Charity Shop Trawl

[Conchis]

I've spent the last week in North Yorkshire and managed to pick up Toscanini's Philharmonia Brahms cycle (on Testament) for only £1.99


I always feel especially pleased when I pick up a Testament CD cheap! :)

Currently listening to disc 1: how strange to hear the Philharmonia playing the National Anthem before the concert proper begins. But this was what the post-war world was like!

[cloughie]

I've spent the last week in North Yorkshire and managed to pick up Toscanini's Philharmonia Brahms cycle (on Testament) for only £1.99


I always feel especially pleased when I pick up a Testament CD cheap! :)

Currently listening to disc 1: how strange to hear the Philharmonia playing the National Anthem before the concert proper begins. But this was what the post-war world was like!

Conchis, that is a fantastic bargain. It has long been on my list of CDs I would quite like but I've never seen it at a price I would want to pay. Enjoy!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I've spent the last week in North Yorkshire and managed to pick up Toscanini's Philharmonia Brahms cycle (on Testament) for only £1.99

Blimey! That is good value - whereabouts in North Yorkshire was this?

[Conchis]

Blimey! That is good value - whereabouts in North Yorkshire was this?

The BHF in Ilkley. Not normally a rich ground for pickings. I just happened to be there at the right time!:)

[pastoralguy]

The BHF in Ilkley. Not normally a rich ground for pickings. I just happened to be there at the right time!:)

It's pure serendipity! That's a great bargain!

[Ferretfancy]

Sometimes you understand too late that there's a good reason why an item was given to the local Oxfam shop. I recently picked up a four disc set of Bartok with the CBSO and Rattle, four CDs for a fiver. It includes Donahoe's set of the piano concertos, Chung in the Violin Concerto No. 2, The Miraculous Mandarin, Concerto for Orchestra and the Labeques in both the concerto and sonata for two pianos and percussion.
I'm afraid that the recordings are pretty dire, especially the Mandarin which has to be played at a ridiculously high level to make any impact, while in the Violin Concerto
Chung's quieter playing borders on the inaudible.

I would have thought that this music in particular demands clarity of texture and instrumental colour, all of which is missing in this set. Still, that's the gamble you take for a bargain!

[pastoralguy]

I've always found Sir Simon's CBSO/EMI discs poorly recorded. I certainly wasn't impressed by EMI's Mahler recordings. However, IMHO, their sound for the Kennedy/Kamu Tchaikovsky concerto was truly appalling. Very opaque.

[Conchis]

I've always found Sir Simon's CBSO/EMI discs poorly recorded. I certainly wasn't impressed by EMI's Mahler recordings. However, IMHO, their sound for the Kennedy/Kamu was truly appalling. Very opaque.

It really pains me to say this, but I think EMI lost a lot when Walter Legge jumped ship: everything he recorded for them sounds newly-minted even today (including the just-acquired Toscanini Brahms cycle, canons on the roof the RFH and all). His big mistake was in thinking stereo would be a passing fad.

[Oliver]

I agree about the Rattle recordings. The Mahler 7 and 8, the Henze album and the Schoenberg two disc set are particularly disappointing. A few days ago I played the Tennstedt Bruckner 8 ; astonishingly fine sound. I had to double-check its recording date; 1982.

[Conchis]

At the weekend, in Chester:

Kunneke, Schreker, Toch, Butting, Braunfels - Suites & Overtures for Radio 2 discs for £1.99

Beethoven: Violin Concerto - Menuhin/Klemperer - £1.50 (didn't need another BVC but the attraction here was Klemperer waving the stick, plus I've never heard this version before: it's not highly regarded by critics).

Today, in Harrogate:

Wagner:Die Walkure - Halle O./Elder - 5 discs in shrink-wrap: £3.99. How could I resist?

[Conchis]

Today:

Schumann: Cello Concerto ('a fatally flawed work') and works for cello/piano - Shiff/BPO - Haitink/Oppitz - 95p

Schubert:Complete Masses - Chor un Orkest der Bayerischen Rundfunks/Sawallisch (7CDs)- £3.99

[pastoralguy]

At the weekend, in Chester:

Kunneke, Schreker, Toch, Butting, Braunfels - Suites & Overtures for Radio 2 discs for £1.99

Beethoven: Violin Concerto - Menuhin/Klemperer - £1.50 (didn't need another BVC but the attraction here was Klemperer waving the stick, plus I've never heard this version before: it's not highly regarded by critics).

Today, in Harrogate:

Wagner:Die Walkure - Halle O./Elder - 5 discs in shrink-wrap: £3.99. How could I resist?

Well done!

[pastoralguy]

Well done!

[Beef Oven!]

At the weekend, in Chester:

Kunneke, Schreker, Toch, Butting, Braunfels - Suites & Overtures for Radio 2 discs for £1.99

Beethoven: Violin Concerto - Menuhin/Klemperer - £1.50 (didn't need another BVC but the attraction here was Klemperer waving the stick, plus I've never heard this version before: it's not highly regarded by critics).

Today, in Harrogate:

Wagner:Die Walkure - Halle O./Elder - 5 discs in shrink-wrap: £3.99. How could I resist?

Flippin' Ada!

[pastoralguy]

Quartet Ebene. Ravel, Debussy & Faure. £1.50

Haydn. Symphonies 90, 91 & 92. Franz Bruggen conducting the Orchestra of the 18thC.

Mozart. The Magic Flute. Wolfgang Sawallisch.

Off. Carmina Burana. Sir Simon und Die Berliner Philharmoniker.

Mozart. Favourite works for Piano. 2 CDs. Alfred Brendel.

£2.00 the lot!