Favourite Big CD Boxes

[richardfinegold]

The great sell off has been full swing now several years. The companies formerly known as 'the majors'-namely DG, EMI, Sony, RCA, Phillips- have consolidated and instead of promoting new Artists are busy flogging their back catalog, often in large collections, cheaply priced, and frequently remastered to boot. This has been a boon for collector. As the Holiday shopping season approaches, which of these big box collections do you wish that Santa would bring? And which one do you own and think that Santa needs to leave with your friends?
In the past few months I have added the two 'Decca Sound' boxes and the Phillips ' Analogue' sets to my groaning shelves. The previous two years I had added the first two volumes of the Mercury series. These sets all contain at least 50 CDs and dwarf the previous multi CD sets that I had obtained that tend tend to feature a given Artist, such as Reiner conducting Strauss, Serkin/Beethoven, etc. My single artist hernia inducing box is a Richter box ,but if I had to pick one artist box over the others it would be the 10 disc Radu Lupu set, each disc a gem.
The big box that I have resisted is the Living Stereo set, because of the duplication issues it would cause for me.
Any particular favorites?

[pastoralguy]

For three consecutive Christmases, Mrs. PG gave me the Karajan 60's, 70's and 80's box sets from DG. As a teenager in the 70's I lusted after the original Lps most of which were outside my price range. To have them in three beautifully produced boxes is wonderful!

[visualnickmos]

A couple of my favourites (sorry!) are two of EMI:

The Constantin Silvestri box of 15 CDs which states "Complete EMI Recordings" It's actually not complete (his Beethoven violin concerto with Leonid Kogan, at least, is missing*) - but never mind that, it's a great set.

The other is the even more massive collection (26 CDs, 2 DVDs) which also states that it's complete. This is a truly marvelous collection.

* It is, however, on the 2-disc EMI Artist Profile EMI set - which I highly recommend.

[Thropplenoggin]

Great idea for a thread. Any recommendations from the Wagner boxes that came out a few years back? I'm interested in hearing voices from the so-called 'golden age' of Wagner singers, Martha Modl, etc.

[Petrushka]

Great idea for a thread. Any recommendations from the Wagner boxes that came out a few years back? I'm interested in hearing voices from the so-called 'golden age' of Wagner singers, Martha Modl, etc.

Here you are, Thropplenoggin, this should be just what you want: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wagners-Vis...wagners+vision

[Petrushka]

For three consecutive Christmases, Mrs. PG gave me the Karajan 60's, 70's and 80's box sets from DG. As a teenager in the 70's I lusted after the original Lps most of which were outside my price range. To have them in three beautifully produced boxes is wonderful!

These three boxes are treasure indeed and sit proudly on my shelves, too. Haven't played anything like all of them yet, needless to say, as there is so much to enjoy. As far as I can tell from previous incarnations whether LP or CD the entire contents of these boxes appear to have been completely remastered and to thrilling effect.

[pastoralguy]

...the entire contents of these boxes appear to have been completely remastered and to thrilling effect.

Yes, I agree, Pet. At first I wasn't sure if it was related to the fact that I have much better Hi-fi equipment than when I first started buy CDs but I suspect that Karajan's notorious 'knob-twiddling' has been...modified!

[richardfinegold]

Yes, I agree, Pet. At first I wasn't sure if it was related to the fact that I have much better Hi-fi equipment than when I first started buy CDs but I suspect that Karajan's notorious 'knob-twiddling' has been...modified!

He wasn't the only knob twiddling Conductor whose reissues have benefited from remastering. Any Szell recording is an improvement; I wish that Sony would re do his complete Brahms Symphoneis

[Petrushka]

He wasn't the only knob twiddling Conductor whose reissues have benefited from remastering. Any Szell recording is an improvement; I wish that Sony would re do his complete Brahms Symphoneis

I have these in a Masterworks set and they sound pretty damn good even without the benefit of the most modern remastering.

Like PG, I also thought initially that the vast improvement in the Karajan recordings was down to the very different equipment I now have but I understand that the boxes were remastered for the Korean market so it's almost certainly a bit of both. Whatever it is, they sound quite superb.

[pastoralguy]

I have these in a Masterworks set and they sound pretty damn good even without the benefit of the most modern remastering.

Like PG, I also thought initially that the vast improvement in the Karajan recordings was down to the very different equipment I now have but I understand that the boxes were remastered for the Korean market so it's almost certainly a bit of both. Whatever it is, they sound quite superb.

Exactly! I can now hear the wind and brass! (And, my goodness, wasn't James Galway a wonderful player? Even amongst such exulted company his sound is so distinctive!)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The 107 CD Furtwangler box set is among my greatest treasures.

[MickyD]

I'd rather like the L'Oiseau Lyre boxes of Baroque and Classical recordings - I have nearly all of the original releases, but there are just a few which were never released on CD. So annoying!

[Petrushka]

The record companies are milking their back catalogues for all they're worth - and sometimes doing so more than once. As an example, a year or two ago DG issued Jochum's Beethoven, Brahms and Bruckner symphonies in a box. They have just re-issued them in another box called Eugen Jochum the Complete DG Recordings and adding his Mozart and Haydn recordings to them. This is crafty and makes me concerned that they will do the same thing with Karl Böhm whose two DG boxes I already have while adding more material 'new to CD'.

Duplication is a major problem as is having to obtain recordings that one isn't necessarily interested in in order to get those that one is. The Living Stereo and Mercury boxes fall into this category for me so I won't be getting them.

One box, from last Christmas, that is giving me endless pleasure is the box devoted to the Argo recordings of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge.

[Alison]

One of the best boxes for me is the EMI Icon set featuring Eugen Jochum. You get great Beethoven, Brahms and Bruckner cycles and more! I've always wanted to get the big Adrian Boult box often recommended on here.

The DG Messiaen complete edition is a handsome addition to my shelves and I am considering the same company's Stravinsky equivalent.

[Thropplenoggin]

Here you are, Thropplenoggin, this should be just what you want: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wagners-Vis...wagners+vision

Thanks, Petrushka. This looks ideal!