Amazon labelling?

[Dave2002]

Some of us here use Amazon a fair bit.

Today I went looking for recordings by Monteux - as currently I'm listening to Tchaikovsky Symphony 5 with the LSO conducted by Monteux off a download I got cheaply from another site.

I put in a search for Monteux, and found some recordings by Monteux. However, when following these up, the "labelling" fell apart.

I found a Vanguard recording of Symphony 4 (now on Artemis?) with Monteux, but there are none available from Amazon, so following the new and used sections to see if any 3rd party sellers have that one strikes what looks like a RCA recording of the 5th - though it's difficult to be sure if Monteux is the conductor. I also found mention of the Boston SO recordings, but again following these through seems to lead to totally different recordings/artists/performances.

It looks as though Amazon's listings sometimes fall apart completely. Look also at the reviews. Often these don't seem to be associated with the recording listed - for example an exhortation to avoid a certain recording because it was by Temirkanov whom the reviewer didn't like - but that wasn't the CD showing on the page.

It's not always this bad, but sometimes it seems a complete mess. I'm not sure what Amazon would do if a supplier sent what would be a completely wrong item - it hasn't happened to me much.

Has anyone else noticed such problems>

[Pulcinella]

Bryn often seems able to find things (usually cheaper!) that don't come up when I do a search....whether or not he has special tricks that he uses to penetrate their often obscure labelling/categorization I don't know!

[Bryn]

Bryn often seems able to find things (usually cheaper!) that don't come up when I do a search....whether or not he has special tricks that he uses to penetrate their often obscure labelling/categorization I don't know!

I just use the basic book search methods I used as an undergrad., i.e. try to think of the most limited set of unique search terms applicable, and adjust as search attempts proceed. Knowing the CD title used for the release can help, as can the name of the label of the issuer. For the Reiner Struass Till withthe vienna Phil, I used "strauss till reiner vienna". I added "SACD" once I had discovered that it had been released in that format some years ago. That led to the ebay listing.

Oh, and when it comes to the Beeb, I tend not to bother with their own search tool. It's pretty useless. I just use Google.

[Pulcinella]

I just use the basic book search methods I used as an undergrad., i.e. try to think of the most limited set of unique search terms applicable, and adjust as search attempts proceed. Knowing the CD title used for the release can help, as can the name of the label of the issuer. For the Reiner Struass Till withthe vienna Phil, I used "strauss till reiner vienna". I added "SACD" once I had discovered that it had been released in that format some years ago. That led to the ebay listing.

Oh, and when it comes to the Beeb, I tend not to bother with their own search tool. It's pretty useless. I just use Google.

I won't be able to try now, as I think ferney snapped it up, but you found a cheaper Rubbra Piano concerto than I did on Amazon.com the other day, and I thought I'd been pretty comprehensive in my search.
You seem to have a magic touch, that's for sure.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I won't be able to try now, as I think ferney snapped it up, but you found a cheaper Rubbra Piano concerto than I did on Amazon.com the other day

Yup. AND it arrived thirty-six(-ish) hours after I'd ordered it. Who needs Prime?

[Pulcinella]

Yup. AND it arrived thirty-six(-ish) hours after I'd ordered it. Who needs Prime?

Hope you enjoy it.
I'm wondering now (as Bryn's link still works, and it's a uk not com link) why I searched on the .com site, but that would surely have been because nothing appeared in my search on the .uk site when it clearly should have done!
And to think that my father belonged to the Magic Circle: he certainly didn't pass any of his tricks on.

[jayne lee wilson]

Double-barrel-shot always works for me, near-perfectly... "Monteux Tchaikovsky", "Reiner Strauss" "Venzago CPO" etc....
I would call Amazon as one of the best search engines around** - Qobuz and eclassical pretty good too.... many others are frustratingly variable, even the Gramophone Archive can be puzzlingly difficult sometimes...

(**I forgot my beloved Dijonnaise mustard last week... found a good one quickly on Amazon and had it here next evening...)

[Bryn]

Hope you enjoy it.
I'm wondering now (as Bryn's link still works, and it's a uk not com link) why I searched on the .com site, but that would surely have been because nothing appeared in my search on the .uk site when it clearly should have done!
And to think that my father belonged to the Magic Circle: he certainly didn't pass any of his tricks on.

Ferney's may have cost a few pennies more than mine, but I have to wait until at least Monday for mine to arrive.

[Petrushka]

Double-barrel-shot always works for me, near-perfectly... "Monteux Tchaikovsky", "Reiner Strauss" "Venzago CPO" etc....
I would call Amazon as one of the best search engines around** - Qobuz and eclassical pretty good too.... many others are frustratingly variable, even the Gramophone Archive can be puzzlingly difficult sometimes...

(**I forgot my beloved Dijonnaise mustard last week... found a good one quickly on Amazon and had it here next evening...)

This method usually works well for me too but results can be variable if the item you are after is part of a boxed set.

Many of the reviews, however, are a complete mess, frequently not even related to the particular CD under consideration and about a different performance altogether. In these cases, internal evidence usually gives the game away and you can filter accordingly but it's still a shoddy mess which can trip up the unwary.

[Nick Armstrong]

Double-barrel-shot always works for me, near-perfectly... "Monteux Tchaikovsky", "Reiner Strauss" "Venzago CPO" etc....
I would call Amazon as one of the best search engines around** -

[Dave2002]

Many of the reviews, however, are a complete mess, frequently not even related to the particular CD under consideration and about a different performance altogether. In these cases, internal evidence usually gives the game away and you can filter accordingly but it's still a shoddy mess which can trip up the unwary.

My specific concern which triggered this thread was "if I search for a CD by X, then click on what's found, I don't then expect to find a "similar" CD by Y, and then when I migrate to the "new and used" section I might even find another CD - either similar or not, by Z".

If I search for Monteux in Tchaikosvky I don't want to find myself looking at Slatkin in Stravinsky with a review of The Beatles linked to one of the linked to CDs in the Marketplace! Seems a mess. Doesn't normally happen, but today I found something rather similar to the above scenarios.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Hope you enjoy it.

I played it as soon as it arrived - lovely recording & performance of the Piano Concerto and the Soliloquy, but I found the Fourth Symphony a bit disappointing; the orchestra didn't have the work entirely under its collective belt, and sounds a bit routine after the first three minutes or so.

[Pulcinella]

I played it as soon as it arrived - lovely recording & performance of the Piano Concerto and the Soliloquy, but I found the Fourth Symphony a bit disappointing; the orchestra didn't have the work entirely under its collective belt, and sounds a bit routine after the first three minutes or so.

In danger of veering off topic......we are lucky to have other recordings to compare!
I'm tempted by the new Somm release.

[Master Jacques]

I played it as soon as it arrived - lovely recording & performance of the Piano Concerto and the Soliloquy, but I found the Fourth Symphony a bit disappointing; the orchestra didn't have the work entirely under its collective belt, and sounds a bit routine after the first three minutes or so.

Unlike the players in the world premiere performance, at the 1942 Prom under the composer himself, which has just been issued (in a miraculous remastering) by Somm. I've rarely been so moved by a historical issue as this, which has a radiance and sense of occasion which is very special indeed, now the "wow" has been edited out of it. I even wrote a fan letter to Siva Oke, to thank her!