Bach 333

[vinteuil]

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... mine arrived this afternoon.

It sure is a handsome thing ....


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[BBMmk2]

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... mine arrived this afternoon.

It sure is a handsome thing ....I


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Oh yes! Credit card job? I think that be me! Unless someone can do CD-ROMs for me, please...?

[Bryn]

Oh yes! Credit card job? I think that be me! Unless someone can do CD-ROMs for me, please...?

I was confused when I first say you mention "CD-RM", but now I guess that you intend "CD.R", i.e. CD-Recordable, rather than CD Read Only Memory.

[Bryn]

from https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000x7s :

"Deutsche Grammophon in collaboration with a number of other labels present every known note written by J S Bach 333 years after his birth."

Damn it. I had not noted that it was to be a single blank disc.

[Dave2002]

Let's hope that, as with the Mozart 225, some amazon marketplace supplier, or Amazon itself, comes up with lower prices shortly after the release date. Oh, and while mentioning the Mozart 225 set, I note that amazon.co.uk appear to be offering the whole thing, in their reasonable but not great data rate mp3 versions, for the princely sum of £20.99! However once selected, it turns out to be just the duos.

[I see Europadisc are offering the Bach 333 set for £379.95 (post free).]

I waited for the Mozart set - still not even opened it! Maybe I bought a load of bricks!

House reorganisation is a factor. Re the Bach 333 set, maybe JPC will eventually have it for £100 or so less - which was the case with the Mozart collection. I will eventually get round to listening to some of these - hopefully before CDs become completely obsolete and unobtainable.

Re the Amazon mp3s - will that collection also come with the free mp3 AutoRip versions if the whole set is bought from Am.uk? Perhaps not - it's not mentioned in the listing - though in my experience things sometimes appear later on as mp3s for things I've bought - and in some cases some very odd things have appeared probably not on my account at all.

[teamsaint]

Anybody holding out for a better price ? And what price would make you push the button.
I could really do with a more comprehensive Bach collection, and obviously there are other candidates but I’m hanging on in there for this one. £300 might reel me in.

Meantime, any recommendations for other big Bach collections at sensible prices ? The only big ( ish) box I have is the 22 CD JEG Cantatas.
(Anybody know if this is replicated in full in 333,BTW ? It looks as though they are split between various performers from the listing . )

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Anybody holding out for a better price ? And what price would make you push the button?

Today's review confirmed my initial suspicion that there are too many duplicates and unwanted recordings in the box to make it attractive to me at any price. The "equivalent" Mozza big box miraculously involved only three duplicates - and I've returned to that set frequently and with great pleasure. If - and this isn't going to happen - somebody were to give me the Bach box as a present (or if I won it in a competition) it'd make a fine companion on the shelves - but I wouldn't be surprised if fewer than half of the recordings regularly - or at all - reached my player.

[Richard Barrett]

Looking over the list of performers for the cantatas, I see more Gardiner than anything else, but also quite a lot of Suzuki, the occasional Koopman, Rifkin, Herreweghe, McCreesh and Kuijken, plus a few others. I wonder which criteria lay behind choosing between these? That's something I'd be interested to know.

[Bryn]

Looking over the list of performers for the cantatas, I see more Gardiner than anything else, but also quite a lot of Suzuki, the occasional Koopman, Rifkin, Herreweghe, McCreesh and Kuijken, plus a few others. I wonder which criteria lay behind choosing between these? That's something I'd be interested to know.

Whichever was best, of course.

[Dave2002]

Anybody holding out for a better price ? And what price would make you push the button.

I have the big Brilliant set - which hasn't been listened to competely - there are some good things in there, but some less good. There are other sets I have fancied. I have quite a lot of the pieces in smaller box collections, and individual series - e.g. some of Suzuki's cantatas, some JEG, and even some none HIPP recordings from years ago. Also the new box may contain a number of duplicates of CDs I already have. I might go for it if I could get a set for around £200, otherwise there are other things which I'd probably prefer to have. It's very probably a great set to have for anyone who doesn't have much Bach already - which may not be the case for some readers here.

[BBMmk2]

Looking over the list of performers for the cantatas, I see more Gardiner than anything else, but also quite a lot of Suzuki, the occasional Koopman, Rifkin, Herreweghe, McCreesh and Kuijken, plus a few others. I wonder which criteria lay behind choosing between these? That's something I'd be interested to know.

Imo, I think that Gardiner and Suzuki were supreme in this genre.

[HighlandDougie]

It's very probably a great set to have for anyone who doesn't have much Bach already.

And that's why I've bought it. I realise that the reasons for its appearance are not in the slightest bit altruistic ("in the interests of scholarship") but, rather, Universal cynically hoping to squeeze extra sales from mostly existing material. However, apart from the usual suspects (Brandenburgs, Suites, Mass in B minor, Goldbergs and the WTC, the John and Matthew Passions, a clutch of cantatas), I don't have all that much JSB so it has filled a rather large gap in my collection. To use a word which now sets my teeth on edge, it does seem to have been thoughtfully, "curated" and, at not much more than £1.50 a CD, it doesn't feel like a rip-off.

[Richard Barrett]

Imo, I think that Gardiner and Suzuki were supreme in this genre.

I think the field is still wide open. IMO both of those sets are a little too micromanaged (since we're using teeth-on-edge words on this thread!) for my liking, apart from using too many singers. It's interesting to me that the new set does contain a few OVPP cantatas - again, why those and not different ones, I wonder. As the OVPP approach gains momentum I think we'll be seeing a new standard in performances of the cantatas in the future, now that the conundrum of why Bach wrote such difficult "choral" parts is solved.

[Bryn]

Glad to report my set was delivered half an hour ago (2 days ahead of amazon.fr's estimate). Not sure whether to get another for it. Unlike the big Karajan box, it would not really benefit that much. I suppose I could regard it as three somewhat overpriced books with 223 free discs and their associated track listing booklets as a bonus.

I see the amazon.co.uk price has now dropped to £374.08 or risen to £416.46, depending go which of their listing for the set you chose to follow.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bach-333-Die-Neue-Gesamtausgabe-Ltd-Edt/dp/B07FTYMM7W/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_15_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=DNEXGJ7DDWG8Y5SJTP05

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bach-333-Complete-Various-Artists/dp/B07D2Y539K

[Bryn]

Looking quickly through some of the track listings I noted that disc 164 has all 6 Brandenburg Concertos on it. O.k., I already had these MAK recordings, but spread over two discs. Damn it, this disc 164 has a total duration of 86' 22". I am quite sure there are a good few players still in use which cannot handle discs of such capacity.