything else in this set. Yet I am enjoying it very much and I suspect, after scrolling down the list of the contents in the link provided by bryn and noting that I don't have most of this material despite having accumulated some Richter boxes, that I will delve in at some point.
Most of the Richter that I have is on labels such as Brilliant and consists of live recordings. Are these discs primarily devoted to Studio recordings (clearly the Sofia recital with the tubercular Bulgarians is a live disc)?

[silvestrione]

Most of the Richter that I have is on labels such as Brilliant and consists of live recordings. Are these discs primarily devoted to Studio recordings (clearly the Sofia recital with the tubercular Bulgarians is a live disc)?

There's a mixture of studio and 'live' here I think, as always seems to be the case with these Richter boxes, with the exception of the EMI Icon one, which is almost all studio (and excellent too). The Phillips large box announced as the 'authorised' recordings (later denied to be such by him) was very uneven I thought, not that I ever had the whole thing. That appears integrated into this new box. There were many recordings from his later years, without the visceral intensity of his best performances.

I'm going to go for the much cheaper RCA/Columbia box that is also just about to come out:

http://www.mdt.co.uk/richter-sviatoslav-the-complete-album-collection-sony-18cds.html

Much that I have not got on there, and plenty from his best years.

[Ferretfancy]

I've just got another email from Amazon, but they've jacked up the price to £101.99 from £89.99 after having it on pre-order at the lower price.

[Don Petter]

I've been much enjoying the Melodiya 4CD box of 'Richter plays Schubert', containing live concert recordings from 1971, 1978 and 1979.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schubert-Richter-Sviatoslav-Melodiya-1002231/dp/B00J587KHO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419413654&sr=8-1&keywords=richter+schubert

[richardfinegold]

I've been much enjoying the Melodiya 4CD box of 'Richter plays Schubert', containing live concert recordings from 1971, 1978 and 1979.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schubert-Ric...chter+schubert

What are the contents? It's impossible to tell from the Amazon link.