Bargains

[Dave2002]

Recently noted another few cheapies on the Selections site:

http://www.selections.com/catalogsea.../?cat=&q=Katin Peter Katin playing Schumann piano concerto on an Everest derived CD - 50p
LSO Goossens.

Mozart serenades - http://www.selections.com/mozart-serenades-11-12.html even cheaper - 25p. Also Everest derived. I have this one already - another decent but not outstanding version. Stocking filler or tombola or raffle prize for a music society maybe

Guitar duets - http://www.selections.com/guitar-due...ntic-2cds.html 99p - really not sure if that's any good.

Sometimes it's possible to find things by using the Search on a site, such as for the last CD mentioned.

Try composer's names, artist's names, recording company names, names of pieces and see what comes up. Sometimes one hits interesting things. Put in "Albany" for the company name, and there are a lot at 25p - though perhaps deservedly so for a UK market. "Regis" also gets a fair number of hits.

Martin Tirimo's piano recordings are rather good and worth watching out for.

I don't have the message re Biret yet, AFAIK. Normally this pattern of messages is not inspiring, but the Puccini set I ordered did eventually arrive, a year or two later.

[johnb]

Decca's 20 disc Monteux box is 47.99 Euros from Amazon Italy (the price on Amazon UK is £99.81).

https://www.amazon.it/Decca-Recordings-Johann-Sebastian-Bach/dp/B01DTM2UQM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467413764&sr=8-1&keywords=B01DTM2UQM

[Dave2002]

Amazon Prime users might want to watch out for 12 th July - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...he-best-deals/

In the meantime there is a delay in the delivery of the Berlioz L'Enfance du Christ SACD with the Swedish RSO conducted by Robin Ticciati which was in the 2 for £10 offer recently.
Most of the others I ordered seem to have arrived. The Idl Biret collection is still on hold ......

[Bryn]

Amazon Prime users might want to watch out for 12 th July - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...he-best-deals/

In the meantime there is a delay in the delivery of the Berlioz L'Enfance du Christ SACD with the Swedish RSO conducted by Robin Ticciati which was in the 2 for £10 offer recently. ...

Picked mine up from its delivery point on Friday, along with the Beethoven Violin Sonatas box.

[hafod]

Picked mine up from its delivery point on Friday, along with the Beethoven Violin Sonatas box.

Mine arrived 10 days ago so clearly a run started on this once it was flagged up on here.

Meanwhile, scrolling rapidly through my Amazon wishlists just now I found a number of boxes reduced to £12.99. A quick search revealed a number of others although this is not (as far as I can see) an identifiable special offer.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_p_36_5?rnid=389088011&rh=n%3A229816%2Cn%3A%21520920%2Cn%3A697386%2Cp_n_binding_browse-bin%3A382528011%2Cp_6%3AA3P5ROKL5A1OLE%2Cp_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A382534011%2Cp_76%3A419159031&unfiltered=1&qid=1467445818&bbn=697386&low-price=12.99&high-price=12.99&x=14&y=11

I went for the Hagen/Mozart, Haebler/Schubert and Bruckner/Celi boxes that were already on my wish lists.

Repeating the exercise at other price points (notably £10.99 although this was flooded with Membran boxes) quickly threw up other worthwhile reductions, while at £9.99 there are the Bruggen/Schubert Symphonies and Furtwangler Live Recordings (42-44) vol 1 on DG.

[Dave2002]

What's Janowski's Ring like? Although I'm not fanatical about Wagner, £12.99 for a set of 14 CDs seems like a bargain to me.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

What's Janowski's Ring like? Although I'm not fanatical about Wagner, £12.99 for a set of 14 CDs seems like a bargain to me.

Very, very good, Dave! No hesitation in recommending that you invest in it - good recorded sound, good orchestral playing, good conducting, and good singing. (The Wotan of Theo Adam possibly the weakest link in this respect, but even so, he's in much better voice here in the studio than he was 15 years earlier on stage in Böhm's recorded cycle.)

[Petrushka]

Very, very good, Dave! No hesitation in recommending that you invest in it - good recorded sound, good orchestral playing, good conducting, and good singing. (The Wotan of Theo Adam possibly the weakest link in this respect, but even so, he's in much better voice here in the studio than he was 15 years earlier on stage in Böhm's recorded cycle.)

Agree with all of this. Beware though, as there are no texts or translations included so you will have to source from elsewhere.

[hafod]

What's Janowski's Ring like? Although I'm not fanatical about Wagner, £12.99 for a set of 14 CDs seems like a bargain to me.

It is only a bargain if you want it. However, since cheapness seems to be a major criterion then try the box below which includes the Janowski Ring at £19 for 40 cds. The downside is that the rest of the box is also all Wagner and you are not fanatical about Wagner.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Richard-Wagner-Great-Recordings-Various/dp/B00A2JTEHY/ref=sr_1_47?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1467538571&sr=1-47

Seriously though, read the reviews in the link and note the controversy about splicing in an extract in Parsifal from a different performance apparently now corrected which begs the question whether this is old or new stock. No doubt our Wagner experts can comment authoritatively on this box although I am sure it has been discussed before.

Re #6200, here is a more complete list. The Boulez 20th Century box at £54 looks tempting.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search/ref=sr_il_to_popular?fst=as%3Aoff&rh=n%3A229816%2Cn%3A%21425604031%2Cn%3A%21425606031%2Cn%3A10704940031%2Cp_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A382534011&bbn=10704940031&sort=price-asc-rank&ie=UTF8&qid=1467540857&lo=none#/ref=sr_st_price-desc-rank?lo=none&fst=as%3Aoff&rh=n%3A229816%2Cn%3A!425604031%2Cn%3A!425606031%2Cn%3A10704940031%2Cp_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A382534011&qid=1467540900&bbn=10704940031&sort=price-desc-rank

[Dave2002]

I wasn't expecting that. The somewhat larger box has a few extra performances which might be worth hearing, so for the extra £6 (approx) could be worthwhile. I do like the Flying Dutchman - though I don't know the version in this box by Levine - I know Keilberth's which I have on LPs. However, Keilberth's Mastersingers is in there, so for an extra few pounds this could be worth a punt - and I've hit the button on that.

I might revise my opinion on Wagner (though I'm not sure I will) next week after ENO's Tristan. I planned to go to Longborough's Tannhäuser, but in the end was unable to go. Friends who went said it was very good.

[Conchis]

I wasn't expecting that. The somewhat larger box has a few extra performances which might be worth hearing, so for the extra £6 (approx) could be worthwhile. I do like the Flying Dutchman - though I don't know the version in this box by Levine - I know Keilberth's which I have on LPs. However, Keilberth's Mastersingers is in there, so for an extra few pounds this could be worth a punt - and I've hit the button on that.

I might revise my opinion on Wagner (though I'm not sure I will) next week after ENO's Tristan. I planned to go to Longborough's Tannhäuser, but in the end was unable to go. Friends who went said it was very good.

I've had this box for a couple of years. It's not bad and for the price I acquired it (even less than the current offer), it was definitely a bargain.

I DO like Wagner (a lot) and these performances are culled from the current Sony archives. Columbia didn't record much Wagner, so the set is supplemented with items from Sony's acquired catalogues (BMG, etc). None of the complete operas are catalogue-beaters, though none are actually bad. Some people dislike the Levine Hollander to distraction. The Leinsdorf Lohengrin is one of the best, I'd argue. The Karajan Parsifal is from a radio broadcast and the sound isn't great: it's no competition to Karajan's later studio version.

The best items here are the bits and pieces - the Stokowski/Szell bleeding chunks and (particularly) the Melchior/Traubel recital, which is in great restored sound.

I doubt if you'll regret buying this box, even if you never listen to all of it.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I've had this box for a couple of years. It's not bad and for the price I acquired it (even less than the current offer), it was definitely a bargain.

I DO like Wagner (a lot) and these performances are culled from the current Sony archives. Columbia didn't record much Wagner, so the set is supplanted with items from Sony's acquired catalogues (BMG, etc). None of the complete operas are catalogue-beaters, though none are actually bad. Some people dislike the Levine Hollander to distraction. The Leinsdorf Lohengrin is one of the best, I'd argue. The Karajan Parsifal is from a radio broadcast and the sound isn't great: it's no competition to Karajan's later studio version.

The best items here are the bits and pieces - the Stokowski/Szell bleeding chunks and (particularly) the Melchior/Traubel recital, which is in great restored sound.

I doubt if you'll regret buying this box, even if you never listen to all of it.

I'm one of the "haters to distraction" of Levine's dull Dutchman - and there's no Tristan or Tannhauser - but the box is a real bargain.

[johnb]

Qobuz currently has an offer on BIS Hi-Res (30% off) and Chandos, e.g. the BIS Oramo Nielsen 96/24 "discs" are £8.39.

[Keraulophone]

Further temptations from the Dutton Vocalion stable in their summer sale; among the likes of Acker Bilk and Mantovani can be found 99p offerings of Kreisler, Cortot, Furtwängler, and Rachmanninov conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra in his 3rd Symphony.

While not strictly bargains at £10.99, the Dutton Epoch label offers new recordings of rarely performed symphonies by John Gardner (1985), John Veale (1965) and Havergal Brian's 2nd and 14th. It's sad that so few of John Gardner's 249 opus numbers are performed, apart from the carol 'Tomorrow shall be my Dancing Day' that one hears every Christmas, written for St Paul's Girls' School where he was Director of Music (1962 -75, and the only male member of staff!).

[Dave2002]

The 17 CD set of the Bamberg Symphony's first 70 years is about 35 Euros from Am.it, or around £30 from Am Market Place sellers. - some of them in the EU - so safe re postal/customs charges.

The basic price is over £70 - closer to £80. I don't know whether there is much of interest there - though I recall some very good performances.