Liszt complete piano works

[Guest]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004G7FFF8/ref=s9_simh_gw_p15_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0Y0RB3Q0WZVA9EFZ03RD&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

Very expensive but will hopefully go down in time.

[MickyD]

Well, bearing in mind this set consists of 99 discs, the price works out at around £1.75 per disc, which I think is phenomenal value. The price is a lot higher on the Hyperion website. Personally I couldn't imagine myself ever having the time or enthusiasm to listen to 99 discs of Liszt, but if I was a fan I would certainly snap this up without delay.

[Bryn]

A touch under £1.52 per disc, if ordered new from Germany (via amazon marketplace), is hardly "expensive", I'd say.

[Threni]

One to avoid at the moment but it is a nice set. Probably by the time i get to affording it will be out of production. I never really listen to these box sets of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Elgar, Britten so I guess there's no point anyway.

[Roehre]

I am only missing a couple of the "original" releases, and on top of that for me the less interesting ones, as there are the Beethoven symphonies transcriptions (which I've got by Katsaris btw). I enjoyed the Liszt exploration tremendously through the years, and if I only had less than approximately half of these originals I certainly would go for the set.

[Bryn]

I don't think buying such sets is any more compulsory than say, the Sony Stravinsky Edition (£99 in a sale, when I bought it, getting on for two decades ago). In those days it came in a strong plastic holder and had plenty of detailed programme notes and loads of photographs. I have not bought any of the individual discs from Hyperion's Liszt piano music edition. However, I do greatly admire his works, so have placed my order with the German supplier already mentioned.

There is, of course, no point in buying such a set if you don't intend to listen to it.

[mathias broucek]

It's not at all expensive for what it is. But £175 is a lot to spend in one go on CDs!

Am not tempted. Bolet's set with some extra discs from Curzon, (Lazar) Berman, Richter and Brendel is enough Liszt for me!

[BBMmk2]

Well done to Hyperion for an enterprising excursion into the realms of Liszt's piano music and for Leslie Howard for taking on this mammoth task!! Good value per disc, though!!

[hafod]

Personally I couldn't imagine myself ever having the time or enthusiasm to listen to 99 discs of Liszt.

For me, it is not so much 99 discs of Liszt but 99 discs of Leslie Howard as the former is far less of an unknown quantity than the latter. No one pianist dominates the Liszt recordings I have although the Bolet box comes close and for me his approach is not always successful. Views on Leslie Howard the (Liszt) pianist would therefore be most welcome.

[Bryn]

Seven days after I placed my order with "fabulouscd " via amazon.co.uk's marketplace (£150.46 including p&p) it has arrived. To my surprise "fabulouscd" turns out to be a pseudonym for Naxos Global Logistics GmbH.

Sad to report that the lowest price quoted at amazon.co.uk now is their own £172.79.

Oh, and hafod, if you were unaware of Leslie Howard's Liszt performances, I have to doubt your enthusiasm for the composer.

[hafod]

Oh, and hafod, if you were unaware of Leslie Howard's Liszt performances, I have to doubt your enthusiasm for the composer.

I have heard very few of Leslie Howard's Liszt performances hence my request for views. The handful I have heard - notably the B minor sonata and the transcriptions of the Beethoven symphonies - do not for me erase Curzon annd Katsaris respectively. The Hyperion set covers swathes of the composer's output which I have yet to hear much of which has only been recorded by Howard. Therefore as part of my consideration of an investment in the Hyperion box it seemed sensible to elicit views. Instead, my enthusiasm for the composer is 'doubted'. Hmm!

Unlike some, my resources for buying recorded music are very limited so there are huge gaps. Moreover, Liszt has to compete with other composers.

[Roehre]

Well done to Hyperion for an enterprising excursion into the realms of Liszt's piano music and for Leslie Howard for taking on this mammoth task!! Good value per disc, though!!

I'd like to point to the fact that Hyperion at this moment (as it is Liszt's jubilee year) offers all the original CDs for £7.00/CD incl. pp (it means also that Discoveries vol.3 is available for £7.00 as this is a 2CD set for the price of 1 )

[vinteuil]

I'd like to point to the fact that Hyperion at this moment (as it is Liszt's jubilee year) offers all the original CDs for £7.00/CD incl. pp (it means also that Discoveries vol.3 is available for £7.00 as this is a 2CD set for the price of 1 )

so - 99 CDs at £7 - £693.

Even without notes, the box is beginning to sound attractive...

[Roehre]

so - 99 CDs at £7 - £693.

Even without notes, the box is beginning to sound attractive...

It definitely is. I just filled the few gaps in my collection, still far less than the £170-odd which the set costs.

[Bryn]

Although the disc numbering is at variance, all the programme notes (and cover art) can be accessed and saved from the Hyperion site in pdf format. It just takes a while to access and save each of volume's.