What CD, book, DVD etc are you waiting for?

[Pulcinella]

Taking the 'etc' to include printed music, I have ordered as a Christmas present to myself a copy of the study score of complete Pulcinella, rather than just the suite, not before time.
I don't know how I've lived without it for so long: some of the bits that didn't make it into the suite are exquisite. Sadly (for me) some of the singers on the recordings I've got are not!
I'd love there to be a decent BaL on the work, in both its (main) forms; some hope!

Perhaps one for our own Summer series.

[Bryn]

Big box from the mailvan, thanks ts and HD for the steer

My set delivered few minutes ago, the Royal Mail deliverer struggling somewhat, due to the weight. Not so much a coffee tabletop item as itself a coffee table. A quite amazing bargain, even for someone with an equivocal opinion of Karajan, such as mine. My set is number 1779,

[vinteuil]

My set delivered few minutes ago...

... no such luck here : the amazon site says 'despatched Wednesday' but royal mail tracking indicates that they haven't yet received it...

Not a good feeling

.

[Petrushka]

My set delivered few minutes ago, the Royal Mail deliverer struggling somewhat, due to the weight. Not so much a coffee tabletop item as itself a coffee table. A quite amazing bargain, even for someone with an equivocal opinion of Karajan, such as mine. My set is number 1779,

Had I not already got the Karajan 60s, 70s and 80s boxes I'd have been in the market for this bargain. As it is, I'd feel very suspicious of the extraordinarily cheap price. How on earth can the seller make any kind of money out of it? Are all the discs present and correct as far as you are able to tell?

[teamsaint]

Had I not already got the Karajan 60s, 70s and 80s boxes I'd have been in the market for this bargain. As it is, I'd feel very suspicious of the extraordinarily cheap price. How on earth can the seller make any kind of money out of it? Are all the discs present and correct as far as you are able to tell?

i've done some spot checks, and nothing missing so far.
Could have been bankrupt stock, ( bit unlikely as it's only been available a few weeks), or more likely a pricing error.
It could have been a a distributor raising cash in a hurry, but this is also a bit unlikely.
Unless of course it really has bombed sales wise, which is not impossible, in which case some heavy discounting for bulk might have gone on. You do wonder exactly how many people really want this set, , since as you say, it really just replicates exisitng sets that are easily available, and adds in a nice new book. £650 is a big price to pay for a nice looking hardback book..........plus these monster sets really aren't terribly user friendly.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Yes - ts sums up why I didn't go for the box even at the extraordinary discount price.

[Bryn]

If the giant coffee table/foot stool box is a problem, just take the sleeved discs out and line them up on a shelf. I may well do just that myself. As to the replication of the content of earlier big boxes (!960's etc.) they appear to be commanding around double what I paid for the 1960's and Opera boxes when they came out. Even with Amazon or Ebay taking their cut, the sale of those two boxes might well pay for the compete set.

[pastoralguy]

I have to admit that I thought the '60's, 70's & 80's' sets would be the last word on Karajan from DG but absolutely not it would seem. I wonder how long it'll be until Polygram can package these recordings again.

[HighlandDougie]

... no such luck here : the amazon site says 'despatched Wednesday' but royal mail tracking indicates that they haven't yet received it...

Not a good feeling

.

Vints

Forgive me if I'm teaching my granny etc etc but I assume that you have fed the tracking number into the Royal Mail system, as opposed to clicking on it in the Amazon e-mail? I'm in France but one of my neighbours has wheeled the box into my Scottish house - they tried to deliver it yesterday. So despatched Wednesday and then took 48 hours, which is rather faster than I was expecting. Amazon is still showing it as being "in transit".

[vinteuil]

Vints

Forgive me if I'm teaching my granny etc etc but I assume that you have fed the tracking number into the Royal Mail system, as opposed to clicking on it in the Amazon e-mail? I'm in France but one of my neighbours has wheeled the box into my Scottish house - they tried to deliver it yesterday. So despatched Wednesday and then took 48 hours, which is rather faster than I was expecting. Amazon is still showing it as being "in transit".

... yep, it's the royal mail tracking which is saying that "The sender has let us know this item will be with us soon. - The sender has advised us they're preparing your item. More information will be available when we receive it."

I might chase the supplier on Monday...

[Bryn]

... no such luck here : the amazon site says 'despatched Wednesday' but royal mail tracking indicates that they haven't yet received it...

Not a good feeling

.

Have you contacted Brown's Books via the "contact the seller" link on the Amazon tracking page? If it has indeed been sent, they can chase it with Royal Mail.

The tracking offered at the Amazon site still shows mine as on its way, not even yet out for delivery. This despite it having been delivered around 10 a.m. today. I was a little surprised not to have had to sign for it.

[Bryn]

I thought it might be useful to draw attention to Keki Dadachanji's addendum to the customer review on amazon.com:

"I have found errors in the listing by composer in the hardcover book that is designed to help locate specific works by composers. The listing specifies that Mahler Symphony 1 is to be found on 1970's CD 22. (I was quite excited when I saw this because I have never seen Mahler Symphony 1 done by Karajan). Sadly, no such recording is to be found in this box. CD 22 contains Mendelssohn Symphony 1. When I checked listings for Mendelssohn, I found additional errors. In a box of this size errors in cross-reference listings are very inconvenient, and indicate a lack of attention to detail."

There may well be other such errors. Strange that two Jewish Christian converts (under duress) with the same initial letter in their family names should be thus confounded.

On a slightly different tack, I have ordered a birchwood lazy Susan to place the big box on.

[Bryn]

Had I not already got the Karajan 60s, 70s and 80s boxes I'd have been in the market for this bargain. As it is, I'd feel very suspicious of the extraordinarily cheap price. How on earth can the seller make any kind of money out of it? Are all the discs present and correct as far as you are able to tell?

Sorry to be so tardy in replying. So far I have found no missing items. The set was delivered in its original, complete, highly protective packaging, duly marked "PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE THIS OUTER PACKAGING, IT IS DESIGNED TO HELP PROTECT THE PRODUCT DURING SHIPPING TO THE CUSTOMER" (original capitalisation and punctuation). The outer box did appear to have been opened and resealed, but the main box was still in its plastic wrap. All the original barcoded labels on the outer box had been covered with plain white self-adhering versions, and a Royal Mail "Tracked 48 No Signature" label added. I was really glad to have been in to receive it. The idea of lugging it back from the sorting office fills me with horror.

[Peering through the plain white labels to those beneath, it would appear that the original carrier used to deliver the item to Browns Books was DPD.]

[Alison]

Finally taking a Christmas punt on the Sibelius piano works CD from Andsnes.

Extracts sound rather delightful.

[gurnemanz]

We are off to Germany for New Year, involving a longish train journey and as reading matter I've just ordered Spook Street by Mike Herron. It was recommended on Radio 4 the other day and is supposed to be hilarious. I hope it gets here in time.