17 disc Oistrakh set for £19.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001ASVXSE/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3ENYW8WV04AUU&coliid=IRJXNNY4C2SXO
Jake Thackray collection down below £12:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jake-Box-EMI-Recordings-1967-1976/dp/B000F0UVC2/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1421620893&sr=1-3&keywords=jake+thackray
No excuses for not buying the latter.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Sunday, 18 January 2015 22:42 (nine years ago) link
Sixteen disc complete Mahler for £13 and change.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/music/dp/B003D0ZNWY/ref=sr_1_6?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1436212992&sr=1-6
― I wear my Redditor loathing with pride (ShariVari), Monday, 6 July 2015 20:05 (eight years ago) link
That's the Warner emi one? Pretty good classic to dud ratio. Worth it imo.
― demonic mnevice (Jon Lewis), Monday, 6 July 2015 21:18 (eight years ago) link
This one is less than £14 for 10 discs:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Masterworks-20th-Century-Various/dp/B00TQNMCDU/
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81tcXdEBJbL._SL1500_.jpg
― feargal czukay (NickB), Monday, 6 July 2015 21:43 (eight years ago) link
i feel bad for classical music that labels almost literally cannot give it away
― wizzz! (amateurist), Monday, 6 July 2015 21:45 (eight years ago) link
Went for that one, ra.
― Mark G, Monday, 6 July 2015 21:49 (eight years ago) link
Ah, nice one, Nick!
― holger sharkey (Tom D.), Monday, 6 July 2015 21:52 (eight years ago) link
And this one is £14.10 for 14 discs:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71e2IuiuWTL._SL1417_.jpghttp://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51yl4C5veaL.jpg
― feargal czukay (NickB), Monday, 6 July 2015 21:58 (eight years ago) link
crazy days!
oops link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Messiaen-100th-Anniversary-Box-Set/dp/B001DCQJUO/
― feargal czukay (NickB), Monday, 6 July 2015 21:59 (eight years ago) link
Not the world's biggest Messiaen fan tbh but fill yer boots Olly fans!
― holger sharkey (Tom D.), Monday, 6 July 2015 21:59 (eight years ago) link
Olly Stans
― holger sharkey (Tom D.), Monday, 6 July 2015 22:00 (eight years ago) link
olly stans resting on their laurels
― feargal czukay (NickB), Monday, 6 July 2015 22:01 (eight years ago) link
man that messiaen cover is trippy!
― wizzz! (amateurist), Monday, 6 July 2015 22:04 (eight years ago) link
Emi Messiaen box is basically older, golden age of stereo era recordings (though French emi sound quality not always so golden) whereas the dg box is digital era cosmopolitan technical wizardry renditions. Both worth having. I prefer analog sound for the ravishing colors of the orchestral stuff tbf
― demonic mnevice (Jon Lewis), Monday, 6 July 2015 22:16 (eight years ago) link
i was once wandering around avignon and bumped into a conservatory named after mr. messiaen. had no idea it existed. i was rather moved, actually.
― wizzz! (amateurist), Monday, 6 July 2015 22:18 (eight years ago) link
Lesser known early 20th cent brit Arthur Bliss 5CD set for £4 new via Dodax:http://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Composers-Arthur-Bliss/dp/B0056H0R3C/
^ I have about 3/5ths of that on vinyl and it's great stuff
― feargal czukay (NickB), Monday, 6 July 2015 22:29 (eight years ago) link
what does his music sound like? (i know, dumb question, but...)
― wizzz! (amateurist), Monday, 6 July 2015 22:32 (eight years ago) link
Kind of Debussy-ish, Delius/Holst school of English pastoralism iirc
― feargal czukay (NickB), Monday, 6 July 2015 22:41 (eight years ago) link
18 disc Delius collection for under £15. About half what it was when I added it to my wish list.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005RXKKQO?keywords=Delius&qid=1437327538&ref_=sr_1_3&sr=8-3
― I wear my Redditor loathing with pride (ShariVari), Sunday, 19 July 2015 17:40 (eight years ago) link
If that is the delius emi box, it is extremely desirable, probably the best of all those emi composer boxes. I have most of its contents individually but I still want it.
― demonic mnevice (Jon Lewis), Sunday, 19 July 2015 19:01 (eight years ago) link
I've been meaning to get a box set of Sibelius's symphonies, preferably one that doesn't cost too much, because I'm not really familiar with his music at all. But there are so many different reasonably priced boxes I don't know which one to buy... There's Karajan, Barbirolli, two different cycles by Berglund (one with Bournemouth Sinfonietta, one with the Helsinki Symphony Orchestra), Vänskä, Saari, Storgårds, Ashkenazy, Colin Davis, etc. I'm not a nationalist so I don't think this music needs to be interpreted by a Finnish conductor (though Berglund, Vänskä, and Storgårds all seem to get a fair amount of praise), so I'm not sure where to begin. Can anyone (Jon?) recommend a good "starter box" for Sibelius?
― Tuomas, Monday, 20 July 2015 08:56 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, there was a wave of Sibelius boxes timed to coincide with the 150th anniversary of his birth (that sort of thing seems to be a driving factor in box set releases, hence a wave of Nielsen boxes this year too). I don't really know enough to have an opinion on this, but Berglund/Bournemouth are always a powerful force in my experience.
― feargal czukay (NickB), Monday, 20 July 2015 09:16 (eight years ago) link
Berglund Bournemouth is indeed a good choice. Beautiful late analog production. The 1980s berglund cycle (the other box) has a lot of important music besides the symphonies but is not quite as well recorded. Plus I think that box is out of print now so you'd have to get it second hand.
― demonic mnevice (Jon Lewis), Monday, 20 July 2015 11:08 (eight years ago) link
The Berglund/Bournemouth box is what I was considering first (it's also one of the cheapest box sets available), but since it's an older recording, I wasn't so sure about the sound quality. (Some 1960s and early 70s British classical records that I have have a tinny and thin sound that I don't like.) But since you say it sounds good, I guess I'll go for that one.
― Tuomas, Monday, 20 July 2015 11:22 (eight years ago) link
The sound picture is more smooth and creamy. Not as close miked sounding as emi barbirolli recordings (nb I love close miking)
― demonic mnevice (Jon Lewis), Monday, 20 July 2015 11:57 (eight years ago) link
Fuck! So glad I looked at this thread!
First time I ever looked at a complete classical collection it was a 120 disc Bach collection and I just assumed all these guys would have similarly massive collections, but looking at those Mahler, Delius and Sibelius boxes, wow, I can actually do this. The world appears quite a bit nicer.
Do these kind of boxes get sold at regular music shops?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 01:09 (eight years ago) link
Not in nyc. There are no stores here where one can buy new classical CDs anymore. If you still have virgin and hmv over there they might stock things like this.
― demonic mnevice (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 21 July 2015 03:29 (eight years ago) link
Fopp is awful for classical music. Not sure if HMV still exists any more but they were better in their flagship branches. The prices of these sets are all over the place so online is probably your best bet.
I add tonnes of stuff to my Amazon wishlist and just use the "items with price drops" function to check for bargains. Almost everything gets reduced by 20% - 25% at some point and some sets come down by 40% or 50%.
If you aren't keen on Amazon, Presto Classical is a really good alternative - more expensive, typically, but an excellent selection and they have fairly frequent sales.
― I wear my Redditor loathing with pride (ShariVari), Tuesday, 21 July 2015 07:16 (eight years ago) link
Definitely using amazon but I'm going into town today and I'll have a look in hmv. There used to be a good specialist classical store but unsurprisingly it shut down several years ago, I only ever bought one thing there (a Bach organ best of), wish I'd gotten more.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 07:49 (eight years ago) link
If town happens to be London, Harold Moore's on Gt Marlborough St is still going strong.
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 08:22 (eight years ago) link
If you're in (or near) Edinburgh - McAlister Matheson http://www.mmmusic.co.uk/ is a classical music specialist store.
― treefell, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 08:50 (eight years ago) link
Glasgow. I'm back now. I looked around Fopp for a while and the classical section wasn't clearly visible and then I forgot about it, but from the last times I looked it was very small. Mono has a small bunch of modern classical. HMV has a surprisingly large classical section (their metal section surprised me too), loads of Classical FM cds of old masters, only a few box sets but nothing much over 4 discs. Mostly stuff for beginners I guess; I shouldn't complain because I'm a beginner but I'm just a sucker for huge collections and omnibuses. I'm guessing this store has a fairly big selection because most if not all the other similar music shops except Fopp have shut down. I'll probably return here again for the metal.
Quite sad to notice that a lot of these music and book shops have noticeably dwindled in their selection, even within the past year. Really wonder how it will look in two years.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 17:33 (eight years ago) link
Classical sections are usually the dwindled-est, too. Maybe 1/8 of one side of an aisle if you're lucky
― demonic mnevice (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 21 July 2015 17:56 (eight years ago) link
Borders & Tower used to be great for jazz, reggae, classical, blues , (funk & soul& Tower too) in Glasgow.
― Eric Burdon & War, On Drugs (Cosmic Slop), Tuesday, 21 July 2015 18:18 (eight years ago) link
HMV had a full aisle of classical.
I'm pretty sure the big tall Virgin that became Zaavi that became HMV had a large room of classical.
I've been griping in various threads about box sets not including bonus tracks, even when they could easily fit on. King Diamond and Jethro Tull in particular but I've been put off so many rock band box sets because of this. Yes - Studio Albums 69-87 and the two big Tangerine Dream box sets are some of the only exceptions I've seen to this. I didn't get the Tangerine Dream sets because the albums are spread across discs, this isn't an issue on mp3 but it's a pain changing cds during an album and it spoiled the Bongwater collection for me slightly. Any more good box sets for keeping all the extra stuff?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 18:24 (eight years ago) link
I think the BOC box has all the bonus tracks that came out on the remastered single discs of the first 5 albums. Would have been amazing if we could have had new bonus tracks for the albums that were newly remastered for the box, especially Fire of Unknown Origin and Cultosaurus Erectus, but oh well.
― demonic mnevice (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 21 July 2015 19:07 (eight years ago) link
Picked up the Messiaen box - thanks for the heads up.
― millmeister, Wednesday, 22 July 2015 14:45 (eight years ago) link
17 disc Oistrakh set for £14
http://www.amazon.co.uk/David-Oistrakh-The-Complete-Recordings/dp/B001ASVXSE/ref=pd_sim_15_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=03ZA2H3M0JPGRW800RRC
Will deliver when back in stock.
― I wear my Redditor loathing with pride (ShariVari), Wednesday, 22 July 2015 21:01 (eight years ago) link
Hohoho! Bought the Sibelius, Delius and Mahler boxes but hesitated for now on the Wagner.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 24 July 2015 23:16 (eight years ago) link
Add a Debussy box and you have my holy quartet of composers born in the early 1860s (the wave to beat all waves IMO)
― Jon not Jon, Friday, 24 July 2015 23:27 (eight years ago) link
Is there a similar box for him?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 24 July 2015 23:54 (eight years ago) link
There were the usual competing anniversary boxes during his centenary year. I don't remember if emi did one. The Sony one wasn't very good. I seem to recall the UMG was the one to get.
― Jon not Jon, Saturday, 25 July 2015 01:37 (eight years ago) link
late to this conversation but I order classical from arkiv, they're great: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/main.jsp
we had a store in town with an actually quite good classical section but they changed hands this year and the classical's gone.
― Joan Crawford Loves Chachi, Saturday, 25 July 2015 01:39 (eight years ago) link
Arkiv has the Solti Ring Cycle in its latest remastering on sale for 37 bucks, or at least they did a few days ago.
― Jon not Jon, Saturday, 25 July 2015 05:02 (eight years ago) link
I bought this Deutsche Grammofon 17CD Debussy Box when it came out, and I think it's pretty excellent. Though admittedly I don't too many other Debussy discs to compare it to, Jon can probably tell how this recordings compare to others?
― Tuomas, Saturday, 25 July 2015 10:26 (eight years ago) link
"I don't own too many other Debussy discs"
― Tuomas, Saturday, 25 July 2015 10:28 (eight years ago) link
The Sony Debussy has some really good Boulez stuff but the piano music is probably covered better elsewhere.
― I wear my Redditor loathing with pride (ShariVari), Saturday, 25 July 2015 10:34 (eight years ago) link
Not that it isn't very good.
Yeah it's the piano stuff on the Sony that sorta let it down, the Boulez Columbia stuff is awes
― Jon not Jon, Saturday, 25 July 2015 17:35 (eight years ago) link