Bargains

[vinteuil]

Stefano Molardi's CDs of Bach organ music [four separate boxes] will be released next month as a cheapo (some £38) 15 CD box by brilliant.

I think these are stunning performances.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0141OZ13G

... even cheaper at some 31 euros on amazon.de

http://www.amazon.de/dp/B0141OZ13G

[gurnemanz]

I decided I would like to have the 11CD Fischer-Dieskau/Moore Salzburg recitals on Orfeo. As sometimes happens, for whatever obscure reason, there is a big discrepancy in different Amazon prices. At Amazon UK it is £51.85, (cheaper than Presto at £62.75) but at Amazon.de, I snapped it up a few minutes ago for 34.06 Euro (£28.80 delivered). I thought this was a bit of a bargain worth posting here but behold! when I try to link back to it a few minutes later the price has risen to 106.62 Euro. Half way through writing it this post started in good faith as a bargain indicator has been rendered useless except to give another example of the vagaries of Amazon pricing tactics.

[hafod]

I decided I would like to have the 11CD Fischer-Dieskau/Moore Salzburg recitals on Orfeo. As sometimes happens, for whatever obscure reason, there is a big discrepancy in different Amazon prices. At Amazon UK it is £51.85, (cheaper than Presto at £62.75) but at Amazon.de, I snapped it up a few minutes ago for 34.06 Euro (£28.80 delivered). I thought this was a bit of a bargain worth posting here but behold! when I try to link back to it a few minutes later the price has risen to 106.62 Euro. Half way through writing it this post started in good faith as a bargain indicator has been rendered useless except to give another example of the vagaries of Amazon pricing tactics.

Can't beat €34 but AmIt has it for €41.

http://www.amazon.it/Salzburger-Liederabende-1956-1965-Dietrich-Fischer-Dieskau/dp/B0009VYPG0/

[cloughie]

Not sure whether to post here or on new releases - since strictly it may not be a bargain, and it is a re-release of older recordings.

Ormandy Sibelius set to be released in October - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...h_co_p15_d7_i4

8 CDs about £18.

Maybe cheaper elsewhere eventually - but could be good anyway. There may also be another box (or boxes ...) already which contain/s these works - hard to keep up these days.

Contains two each of 1 2 & 7, no 3 or 6 and none of the fifties mono recordings, but good value nevertheless.

[teamsaint]

http://www.selections.com/puccini-the-operas-13cds.html

£8.50 delivered.

any opinions?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

http://www.selections.com/puccini-the-operas-13cds.html
£8.50 delivered.
any opinions?

No better Boheme, Tosca, Butterfly, "Triptych" or Turandot, and an enticing Fanciulla. 1950s recordings (but all Stereo): REGIS has a mixed reputation for the quality of their reissues - but at £8.50 they'd have to be really naff re-edits not to be irresistable.


(IIRC Dave2002 was thinking about getting this a couple of years ago, when the 13 discs cost all of a pound each!)

[teamsaint]

No better Boheme, Tosca, Butterfly, "Triptych" or Turandot, and an enticing Fanciulla. 1950s recordings (but all Stereo): REGIS has a mixed reputation for the quality of their reissues - but at £8.50 they'd have to be really naff re-edits not to be irresistable.


(IIRC Dave2002 was thinking about getting this a couple of years ago, when the 13 discs cost all of a pound each!)

Thanks Ferney.
in that case ,it seems kind of rude not to....

[Conchis]

Thanks Ferney.
in that case ,it seems kind of rude not to....

I think all of those are available for one euro each as downloads at Classical Music Mobile: for those that like downloads, that is.

Hard to argue with the contents of that set.

[teamsaint]

I think all of those are available for one euro each as downloads at Classical Music Mobile: for those that like downloads, that is.

Hard to argue with the contents of that set.

I think CMM is in cold storage, Conchy.
Didn't use it much, but there was some good stuff on there.
I got the set of 4 Bloch Quartets fora Euro.

New copyright extensions did for the site AFAIK.

[Conchis]

I think CMM is in cold storage, Conchy.
Didn't use it much, but there was some good stuff on there.
I got the set of 4 Bloch Quartets fora Euro.

New copyright extensions did for the site AFAIK.

The fact that this is news to me shows you how often I used it.

At one point, it was the only place where you could get hold of Kempe's Meistersingers recording.

[Radio64]

Hello.

Can anyone recommend/not recommend this..?:

http://www.amazon.it/Sibelius-recordings-Sep-1976-1981/dp/B00JDB4BS4

thanks.

edit: or this: http://www.amazon.it/Orchestral-reco.../dp/B00JX4IDL2

[Conchis]

I don't have either of those sets so can't comment on these iterations, but I have all of the recordings in the Sibelius box. i can vouch for their excellence, although Karajan's EMI recordings of this period are criticised for their eccentric sound balances. From what I've heard, the most recent remastering (which will be included here) have gone some way to address those issues.

thanks.

edit: or this: http://www.amazon.it/Orchestral-reco.../dp/B00JX4IDL2[/QUOTE]

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I don't have either of those sets so can't comment on these iterations, but I have all of the recordings in the Sibelius box. i can vouch for their excellence, although Karajan's EMI recordings of this period are criticised for their eccentric sound balances. From what I've heard, the most recent remastering (which will be included here) have gone some way to address those issues.

Some astonishing Music-making in these sets.

[Dave2002]

Some astonishing Music-making in these sets.

Maybe, but aren't some of the recordings/performances the same as the large (80+) Karajan sets from EMI? My view is that possibly there are other versions of much of the material which Karajan did better in other recordings, and also that there are other versions by other conductors/orchestras which have in some (many?) cases superseded them. So, in the case of the Sibelius box, I wouldn't necessarily suggest it as a first choice for anyone wanting a set of Sibelius symphonies, but it's probably a solid enough set to have for someone who has already got other versions. I'm guessing that the version of the 4th is not the one which many reckoned at the time was the best ever - though since Warner have taken over several of the major catalogues - it may be. I think the icy cold one was on DG, and that may have been the one which many others liked above most other versions.

I was never a great Karajan enthusiast, though by the time I'd decided he really was worth hearing it was impossible to get into his concerts, or he cancelled, and then he died.

Some of his recorded performances are, however, superb - such as several versions of Beethoven's 9th (even the late digital one), and recordings of Bruckner 8 and Mahler 9 (DG), and his DG Schumann symphonies and i'd put them ahead of most of the "competition". Most of those were on DG, rather than on EMI - though in the case of the Bruckner 8 there is perhaps not a lot to choose between the EMI and DG versions.

[Conchis]

His Philharmonia recordings, many of which are in mono, still seem to be critically preferred to this day.

The DG 4th was disparagingly described by one critic (I think) as 'a wild and chilly Scandinavian landscape as seen from the windows of a warm limousine' (sic). Despite that, I'd still rate HvK's 60s Sibelius recordings as his best.