Charity Shop Trawl

[crb11]

I've largely given up looking in Cambridge: little good stock and what there is tends to go for "fair prices", so no real bargains. Assuming that given there's a lot of classical musicians and enthusiasts around, if you've got something worthwhile it'll go to a friend or a friend or get sold - there's a guy on the market who will buy stuff he reckons he can sell on. And the decent stuff will probably get bought quickly too. I tend to find I get the best bargains in small towns on holiday where probably shops and donors don't know what they're getting.

Not quite a charity shop haul, but my latest acquisition is about 1000 CDs and 200 opera DVDs for £500, which is what my brothers were willing to let me contribute to my late father's estate for them. Not sure what I'm going to do with another five Ring cycles (three CD, two DVD) or vast amounts of obscure Russian music, but I'll have fun exploring.

[JasonPalmer]

Holiday destination charity shops and bookshops do seem best, suspect classical fans often retire to the seaside ......

[pastoralguy]

Holiday destination charity shops and bookshops do seem best, suspect classical fans often retire to the seaside ......

We’re going to London soon so I’m sure I’ll be popping into one or two…

[pastoralguy]

[QUOTE=oddoneout;Some have stopped selling CDs altogether("no-one uses CDs now").[/QUOTE]

Unfortunately, this is the way of things.

[oddoneout]

Unfortunately, this is the way of things.

Yes, I didn't realise until about 3 years ago, when I lent some CDs to a friend (who wanted to sample some classical music and asked for suggestions) that it's a case of not having any way to play them, with the ubiquity of laptops without a slot, so to speak, and lack of CD players in modern music playing kit. As it happened her car had a CD player, but that wasn't always successful. At least she could use the info on the liner to find a more accessible version.

[JasonPalmer]

We’re going to London soon so I’m sure I’ll be popping into one or two…

There used to be a good oxfam shop near Baker Street which has good pickings, posh places do well...people with money having a clear out....

[smittims]

I went into town to pay my gas bill this morning and came back with Mahler 10: BBC National orchestra of Wales / Mark Wigglesworth. £1.

I remember hearing this broadcast in 1993. It's remarkable, among other things, for a gigantic, Erwartung - style upward tutti glissando just before the final descending phrase at the end of the symphony.

It could be argued that Mahler didn't write that. But then , he didn't write so much of what we heard in the previous 74 minutes. Unless the master could return, any Mahler 10 is conjectural.

[Bryn]

I went into town to pay my gas bill this morning and came back with Mahler 10: BBC National orchestra of Wales / Mark Wigglesworth. £1.

I remember hearing this broadcast in 1993. It's remarkable, among other things, for a gigantic, Erwartung - style upward tutti glissando just before the final descending phrase at the end of the symphony.

It could be argued that Mahler didn't write that. But then, he didn't write so much of what we heard in the previous 74 minutes. Unless the master could return, any Mahler 10 is conjectural.

A month or so after I received my BBC Music Magazine with that cover disc, a now-defunct stall in the local market has several 'remaindered' copies of that issue, replete with disc, for £1 each. I was sufficiently impressed with Mark Wigglesworth's performance to purchase a few to pass on to interested friends. I thought the performance of the performing version of Mahler's sketches a step above that which he conducted for the concert that launched Howard Skempton's Lento with the BBC SO. I still have a couple of spares, likewise the Janáček Glagolitic Mass cover disc (Wingfield reconstruction of the original version) conducted by Richard Hickox.

[smittims]

Yes, the few occasions when I bought the magazine were for the cover disc: Boult Planets, Boult Walton first Sym. etc. but never, sadly, for the editorial content, with which I often disagreed.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Yes, the few occasions when I bought the magazine were for the cover disc: Boult Planets, Boult Walton first Sym. etc. but never, sadly, for the editorial content, with which I often disagreed.

Editorial content was precisely my beef with the BBCMM, specifically that opinionated "We name the Best Recording of....". Gramophone were guilty of similar, particularly that "World's Best Orchestra" nonsense.

I do have a fair few of the discs on my shelf, but they'll generally have been acquired either secondhand or via a free copy of BBCMM.

[Barbirollians]

Editorial content was precisely my beef with the BBCMM, specifically that opinionated "We name the Best Recording of....". Gramophone were guilty of similar, particularly that "World's Best Orchestra" nonsense.

I do have a fair few of the discs on my shelf, but they'll generally have been acquired either secondhand or via a free copy of BBCMM.

There are still bits of it that annoy but Martin Cullingford has turned Gramophone back into a serious magazine after Inverne's editorship nearly destroyed it.

[pastoralguy]

Gramophone were guilty of similar, particularly that "World's Best Orchestra" nonsense.

Absolutely! Especially since we all KNOW it’s the Royal Scottish National Orchestra….

[Bryn]

Following a bone density scan in Maidenhead last Thursday, I had just short of an hour's wait for the bus back home. I do not know the shopping facilities of that town at all well but eventually found a charity shop with some CDs and DVDs. I selected four BBC MM cover discs I had either missed out on or fancied a second copy of to pass on: Beethoven's 9th (BBC NOW etc., Roth); Tchaikovsky's 2nd Piano concerto (original version - John Lill) & Cspriccial Italien; Strauss's AsZ (Steen) & TuV (Ono); Adams's Shaker Loops + Reaich The Desert Music (Buckley & Eotvos) - 50p each. I also got the Philharmonia's 1988 restaging of The Hoffnung Festival of Music double CD album, also 50p. To top things off, a 4-DVD boxed set of series 1 and 2 of Last of the Summer Wine (£2). Oh, and 3 rather nice M&S porcelain cereal bowls (£3).

[JasonPalmer]

Those BBC MM cds are like gold dust, have a few, checked my local charity shop quickly on Thursday after volunteering there and just classic fm boxed sets so gave them a miss. Enjoying the odd cd but really I am a radio fan.

[Bryn]

Those BBC MM cds are like gold dust, have a few, checked my local charity shop quickly on Thursday after volunteering there and just classic fm boxed sets so gave them a miss. Enjoying the odd cd but really I am a radio fan.

Don't be too quick to dismiss all CFM cover discs. Some hold classic recordings and, unlike the radio channel, are not plagued with dynamic compression.

This, for example: