Stupid disc layouts

[mathias broucek]

Record companies can be astonishingly dozy about this kind of thing - e.g. splitting Mahler 2 anywhere except after the first movement ("Hier folgt eine Pause von mindestens 5 Minuten!")

But the (excellent, on what I've heard so far) Sanderling / Philharmonia Beethoven set I picked up cheaply in Tokyo really takes the biscuit. The first disk has the Eroica and the First but there's not room for them both so the finale of the first is on disk FIVE(!!!) before the Ninth.

Any other shockers out there?

[Barbirollians]

I hate two CD sets of the Tchaikovsky symphonies always split at the end of the second movement of the Fifth.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I recall an LP of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata that began midway through side 1, continued on side 2, and finished at the beginning of side 1. This may sound crazy, but it was actually a clever way of avoiding a bad side break.

As for CD changes, it’s hardly a chore to change between movements.

[Bryn]

I recall an LP of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata that began midway through side 1, continued on side 2, and finished at the beginning of side 1. This may sound crazy, but it was actually a clever way of avoiding a bad side break.

As for CD changes, it’s hardly a chore to change between movements.

Louis Kentner. A very sensible solution to offering the highest fidelity, given the duration of each of the four movements. As I recall, the null band between the final movement and the first was extra wide.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I recall an LP of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata that began midway through side 1, continued on side 2, and finished at the beginning of side 1. This may sound crazy, but it was actually a clever way of avoiding a bad side break.

Yes, Loughran's LP ENIGMA recording of the Eroica with the Hallé did this - track one on side one was the finale, track two the First Movement, and side two contained the second and third Movements.

[richardfinegold]

Record companies can be astonishingly dozy about this kind of thing - e.g. splitting Mahler 2 anywhere except after the first movement ("Hier folgt eine Pause von mindestens 5 Minuten!")

But the (excellent, on what I've heard so far) Sanderling / Philharmonia Beethoven set I picked up cheaply in Tokyo really takes the biscuit. The first disk has the Eroica and the First but there's not room for them both so the finale of the first is on disk FIVE(!!!) before the Ninth.

Any other shockers out there?

Well, if you’re a fan of the silver disc, perhaps you should be glad that you can still buy them at all. When I burn CDs to a hard drive I try to note such glitches in packaging and group the tracks appropriately

[mathias broucek]

Well, if you’re a fan of the silver disc, perhaps you should be glad that you can still buy them at all. When I burn CDs to a hard drive I try to note such glitches in packaging and group the tracks appropriately

Exactly what I do!

[mikealdren]

Exactly what I do!

Me too, not only do I avoid stupid breaks but I can play complete operas or sequences of works without any breaks.

[cloughie]

I hate two CD sets of the Tchaikovsky symphonies always split at the end of the second movement of the Fifth.

Me too, it interrupts the flow. Mahler Symphony box sets often have strange arrangements - the Rattle complete set in its first incarnation spread Syms 6 2 and 9 over 4CDs. So unsatisfactory that I kept my no2 which I was duplicating as I preferred the original layout.

[pastoralguy]

For me, one of the great revelations of cd was being able to listen to Ein Heldeleben without the break before the battle scene.

[cloughie]

For me, one of the great revelations of cd was being able to listen to Ein Heldeleben without the break before the battle scene.

Simolarly Also, Quixote, Alpine and Domestica!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Simolarly Also, Quixote, Alpine and Domestica!

Also Sprach was sometimes fitted on to a single side (e.g. VPO/Karajan).