EMI Icon Series

[amateur51]

Indeed I am. He is a recent discovery for me - it's a wonder I've never seen his name featured more in the classical press or in forums such as this considering his expansive repertoire.

Thanks for the tip.

Here's the chap we're talking about in Debussy ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evU5ubgtRXA

and in Chopin ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKgX5HNEAFo

Pretty much irresistible, I think

[vinteuil]

I don't have time to listen to everything. .

... I know the feeling. But how many years do you have ahead of you?

I'm 61. But I might have five - ten - twenty - thirty years of listening ahead of me. So one day I might get round to listening to those unplayed CDs / boxes - Roussel? Medtner?? Vaughan Williams [ ] ???? - Think of it as a resource, a potential investment. Like laying down nice wines....

I did get the Poulenc. it may be many years before I dip in...

[amateur51]

... I know the feeling. But how many years do you have ahead of you?

I'm 61. But I might have five - ten - twenty - thirty years of listening ahead of me. So one day I might get round to listening to those unplayed CDs / boxes - Roussel? Medtner?? Vaughan Williams [ ] ???? - Think of it as a resource, a potential investment. Like laying down nice wines....

I did get the Poulenc. it may be many years before I dip in...

[Parry1912]

I don't have time to listen to everything.

Now, what kind of attitude is that for someone on this forum!

For every box or CD which may end up at a high ebay or Amazon used price there are almost certainly many others which go to charity shops, boot sales or even landfill.

Landfill! (shudder)

Don't even say it! I'll have nightmares.

[Dave2002]

Now, what kind of attitude is that for someone on this forum!



Landfill! (shudder)

Don't even say it! I'll have nightmares.

A friend of mine had some rather nice LPs. After trying charity shops etc. he put them in the bin.

Not sure, in hindsight, whether I'm sorry. I would have taken them, but than I'd have had to look after them etc., or be faced with the same decisions later on. I still have almost all my LPs. Arguably, fortunately, he didn't know I might have been interested, and I didn't know beforehand about his disposal plans.

[Parry1912]

It's alright. I won't lose any sleep over LPs.

[pastoralguy]

... I know the feeling. But how many years do you have ahead of you?

I'm 61. But I might have five - ten - twenty - thirty years of listening ahead of me. So one day I might get round to listening to those unplayed CDs / boxes - Roussel? Medtner?? Vaughan Williams [ ] ???? - Think of it as a resource, a potential investment. Like laying down nice wines....

I did get the Poulenc. it may be many years before I dip in...

Yes, that's my attitude as well. One day, sometime in the future, I'll open the cellophane on these glorious boxed set that contain so many treasures that I used to drool over in Lp form in Rae Macintosh when I was teenager back in the 70's. now I'm buying them 'cheap as chips' on cd.

[BBMmk2]

how very true. A friend of mine and myself have found out that we have some collectables, and are quite glad of having them too!

[Barbirollians]

A new one in October a Christian Ferras set .

[Conchis]

I picked up the Karl Bohm set last month for 19 euros on Amazon Italia. 19 discs, all of them superb.

[richardfinegold]

Toscanini

I just received a Berglund/Bournemouth box. It has 11 discs of non Sibelius material, which I already owned. Lots of Shostakovich, but quite a bit more Nordic Music that is unknown to me so I’m looking forward to that.
I’m curious about a Toscanini box. It features the BBC Orchestra all pre war recordings. My Toscanini is limited to NBC SO. I had heard some of these on a radio show years ago in pretty murky sound, but restoration engineering has come a long way. There is a label called Immortal Performances which has won high praise for reissuing the same material, but the price difference between this and the Icon box is considerable. The IP discs are issued singly and the sale price of the Icon box is the same as one of the IP discs. Is anyone familiar with the Toscanini Icon box?

[Conchis]

Not familiar with the Toscanini box but I know the Icon series fairly well.

The Icon boxes have evoked mixed opinions from listeners - just look at Amazon reviews to see what I mean. Supposedly, little care was taken with 'historical' (ie, 78rpm) recordings. I have the Michaelangelo Benedetti box and there are plenty of clicks. pops and scratches on the 78 items in there - that may bother you more than it bothers some people, perhaps.

Hst, I have a feeling Keith Hardwick remastered the Toscanini EMI catalogue in the early 90s, so these will probably be the remasterings in the box. If the box has been reviewed by Amazon reviewer John Fowler, you might be able to obtain more information.

[Petrushka]

I have the BBCSO/Toscanini Beethoven 1 & 4 from 1937 and 1939 on the Dutton label (re-mastered in 1996) and they sound very good indeed. By way of contrast, the Karl Böhm Icon box has been very poorly re-mastered, if it's been done at all. The booklet states that 'each recording has been painstakingly re-mastered in 24-bit/96kHz sound, using the best available sources, by Art & son, Paris'. The ones that sound the best are those already issued by someone else (eg Profil) but the rest are unacceptably bad.

Did anyone at Warner not notice?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I haven't heard the issues in the Icon box, but I had those pre-War BBCSO recordings on LP getting on for 40 years ago. They are superb performances and the recording quality was astonishingly good. I greatly prefer Toscanini's recordings from before the War (with the NYPO, too) to those with the NBC: they're fiery and passionate without the ferocity and aggression (of sound and performance) that gets in the way of my enjoyment of those later recordings - and which cheapens the Musical experience for me.

And, my goodness (which, admittedly, ain't much) around £2 a disc from some sellers:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B00AFARIZA

[Conchis]

I have the BBCSO/Toscanini Beethoven 1 & 4 from 1937 and 1939 on the Dutton label (re-mastered in 1996) and they sound very good indeed. By way of contrast, the Karl Böhm Icon box has been very poorly re-mastered, if it's been done at all. The booklet states that 'each recording has been painstakingly re-mastered in 24-bit/96kHz sound, using the best available sources, by Art & son, Paris'. The ones that sound the best are those already issued by someone else (eg Profil) but the rest are unacceptably bad.

Did anyone at Warner not notice?

I've had the Bohm Icon box since the summer but have only played it all through once. I didn't think the sound was 'unacceptably bad' at all: it was pretty much what I expected, in fact. I think there have always been 'sound issues' with the Dresden recordings (long OOP) on that box.