New releases

[DublinJimbo]

With the arrival of the new month, Hyperion gives advance notice of releases due in March. Pick of these must be Gerald Finley's Winterreise, with Julius Drake on piano.

I'll be grabbing that as soon as it's available.

[richardfinegold]

With the arrival of the new month, Hyperion gives advance notice of releases due in March. Pick of these must be Gerald Finley's Winterreise, with Julius Drake on piano.

I'll be grabbing that as soon as it's available.

It does sound promising, and I await your review. What is your current favorite Winterreise?

[Barbirollians]

I have just been listening to Anne Sophie Mutter's new recording of the Dvorak Violin Concerto with the BPO and Honeck . Apparently , this is her first recording with the BPO since the days of Karajan .

David Gutman accuses her over of calculation in Gramophone ( bought a copy to read on the train yesterday - I hate the texture of the cover paper -feels like a nail on a blackboard sounds) . I couldn't disagree more . The only element of calculation is that she has been very careful to stress the Czech rhythms and play the tunes idiomatically rather than applying a broad brush romantic gloop to the concerto .

It is magnificent - one wonders whether the accompaniment might have been a touch warmer had Andris Nelsons who with the CBSO accompanied her so marvellously in Birmingham in September but it is a truly thrilling account of the work and up there with Suk/Ancerl as my personal favourite despite the claims of Perlman , Faust and Chung.

The account of the Romance in F Minor is pretty extraordinary too. This a Romance tinged with sadness . Revelatory stuff.

I was pleased to see IGI give this an IRR outstanding this month. It doesn't pale as a performance at all .

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I was pleased to see IGI give this an IRR outstanding this month. It doesn't pale as a performance at all .

The recording seems to been released with precious little fanfare. I came across it quite by chance, browsing on Amazon, where I noticed the whole album was available to download for little over £1. I was so bowled over with the results that I begged our editor to review it... DG hadn't even bothered sending us a copy and we had to request one. A bizarre situation.

I'm glad you evidently enjoyed it just as much as I did, Barbs.

[Dave2002]

There's to be another Living Stereo box - box 2. Details are at http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/deta...2/hnum/3793157
Amazon will have it from February 3rd - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Living-Stere.../dp/B00GP8YHAU Pre-order price £53.99. The box will contain 60 CDs.

This may have been mentioned before, but it seems to only just be surfacing in the UK. I don't know how much of the material contained is really going to be of wide interest now.

[Dave2002]

A new Haitink symphony box is due out soon (around January 20th) - some details here - http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Decca/4786360

Rainforest people will probably have it for around £50. 36 CDs so around £1.40/CD.
I don't know how this compares with other boxes by Haitink issued over the last year or two - and whether there is yet more duplication.

[mathias broucek]

A new Haitink symphony box is due out soon (around January 20th) - some details here - http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Decca/4786360

Rainforest people will probably have it for around £50. 36 CDs so around £1.40/CD.
I don't know how this compares with other boxes by Haitink issued over the last year or two - and whether there is yet more duplication.

Wot, no Mahler 10?

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

A new Haitink symphony box is due out soon (around January 20th) - some details here - http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Decca/4786360

Another new Haitink release forthcoming - his LSO Bruckner 9 is due on LSO Live in early February.

http://www.sa-cd.net/showtitle/9220

[Petrushka]

A new Haitink symphony box is due out soon (around January 20th) - some details here - http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Decca/4786360

Rainforest people will probably have it for around £50. 36 CDs so around £1.40/CD.
I don't know how this compares with other boxes by Haitink issued over the last year or two - and whether there is yet more duplication.

It would have been nice to have had this set before the issue of the Years box. As it is there is just too much duplication for me. Trying to get into the minds of the re-issue bods is an art I've not yet mastered.

[teamsaint]

It would have been nice to have had this set before the issue of the Years box. As it is there is just too much duplication for me. Trying to get into the minds of the re-issue bods is an art I've not yet mastered.

Pet. I would reckon it goes something like this.

Each department, or production cell (or whatever they have) will have a target for the year.
So, if we imagine that DG have a "Box Sets" production unit, the budgets will be set something like this:

2014
20 X 50 Cd sets. Projected revenue £500k
10 X 40 CD sets Revenue £300k
50 X 3 CD sets Revenue £200k

or whatever. That might be how the sales budget is built up before the year, the production cell then has to deliver its allocated quantity of sets, (quite possibly regardless of what else is happening in the business) and hopefully the boxes deliver the cash.

I don't think artistic integrity, sense, thought for the consumer, or a long term view would have much to do with any decision making .

Hope that isn't teaching grandmother how to suck eggs !!........and its just an informed guess anyway.

[Stanley Stewart]

A new Haitink symphony box is due out soon (around January 20th) - some details here - http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Decca/4786360

Rainforest people will probably have it for around £50. 36 CDs so around £1.40/CD.
I don't know how this compares with other boxes by Haitink issued over the last year or two - and whether there is yet more duplication.

Thank you, Dave 2002 for your recommendation. The detailed listing prompted me to pre- order the set on the pretext of a forthcoming birthday indulgence and the treasure trove should be wending its way to me this week. However,a cautionary note. I see that the river people have now adjusted a price hike of almost £18 but, fortunately, my order was confirmed at the original price.

[Stanley Stewart]

Astonished and delighted that the Haitink 'Symphony Edition', including six great symphonic cycles, was delivered, this morning, at the agreed price of £50.

"O Divine music,
Renew our hearts." King Priam

[amateur51]

Astonished and delighted that the Haitink 'Symphony Edition', including six great symphonic cycles, was delivered, this morning, at the agreed price of £50.

"O Divine music,
Renew our hearts." King Priam

Very pleased to read this Stanley - you'll be busy for a while then

[Stanley Stewart]

Thanks, ama. I think that pixilated is the word I'm seeking to describe my weekend indulgences! I started the weekend intrigued by a beguiling film, Museum Hours, on DVD then, listening to The Four Quartets, on Saturday, engulfed myself in a mire as I identified 'time' connections with Museum Hours. Prior to this, I got involved in a DVD of the ENO "Death in Venice" - June 2013 - donated by a friend as it isn't commercially available to date and much time tracking a programme for its invaluable notes with Coliseum staff who went to the trouble of locating their last copy. Makes me wonder how I ever found time to go to work in the past. Still pixilated but somehow content!

[Barbirollians]

Argerich and Abbado in K466 and K503 coming in February .