Bang for the Buck
We live in extraordinary times for the bulk acquisition of excellent classical performances, though that adverb seems inappropriately crude when referring to the genre!
Still, it's largely accurate, and the advent of inexpensive CD box sets from traditional behemoths in the classical music recording and production business probably reflects - in part, at least - the industry's recognition of physical media's demise among my peers and most certainly in the next wave of potential consumers now occupied with Barbies and kickball (do kids still go outside?). Yet, the phenomenon also provides amateur collectors and the newly initiated an opportunity to acquire compilations of esteemed releases that veteran collectors have worked decades to amass.
Though latent for some time now, this thread might effectively serve as a springboard for reviews of such box sets, not only to the novice, but experienced collectors looking to gap holes while updating already owned releases with potentially superior remasters (note, "potentially"!).
Following graduation from law school a few years ago, I finally had the time and money to engage my love of the Grateful Dead in earnest ("non sequitur", you're thinking, but wait...); however, after a couple of years on a nearly exclusive diet thereof (last Fall, to be exact), I started to look outside the genre for music that would yield the same sense of profound - or perhaps complex - satisfaction that I achieved through the Dead's unique brand of "jazz syntax with a rock lexicon" (description by the inimitable David Gans) and began exploring the vast Classical cosmos.
After much audio sampling and reading countless reviews, I jumped into the deep end with DG's 50-CD Berlin Philharmonic Centenary Edition box and must say that, despite subsequently purchasing an array of fantastic sets - to include Tosca's RCA, Furtwangler's Legacy, Walter's Edition, Arkive's '47-'13, and Phillps Orginal Jackets - this remains my desert island selection on any given day (the Furtwangler collection is a staggering opus itself, but that's another post!).
The audacious scope is augured by opening selections from November 2013 of Nikisch and Hertz conducting LVB's 5th and Wagner's Parsifal, respectively, then unfolding to encompass a menagerie of composing (Brahms; Bruckner; Schubert; Ravel; Dvorak; Gluck; Hadyn; Liszt; Mahler; Stravinsky; Tchaikovsky; Verdi; Wagner; Vivaldi; et al...) and conducting (Karajan; Furtwangler; Abbado; Fricsay; Hindeminth; Walter; and Rattle) giants, while involving remarkable solo efforts by A-S Mutter (my fave!); Zimmerman; Argerich; Anda; and Cherassky, as well as introducing me to the heavenly choral accompaniment of the Choir of St. Hedwigs-Katherdale (mercy! check out their contributions to remarkable performances of LVB's Missa Solemnis, conducted by Bohm (1955), and 9th Symphony, conducted by Fricsay (1958)).
And, while starstruck, don't forget: these constellations of classical genius orbit around one of the planet's most consistently brilliant and universally respected orchestras!
While I could drone for pages, I would likely have to dispense a cocaine and Ritalin cocktail to rescue you dear readers from catatonia.
In closing, I should dearly love to hear reviews of box/compilation purchases by aficionados who possess both the technical vocabulary and understanding of classic themes and concepts to render more helpful insights than mine!/peace, katherine