The Columbia Bruno Walter Edition

[Barbirollians]

I saw this was out and Amazon seem to have knocked £100 or so off the price mentioned in Record Review .

Anyone splashed out on it ? I have pretty much all his CBS recordings collected often second hand in recent years . Are the remastering much improved ?

I thought the Record Review piece was pretty superficial but plus ca change .

[Dave2002]

I saw this was out and Amazon seem to have knocked £100 or so off the price mentioned in Record Review .

Anyone splashed out on it ? I have pretty much all his CBS recordings collected often second hand in recent years . Are the remastering much improved ?

I thought the Record Review piece was pretty superficial but plus ca change .

Do you mean this 77 CD set? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bruno-Walte...1431810&sr=8-6

Doesn't look particularly cheap - I think I missed the earlier box when it came out. Allegedly some of the SACD (only?) versions were worth having, but CBS/Sony gave up on those pretty quickly.

There is a 39 CD set available as a used item for around £85 - which looks a few years old now.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bruno-Walter/dp/B00BNZN27E/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Bruno+walter+edition&qid=1581432005&sr=8-1

That's in the LP size box, which some round here really dislike.

[Barbirollians]

That’s the one the 77 CD set released recently.

[Petrushka]

Yes, I bought this set as a Christmas/retirement present to myself

I had a fair few of the CDs in previous incarnations but the re-masterings done here supersede all others of those I've so far heard, in my view. What you have here are all of Walter's recordings made for Columbia since 1941 until his death in 1962 and are with the New York Philharmonic and Columbia Symphony Orchestras and Included are interviews, rehearsal and promotional (originally not for sale) discs.

One oddity is the 1949 Beethoven Choral. Apparently, once the records were issued, Walter decided that he was dissatisfied with the chorus/orchestra balance in the finale and convinced Columbia to re-record the finale alone in 1953. This they did and offered to exchange the 1949 finale disc (lacquer) to those who had purchased the 1949 set for the 1953 finale on condition that they handed in the old one, thus taking it out of circulation. Happily, both versions are included in the set.

Walter was one of the great conductors of the 20th century. Brahms and Bruckner were alive and active in Walter's career and his personal friendship with Mahler is well known so this set is recommendable for these reasons alone. As icing on the cake, the set comes with a fine 'coffee table' hardback book.

My advice would be to get it while it's available. It's given me much pleasure since Christmas and I'm sure there's much more to come.

[Dave2002]

My advice would be to get it while it's available. It's given me much pleasure since Christmas and I'm sure there's much more to come.

You weren't supposed to give me that advice. I could buy it, or ask for it as a birthday present - though the latter could be counter-productive, as I might not be allowed to buy any more CDs for a long while afterwards!

[Petrushka]

You weren't supposed to give me that advice. I could buy it, or ask for it as a birthday present - though the latter could be counter-productive, as I might not be allowed to buy any more CDs for a long while afterwards!

It could be worth waiting until the price drops. It could also be worthwhile checking out the next Presto boxed set sale somewhere around October. I say this because I also purchased (again as a retirement gift) the Leonard Bernstein Re-Mastered Edition in the last pre-Christmas boxed set sale at £90 - it's now back in the main listing at £260.25 .

[Dave2002]

It could be worth waiting until the price drops. It could also be worthwhile checking out the next Presto boxed set sale somewhere around October. I say this because I also purchased (again as a retirement gift) the Leonard Bernstein Re-Mastered Edition in the last pre-Christmas boxed set sale at £90 - it's now back in the main listing at £260.25 .

I sometimes do that, but then sometimes things disappear before the price goes down. I already have quite enough Bernstein for the moment, but the Bruno Walter set sounds very good, even though I've probably got quite a lot of them on CD or LP already.

[HighlandDougie]

It could be worth waiting until the price drops. It could also be worthwhile checking out the next Presto boxed set sale somewhere around October. I say this because I also purchased (again as a retirement gift) the Leonard Bernstein Re-Mastered Edition in the last pre-Christmas boxed set sale at £90 - it's now back in the main listing at £260.25 .

I've swithered about buying this box since it appeared - and was also tempted by the Presto offer last year. A casual browse of Ebay brought up a copy for £60 - unopened but damaged corner of the box (didn't look too catastrophic in the accompanying photo), hence the low price. Impossible to resist at that price. Alas, no Bruno Walter - as yet.

[cloughie]

I've swithered about buying this box since it appeared - and was also tempted by the Presto offer last year. A casual browse of Ebay brought up a copy for £60 - unopened but damaged corner of the box (didn't look too catastrophic in the accompanying photo), hence the low price. Impossible to resist at that price. Alas, no Bruno Walter - as yet.

Yes but it may buck the trend as did the Szell box!

[Petrushka]

Yes but it may buck the trend as did the Szell box!

Yes, I bought the Szell for Christmas 2018 from Amazon at £199.99. It seems to have disappeared off Presto but Amazon sellers are offering it at a whopping £475

[BBMmk2]

It will probably have Kathleen Ferrier on it! No thanks.

[Barbirollians]

It will probably have Kathleen Ferrier on it! No thanks.

No BBM - Ferrier and Walter recorded for Decca and EMI not CBS/Sony - you can have Mildred Miller’s vastly inferior Das Lied though.

[johnb]

No BBM - Ferrier and Walter recorded for Decca and EMI not CBS/Sony - you can have Mildred Miller’s vastly inferior Das Lied though.

That reminds me of Lady Barbirolli in a R3 programme many, many years ago saying that Barbirolli had wanted to record Geronius with Ferrier but couldn't because they were contracted to different recording companies.

[Barbirollians]

I have succumbed to temptation - I think I would regret not getting it before its likely early deletion . I missed the Eugene Istomin and Stoky sets that way although I was lucky to pick up a cheap second hand copy of the latter.

[Barbirollians]

That reminds me of Lady Barbirolli in a R3 programme many, many years ago saying that Barbirolli had wanted to record Geronius with Ferrier but couldn't because they were contracted to different recording companies.

Yes a great shame that.