Your Latest CD/DVD/Download Purchase

[Mahlerei]

Bryn

Yes, I've seen that Mahler 10 advertised. Looks like another one for the wish list. Lan Shui is a marvellous SACD with the Singapore Symphony called Seascapes (Debussy, Bridge, Glazunov, Zhou Long). 'Twas my introduction to SACD and it's still one of the best sounding discs I've heard. Performances are pretty good as well.

[MickyD]

I think I have to disappoint Micky here - but it is that one. It's not come yet, but I have heard quite a bit of it already online. I know it's rough in places, but it's really not that bad. It's probably the case that the Bamert Chandos recording will be more polished, but it costs more, and it doesn't necessarily follow that the style of the music will match the treatment it gets. I'll try to listen to that online too - if I can find a stream. I hope the CD comes soon - I think it's on its way, but stuck in the post somewhere.

Maybe I'm being particularly harsh on that recording, Dave - it's just that I have one or two memories of wincing when I heard it. I still have it on my shelves, so I'll give it another go. It seemed a shame when it was such a rare opportunity to hear an unknown English composer, but like you, I went for it on stylistic grounds. Maybe the odd rough note gives an authentic idea of provincial 18th century bands!

[Bryn]

Thanks for the Seascapes tip, Mahlerei. I've just ordered it (new) via amazon.co.uk for £6.25 incl. p&p.

[Bryn]

Check out the comments appended to that review, vinteuil, especially the most recent one which I quoted a couple of minutes before your most recent message.

Oh, and I have just checked the tracking on my order. It has been passed to the Royal Mail at Ridgmont Bedfordshire. The very fact that the package is being sent by traceable delivery looks encouraging, don't you think?

With cunning Royal Mail efficiency, my package has now travelled from Beds. to the National Distribution Centre in Notts., then to the South West Distribution Centre in Bristol before being sent back across country to Bracknell Forest. No wonder it's expected to take 2 days to get from Bedfordshire to here. Apparently it's all in the name of efficiency and fuel saving.

[Mahlerei]

Thanks for the Seascapes tip, Mahlerei. I've just ordered it (new) via amazon.co.uk for £6.25 incl. p&p.

You are very welcome. A steal at that price, too.

[MickyD]

Well, I've just received my 21 CD box, so Amazon have kept their part of the deal as far as I am concerned - what a bargain!

[MickyD]

It must be the season for bargains on Amazon - I've also just managed to get hold of that Brilliant Classics 7CD box of the Glazunov symphonies for under £9!

My CD player will be working overtime this week.

[gradus]

Reine Gianoli in Schumann Carnival, Arabesque and Waldszenen. She was mentioned on another thread otherwise I hadn't come across her before - my loss. Musical, agile affectionate Schumann playing that reminds me of Wilhelm Kempff. Well worth a try.

[Dave2002]

MickyD

You did say under £9 for the Polyansky Glazunov set - I think it's something like £8.79 right now. May I also recommend the downloads from Amazon by Fedoseyev. The recordings are quite a bit coarser, as is the playing on occasion, but I do feel there's more life than in Polyansky's eet. There are a couple of packages - one around £4, the other round £5 - not much in it, except that one has some marches, and one is mostly just the symphonies.

I know others have recommended Polyansky, but I can't say I play that set much. Otaka's BIS set is also good, and was available as a very cheap download (hmv?) at one time - around £8 - not sure now. I was so pleased with it I bought the CDs as well. Yondani Butt did a few on ASV - very hard to get now - though the 6th is now available on Regis for around £5. Sererbrier's set is worth having, but pricey. There are others - e.g Svetlanov, Golovanov.

Would be interested to know how you like them all.

I really do recommend the Fedoseyev download - and at the price ....

[Dave2002]

Thanks for the Seascapes tip, Mahlerei. I've just ordered it (new) via amazon.co.uk for £6.25 incl. p&p.

I made it £6.24 from Naxos Direct via Amazon, but it looks as though it might be the CD version. Are you sure it's an SACD? There are SACD (Hybrid) copies but according to the listings they come in at £10 plus from market place people. If I'm right you might want to review your order.

[Bryn]

I made it £6.24 from Naxos Direct via Amazon, but it looks as though it might be the CD version. Are you sure it's an SACD? There are SACD (Hybrid) copies but according to the listings they come in at £10 plus from market place people. If I'm right you might want to review your order.

£4.99 + £1.26 = £6.25. See the first of the five marketplace "New" items. If what arrive is the CD version, I will demand the correct product as listed.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Well, I've just received my 21 CD box, so Amazon have kept their part of the deal as far as I am concerned - what a bargain!

It looks as if the 21 CD set is mine too. Royal Mail tried to deliver today, but the packet was 'too large for my letterbox'. Sounds promising. I see they no longer attach an Amazon price to that page, only marketplace sellers, so it looks like they've 'twigged'.

Good job it's my day off tomorrow...

That BIS Seascapes SACD is a cracker, especially at the prices being offered at Amazon at the moment. I'm pretty sure it was only ever issued on SACD.

My Haitink/ Concertgebouw Alpensinfonie bargain arrived today, so I'll be giving that a spin later this evening.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Latest bargain purchases (code for 'charity-shop') have been a sampler for the NYPO's set of historic broadcasts 1923-87 [lots of interesting samples - wish I could afford $150 (original NYPO price) or £250 (UK Amazon Marketplace) for the whole thing] and Pascal Roge's 2-CD set of Ravel piano music (99p for each item). So great joy....

...until I got the latter home and found CD 2 of the Ravel is is in fact Moura Lympany's Best-loved Piano Classics2!!!!!!

So a whole 99p completely wasted!

[Dave2002]

Bryn

I'll defer to your presumably better eyesight. I thought it was £1.25 postage. I assume it was the same one - but the one I looked at did not specifically say SACD. I did search for it by looking for Seascape+Amazon+SACD - can't remember whether I had to do the redirect from the US site, or simply added +UK to the search.

Good luck with this. If you get the SACD version at that price, then please let us all know, and we can all pile in. I did think the details only specified CD at at that price, and I don''t know if that disc comes in multiple versions. I know that Mahlerei and others have recommended it highly in the past, but so far I've not bought it.

Incidentally, do you often play SACDs as SACDs? Most also work in CD players - though I may have one or two which are SACD only. I got so p***d off with the business that they can't be ripped to high quality audio files that I have rather lost interest, though I do have a number of DVD Audio discs which can be ripped (- and also played through amps etc using an optical link - see rant below ...!).

My SACD(/DVD/CD) player is OK, but even though it's got an optical output, that get's switched off when SACDs are played. That means that there's little incentive for me to reconfigure my system to play through multiple amplifiers or an AV amplifer, so most of the time I just play them as CDs. I agree that the quality of SACD is better, but I really feel the **** industry has made a wonderful mistake by this. Sure, they've made pretty sure that they're not going to get ripped off too much by people copying SACDs, but they've also made pretty sure that no-one will be bothered to buy the darn things! Oh - I do know about the HDMI outputs, but even there the industry seems to be screwing up, with not all kit supporting the relevant HDMI standards for output and correspondingly, inputs.

[MickyD]

MickyD

You did say under £9 for the Polyansky Glazunov set - I think it's something like £8.79 right now. May I also recommend the downloads from Amazon by Fedoseyev. The recordings are quite a bit coarser, as is the playing on occasion, but I do feel there's more life than in Polyansky's eet. There are a couple of packages - one around £4, the other round £5 - not much in it, except that one has some marches, and one is mostly just the symphonies.

I know others have recommended Polyansky, but I can't say I play that set much. Otaka's BIS set is also good, and was available as a very cheap download (hmv?) at one time - around £8 - not sure now. I was so pleased with it I bought the CDs as well. Yondani Butt did a few on ASV - very hard to get now - though the 6th is now available on Regis for around £5. Sererbrier's set is worth having, but pricey. There are others - e.g Svetlanov, Golovanov.

Would be interested to know how you like them all.

I really do recommend the Fedoseyev download - and at the price ....

Dave 2002 - I'm looking forward to exploring the Glazunov symphonies, which I really don't know. I was attracted to this set by other messageboarders some weeks ago, as well as by the incredible price offered by Amazon. It seemed worth a punt, and I will indeed let you know what I think of it. Thanks for the download info, but I fear I won't be giving those a go, being something of a technophobe and wedded to the CD format.