Bargain Boxes
Thu, Apr 29 2010, 4:26PM
#2
RE: Bargain Boxes
The "box-mania" started in the late '90s in the Netherlands, when a Dutch Pharmacy retailer started to sell Brilliant classics boxes. I can remember standing in line for the first Bach box, at 7am in the morning, together with 20 people in a very small town called "Geldrop" (of all places). Now, you can but a Lutoslawski box, Messian organ works (in 2 versions!!), etc. for about 2 or 3 euro's per CD. Here is an impression of my local shop in Leidschenhage, with some of the offers they have:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFyYpy_ynug&fmt=18
How on earth are regular record stores going to compete with this! The performances range from decent to world class...
Rolf
Thu, Apr 29 2010, 4:46PM
#3
RE: Bargain Boxes RE: Bargain Boxes
The "box-mania" started in the late '90s in the Netherlands, when a Dutch Pharmacy retailer started to sell Brilliant classics boxes. I can remember standing in line for the first Bach box, at 7am in the morning, together with 20 people in a very small town called "Geldrop" (of all places).
Ahh... that may explain why some 'Superdrug' stores in the UK started to do it in the early 2000s - the 'Superdrug' chain was bought by Kruidvat Beheer BV in 2001.
I got a few Brilliant Classics box sets from their Canterbury store that were stupidly cheap even by Brilliant standards - eg, an 11 CD set of the complete Shostkovitch symphonies (WDR Symphony Orchestra, Rudolf Barshai) for £4.99 - just over 45p a CD!
Thu, Apr 29 2010, 9:07PM
#4
RE: Bargain Boxes
Some of those Brilliant boxes are, I agree, frankly brilliant, and yes the prices arer mindboggling. I particularly like them because they give you the opportunity to hear large slabs of repertoire that could otherwise remain terra incognita. Some of my favourites include a 7CD set of Hamish Milne playing the Medtner piano works, the complete string quartets of Villa Lobos on 6 CDs, the complete works for prepared piano of John Cage, and an 11 CD compendium of of Francois Couperin's Pieces de Clavecin. All of these cost around 10 or 15 euro. I would just warn against the 4 CD set of the Mompou piano pieces played by the composer, as the whole recording sounds like it was recorded through a wah wah pedal. It has this horrible blurred echo sound. It is possible that this is only true of my copy in which case ignore the above.
Fri, Apr 30 2010, 7:23PM
#5
RE: Bargain Boxes
That Couperin set is a gem. Michael Borgstede did a marvelous job there. I also bought his 4 CD Handel set after I heard a part of it on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsDesxMZurk&fmt=18
Maybe not as stylish as the Couperin set, but some good playing there nonetheless. Especially the written out improvisation, allegedly by Handel himself, is spectacular.
Rolf
Sat, May 1 2010, 11:33AM
#6
RE: Bargain Boxes
Scanning through the latest Gramophone magazine, I see that EMI and DG are both bringing out 150th Anniversary boxes of the complete works of Mahler for about £44. I am currently trying to go through back reviews to see which is the better purchase. Does anyone have any recommendations which of the two I should go for (or both!!)
Sat, May 8 2010, 2:19AM
#7
RE: Bargain Boxes RE: Bargain Boxes
Thank you to macsporran and others for drawing my attention to the German Eloquence series and the good prices on amazon.de. Some excellent bargains there. I've just bought the Harasiewicz Chopin, Gulda's Beethoven, Richter's Bach set and Schiff's Bach - £86 for the four (forty-odd CDs), including the reasonable 7 euro delivery fee.
Tue, May 11 2010, 7:19PM
#8
RE: Bargain Boxes
Re 150th Mahler boxes, there are too many warts (Rattle, Giulini, Ozawa, Mehta, Sinopoli) in both to make me jump.
Fri, May 14 2010, 10:06AM
#9
RE: Bargain Boxes
Hi Petra
the Chopin Jubilee box is in the DG/Decca Eloquence series from Universal Germany. You'll find it on the German Amazon site www.amazon.de along with the Richter Bach box and the Schiff Bach box, each for about 20 euros.
HTH
Macsporran
Fri, May 14 2010, 6:46PM
#10
RE: Bargain Boxes
Re 150th Mahler boxes, there are too many warts (Rattle, Giulini, Ozawa, Mehta, Sinopoli) in both to make me jump.
I couldn't agree more. There's enough excellent Mahler around elsewhere at good prices.
Mon, May 17 2010, 5:03AM
#11
RE: Bargain Boxes
Although I'm not an opera buff, I have a couple of great boxes: The Decca release of the Wagner "canon" operas recorded at Bayreuth, and the Prokofiev operas conducted by Gergiev. Sadly, no librettos, but that is often the case even with individual releases these days.
Mon, May 17 2010, 10:35AM
#12
RE: Bargain Boxes
On a continuing note re Eloquence box sets, I see Amazon Germany have listed the Sinopoli Mahler Symphony & Songs cycle to be released on 18 June. Divided critical opinions but some of the performances are excellent and 12 CDs for under 24 euros doesn't require much deliberation. Eloquence are also releasing the Gardiner DG Bach Cantatas but that's less appealing since they're already economically available here in the big 34CD compilation.
Tue, Aug 3 2010, 2:29PM
#13
RE: Bargain Boxes
I'm pleased to have bought the budget-priced Gardiner Beethoven set and paid 20 pounds for this 5-disc release. I know this is a cycle that can't exactly go down well in some quarters but it's a great bargain of a cycle to be reckoned with for some time.
I'm pleased that I've managed to pay only 15 pounds for the Uchida budget-priced Mozart sonatas set.
Thu, Oct 21 2010, 8:24PM
#14
RE: Bargain Boxes
Bought Richard Bonynge's set of Delibes' ballets (Decca, 4 CDs) on Amazon UK a couple of days ago for £6. Still the same price today. Not bad at all.
The set features some classic recordings like the Grieg and Schumann concertos, the Brahms number two in a titanic performance,
Seconded. 40 years after I bought it, on vinyl, the Solomon Brahms 2 still remains one of the half dozen discs I have to retrieve if the house goes up in smoke.