Your biggest box

[cloughie]

Isn’t the story about Alkan’s death apocryphal?

Perhaps now when I look for a disc in one of my big boxes I’ll be thinking - maybe I’ll listen to a bit of Alkan.

[MickyD]

All this reminds me of that other old chestnut, with two slaves saying to each other "Did you see Samson last night? Brought the house down, he did!"

[cloughie]

All this reminds me of that other old chestnut, with two slaves saying to each other "Did you see Samson last night? Brought the house down, he did!"

There’s another advantage of living in a bungalow!

[richardfinegold]

One of the worst examples of this was/is the Hogwood Haydn box, followed by the HIPP complete Haydn Symphonies box (Hogwood, Brüggen, Dantone).

That was pretty egregious. I have both of them

[richardfinegold]

Do you think that the situation re physical discs is greater in the US than the UK? It's difficult to assess from here, but the shift to downloads is a problem. Large boxes do seem to present a (possibly short term) solution, as some companies are issuing otherwise difficult to obtain discs in these large boxes. Maybe invest in self storage! (a phrase which I've always thought was odd - I am "stored" wherever I happen to be )

Some problems with downloads and streaming are: (a) audio quality - which in some case might be higher than CD - but often isn't, and (b) worthwhile performances can become unavailable overnight, and there may be others which I've not listed.

It’s usually the Presto website that I visit to verify that a boxed set is only available as a download, so I don’t suspect any difference
I was interested in the Szell set as well and bemoaned the fact that it’s only available as mp3 a while back. Same with many of the von K boxes, Solti, Reiner, and others. I bought the Walter box when I realized that these are time limited purchasing opportunities. Except for the sheer size and the storage issue, no regrets there, and I have played every disc in it except for the rehearsal discs, which is unusual for me with these large boxes. Otoh, it’s fun to grab one of these behemoth collections that has been sitting unplayed for a bit and dip in at random, as I recently did with a huge Erato box devoted to Jean Pierre Rampal.

[Pulcinella]

That was pretty egregious. I have both of them

I love that word, especially as it's a so-called false friend when you consider its common use in Italian.
Egregio signore, at the start of a letter, is merely their version of Dear Sir; as an adjective it means notable, eminent, distinguished. So you're not being insulted!
I have often had the pleasure of being an 'egregious client' in an Italian hotel.

[Bryn]

No, I don't think that's the point as it can easily come to seem a chore rather than a pleasure. At one time I did panic about never having the time to play all that I have but ultimately it's better not to get obsessed about it otherwise you panic even more!

Quite. I have not read every book I have, cover to cover either. Many of both categories are there, effectively, as a reference source. I have not watched all the Blu-rays in my Tati boxed set, either. Yet I have had it a few years, now. I might just view Jour de fête this afternoon.

[gurnemanz]

Lack of space and a tendency towards moderation in my old age have led me lately to abandon large boxes. I do have quite a few. Drawbacks are inconvenience of access in digging out the box and finding the right CD. Also storage in that they don't fit naturally on the shelf. I have digitised a couple of boxes onto the computer to ease this process, eg Hyperion Complete Schubert Lieder.

The obvious advantages of these purchases are a) price b) completism c) coincidentally acquiring some worthwhile recordings which you would probably not have got to know otherwise.

Re the largest box question:
100CD Beethoven Complete on Brilliant Classics. This is the French version which has 15 bonus CDs of classic historical recordings and a useful accompanying book (in French).
Still available used

[vinteuil]

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Is there any forumite who owns a 75 plus CD boxed set who can , hand on heart , say they have listened to every disc?

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No, I don't think that's the point as it can easily come to seem a chore rather than a pleasure. At one time I did panic about never having the time to play all that I have but ultimately it's better not to get obsessed about it otherwise you panic even more!

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Quite. I have not read every book I have, cover to cover either. Many of both categories are there, effectively, as a reference source.

... exactly. I see the CDs and the books as a resource - a library. I haven't listened to all of my CDs - but some I refer to many times. I haven't read every page of the 48 volumes of the Horace Walpole Correspondence on the shelves behind me - but I dip in from time to time, and wouldn't want to be without it...

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[Pulcinella]

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... exactly. I see the CDs and the books as a resource - a library. I haven't listened to all of my CDs - but some I refer to many times. I haven't read every page of the 48 volumes of the Horace Walpole Correspondence on the shelves behind me - but I dip in from time to time, and wouldn't want to be without it...

.

I certainly haven't read every word in any of my copies of the bible: King James, RSV, NEB, Jerusalem, Good News, but I dip in from time to time too. I suppose that you could think of them as different releases of the same material.

I haven't read through my complete Grove either, for that matter, though I consulted it yesterday to look up Weelkes, in relation to the introit in Choral Evensong from Chichester; I'd forgotten that he had been organist there.

[Dave2002]

Maybe it's FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) which is partly responsible for some of us accumulating large boxes, though there may be other reasons.

[Petrushka]

Maybe it's FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) which is partly responsible for some of us accumulating large boxes, though there may be other reasons.

As an enthusiastic member of the Dead Conductors Society my rationale for collecting these big boxes is, first of all, because said conductors have made a huge impression on my musical life and because, secondly, I saw many of them in action (while alive, obviously!) and of those met most of them, some on several occasions. The opportunity therefore to collect these beautifully produced collections has proved too hard to resist. I've snapped up the boxes I wanted without hesitation because I fully expected that I'd not have the chance to do so again. I see that the deletions axe has already fallen on some so no regrets from me about buying them.

I have to admit to being miffed that the huge Karajan edition supplanted the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and Opera boxes as I would have got that too.

Now that I have pretty much what I want I'm left with the feeling that I've hit the buffers and there isn't much more left to be collected. Would like to see a complete Haitink/Concertgebouw box, though, and I'm hoping that it appears in due course even though I've probably got most of what's there.

[LHC]

As an enthusiastic member of the Dead Conductors Society my rationale for collecting these big boxes is, first of all, because said conductors have made a huge impression on my musical life and because, secondly, I saw many of them in action (while alive, obviously!) and of those met most of them, some on several occasions. The opportunity therefore to collect these beautifully produced collections has proved too hard to resist. I've snapped up the boxes I wanted without hesitation because I fully expected that I'd not have the chance to do so again. I see that the deletions axe has already fallen on some so no regrets from me about buying them.

I have to admit to being miffed that the huge Karajan edition supplanted the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and Opera boxes as I would have got that too.

Now that I have pretty much what I want I'm left with the feeling that I've hit the buffers and there isn't much more left to be collected. Would like to see a complete Haitink/Concertgebouw box, though, and I'm hoping that it appears in due course even though I've probably got most of what's there.

I wonder if Haitink's and the Concertgebouw's falling out might get in the way of the release of a complete box set of their recordings. Its notable that the box set of live beethoven symphony recordings being released by the Concertgebouw later this month includes recordings from 1978 (Bernstein) up to 2010 (Zinman), but cannot find space for anything from Haitink.

[Petrushka]

I wonder if Haitink's and the Concertgebouw's falling out might get in the way of the release of a complete box set of their recordings. Its notable that the box set of live beethoven symphony recordings being released by the Concertgebouw later this month includes recordings from 1978 (Bernstein) up to 2010 (Zinman), but cannot find space for anything from Haitink.

I think that the RCO must have made a decision not to include contributions from those conductors who recorded a complete cycle with them. The booklet might well confirm this. Regrettable if so, but understandable.

[MickyD]

Not one of the biggest, but at 31 CDs, this collection of German 17th century music drawn from the wonderful Ricercar label looks like a tempting bargain for we barockers....look at all those unknown names! Interested, Vints?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Masters-German-Baroque-Various-Artists/dp/B08BVY18QW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2TNXF4W4PQH1V&dchild=1&keywords=masters+of+the+german+baroque&qid=1606494073&s=music&sprefix=Masters+%2Cclassical%2C170&sr=1-1