Unplayed CDs - confess your guilt!

[Barbirollians]

I have just started listening to Les Troyens on this cold and vilely wet evening .

Judging by CD 1 it is a a fabulous performance . Get them out of the box LMP !

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I have a SACD that is not a hybrid, with nothing to play it on. Does that count?

[Bryn]

I have a SACD that is not a hybrid, with nothing to play it on. Does that count?

Well I must admit that I bought my very first CD (Beethoven's 9th - LCP, Norrington) a few months before I got my first CD player. I had already bought the LP.

[Flosshilde]

I am 39 and tell myself that I'll have more time to listen to x, y and z when the kids leave home (they're 2 and 4) or when I retire! ... Am I kidding myself?

I'm afraid you might be - even if you don't die You'll be spending your retirement years looking after the grandchildren - or if your children are too young to have settled down & have children of their own after uni they'll be so saddled with debt that they'll be back living with you. Apart from that you'll be busy volunteering at the local charity shop (filtering out the decent classical CDs before they hit the shelves). & don't forget that if you are 39 now you probably won't be retiring until you're 75 - if you're lucky.


Just can't wait for your retirement, I bet

[Barbirollians]

No wonder that Trojans won all those prizes - it is superbly conducted , played and sung . It is a work unknown to me and had I known what a marvellous piece it was I would have fallen over myself to get a ticket to the ROH revival .

I never knew how much Wagner owed to Berlioz until tonight .

[David-G]

No wonder that Trojans won all those prizes - it is superbly conducted , played and sung . It is a work unknown to me and had I known what a marvellous piece it was I would have fallen over myself to get a ticket to the ROH revival .

I never knew how much Wagner owed to Berlioz until tonight .

Welcome to the ranks of "Les Troyens" devotees! (I have to confess that I saw it twice at Covent Garden, and again at the Proms.)

Might I ask which set you have?

[Barbirollians]

The LSO Live Davis referred to in LMP's first post as his copy being unopened for 10 years !

[gurnemanz]

Welcome to the ranks of "Les Troyens" devotees! (I have to confess that I saw it twice at Covent Garden, and again at the Proms.)

Might I ask which set you have?

I know the question was addressed to someone else, so excuse me interposing, but I think I might have recently become a devotee. I acquired the Trojans in the Colin Davis Berlioz 200th anniversary box which came out in 2003, but will confess to never having listened to it - properly, that is, rather than just dipping in. We got tickets for the Prom on the first day of booking, prompted partly by by wife's admiration for Jonas Kaufmann but mainly because it seemed like a great opportunity to get to know the work. We had a great evening despite Herr Kaufmann's indisposition. I really must now make a point of playing the discs.

[David-G]

The LSO Live Davis referred to in LMP's first post as his copy being unopened for 10 years !

Thanks, I somehow missed that post. I was in the Barbican for this, it was memorable!

There are some compelling excerpts on youtube from Gardiner's performances at the Chatelet in Paris in 2003, with the wonderful Anna Caterina Antonacci. She is a great actress. Try this as an example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_6iekClmZQ

Or this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RohIu...eature=related

Absolutely gripping.

And Gurnemanz, welcome likewise to the ranks.

[Richard Tarleton]

All this talk of actuarial life expectancy after retirement is making me nervous, I'm retiring next month. But I have plenty of plans for keeping busy

I have the LSO live Trojans, well listened-to (I heard it in the Barbican in 2000), and also the earlier Davis Philips recording with Vickers and the marvellous Josephine Veasey. I saw that live in 1972, with Vickers, but for that run Veasey sang Cassandra and Janet Baker was Dido.

But, back to thread - also in the bargain Philips box alongside Trojans are Benvenuto Cellini and Beatrice and Benedict - the former unplayed, the latter only the heavenly Nuit paisable et serene duet at the end of Act One listened to. It's a lovely opera (I saw the WNO production a few years ago) but for some reason I don't like listening to dialogue on CD...

Nuit paisable, Nuit d'ivresse....two of Berlioz's most glorious creations. Endlessly, sensuously intertwining voices....

[Barbirollians]

Most of the Shostakovh Petrenko series - as much as I admire Shostakovich I seldom feel like listening to his music.

[Conchis]

I've had a copy of the acclaimed Entartete Musik series set of Korngold's Das Wunder der Heliane' since 2007 and have yet to listen to a note of it.

[mathias broucek]

I've had a copy of the acclaimed Entartete Musik series set of Korngold's Das Wunder der Heliane' since 2007 and have yet to listen to a note of it.

It's gorgeous! (Assuming you like that kind of lush, chromatic style.)

Was anyone else at the British Premiere not that long ago?

[richardfinegold]

I found an album of guitar music on my shelves in the original shrink wrap with a purchase date of 2003. It's pretty good; I put it in the car CD player and it's been there for the last few weeks, making up for lost time.
With these large box sets that have been released at fire sale prices in the last few years, I have many that I have only partially listened to--particularly the big Mercury Boxes

[Barbirollians]

the Nott Bamberg Mahler 7 is also in the pile .