Oh Mr Amazon, with this cheap box set / bargain item, etc...

just bought that, ty!

Went for it, man I dunno why beyond the obvious..

done :)

£32 now

the verdi box turned up here today. minimal packaging and no librettos or plot summaries or anything much, so maybe i'd feel hard done by if i'd spent thirty odd quid on it, but for a tenner i'm happy enough

You can find librettos online though, I'm sure

I'm thrilled with the box, even though the packaging is on the minimal side. Sixteen complete operas and the Callas Rigoletto or Birgit Nilsson Aida would be more than worth the outlay on their own. I'll keep an eye out to see if it dips in price again.

i'm assuming it was an error tbh, it's now listed at £45. kind of thinking about splurging on a wagner box - really been enjoying dipping in and out of 'tristan' and 'parsifal' of late, feel like it's time to go deep.

Get (can't remember author's name) Wagner Without Fear to go with it. Despite the very unpromising title it's a super great intro to wagners world/walkthrough of the operas. He also wrote Verdi With a Vengeance which is the same kind of deal and equally great.

Cool - have ordered! Was actually looking at the million different Wagner books on Amazon yesterday, so that recommendation really helps.

Didn't think Verdi was really for me but have been enjoying the heck out of Aida. Have less that no idea wtf is going on at this stage but all in good time I guess.

Henri Dutilleux 5CD box on Erato for eleven quid:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Orchestral-Piano-Chamber-Masterworks-Dutilleux/dp/B008BT1060/

Another bare-bones box set but great recordings:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Works-Igor-Stravinsky/dp/B000PTYUQG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395693836&sr=8-1&keywords=Stravinsky

22 discs of Stravinsky for a fraction over £20.

. For this price you would expect 'average' versions of Stravinsky's major works. What you get [not made clear on the box] are 22 CD's made up of all the stereo recordings made for Columbia by the composer himself; a few works directed by Robert Craft with Stravinsky in the studio; and a handful of vintage recordings of works not remade in stereo by the composer.

very cheap on Amazon.us too

http://www.amazon.com/Works-Igor-Stravinsky/dp/B000PTYUQG/

^^^ that set is fantastic and everybody needs a copy of that in their lives. have actually been hammering symphony of psalms off that in the last few days, so good

That's at least the 2nd time they've put that set on deep discount at both the UK and US sites -- I got it in 2011 and it's worth the investment imo.

If that Sony boxed set of 25 discs of Stravinsky music for the price, basically, of a single album is still available then I strongly recommend it - it is so much stuff for so little money. And mostly conducted by Stravinsky himself.

― The New Dirty Vicar, Tuesday, June 14, 2011 9:14 AM (2 years ago)

Hmm.... it's on Amazon UK for 30 quid. Sounds quite tempting - what's the sound quality like?

― sam500, Tuesday, June 14, 2011 9:21 AM (2 years ago)

what had totally passed me by until now are the series of single artist black saint/soul jazz boxes that "cam jazz"(?) have been putting out. totally going to buy the shit out of these two as soon as pay day comes:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51CyI5TzJdL._SY355_.jpg http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51mhi0RtidL._SY300_.jpg

and yeah, they're old news too, but still...

be careful btw of all those similar collections of jazz/pop/rock/soul/folk on the "Real Gone." those are mostly effectively boots and are often mastered from vinyl.

"Real Gone" LABEL I mean

also it's a weird and wonderful world where i can buy a huge Muhal Richard Abrams box set for $30

anyone care to recommend one or two of the other ones? I mean I know a lot of this stuff but I'm having a hard time choosing

oh man, there's a lester bowie set too! y'all about to make me lose my wallet.

The Soul Note/Black Saint boxes are legit, but unfortunately they don't contain the original CDs' liner notes.

The Real Gone sets are, I believe, European releases taking advantage of lapsed copyright. I have the Art Blakey "19 albums" set which sounds fine, but I've read that other sets don't sound so great.

The Steve Lacy and Andrew Cyrille boxes look great too, but I can't say I've heard a note of the music therein xps

I can't recommend the Dixon set highly enough; all the albums are great, but Vade Mecum (I & II) was an absolute game-changer in this music.

Good to hear! Aiieee, there's a Threadgill set too.

The Cyrille set has two of his brilliant records with Jimmy Lyons -- Nuba (with Jeanne Lee) and Something In Return -- but frustratingly doesn't include the third, Burnt Offering. Still, those two records are hard to come by these days, so the box is still the way to go.

anyone heard the julius hemphill albums on his box?

maybe we should all pitch in for the whole lot and do a trading tree

ha, i think i lack the basic dedication for that

I've got that Braxton box, it's great (although the packaging is fairly shoddy but what do you expect etc etc)

is the box bigger than it needs to be? i hate that.

I have a few of those Black Saint/Soul Note boxes. I recommend the Threadgill, the Dixon (don't have the box but I own the individual CDs and they're life-changing), and the David Murray Octets. I also own the Muhal Richard Abrams one but I don't like his music as much as I thought I would when I ordered it (I was basically taking a chance). Worth noting that the Cyrille box has two albums by Maono, his band with David S. Ware and trumpeter Ted Daniel. Those are both killers.

Oh, and the boxes are small clamshells with slimline sleeves inside. Small and minimal.

12 Art Pepper albums for $6.99.

Is it just me, or is the price of new CDs on Amazon skyrocketing lately?

Wagner Great Recordings is currently going for under £12 on Marketplace. Most of the selections aren't exactly the definitive versions but it does include the full Janowski Ring which will set you back more than the cost of the 40-disc set on its own.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Richard-Wagner-Great-Recordings-R/dp/B00A2JTEHY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419152996&sr=8-1&keywords=wagner+great+recordings

Presto have a sale that will bring a lot of the big boxes down to Amazonish prices until mid-Jan, for anyone that prefers to buy from independents.

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/boxsets.php

I remember when Amazon had Amazon-ish prices...

(The recent Herzog box is now approaching 60 quid, up from 42)

(Sorry, forgot this was ilm)

Decent cuts to classical box sets this week:

60 CD Vivarte collection for £35, down from £50:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vivarte-Collection-Various-Artists/dp/B00AOTZ156/ref=pd_sim_m_h__8?ie=UTF8&refRID=14A236F743TT9R6F9KNQ

27 disc Rameau opera box for £26, down from £38.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rameau-Opera-Collection-J-P/dp/B00KYMJ4H4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421262148&sr=8-1&keywords=rameau

55 disc Archiv Produktion anniversary box set at £60, down from £77

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Archiv-Produktion-1947-2013-Celebration-Excellence/dp/B00BCSBU4E/ref=pd_sim_m_h__6?ie=UTF8&refRID=14A236F743TT9R6F9KNQ

55 CD Mercury Living Presence box at £49, down from £70 - £90

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mercury-Living-Presence-Vol-2-Decca/dp/B00B7364H2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421262156&sr=8-1&keywords=living+presence

54 disc Decca Sound down from £90 to £53:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Decca-Sound-The-Analogue-Years/dp/B00E0H8KAQ/ref=pd_sim_m_h__42?ie=UTF8&refRID=0ZSZGN8XSQG7J9FN5FE0

bargain classical boxes that i'm permanently on the verge of pulling the trigger on:

misuko uchida - mozart piano sonatas
maria lettberg - scriabin complete solo piano works
sergiu celibidache - symphonies box
gyorgy ligeti - clear or cloudy: complete recordings on deutsche grammophon

Ligeti box IMO.

Decca Sound The Analogue Years is fucking fantastic but you MUST have a taste for warhorses or at least an openness to acquiring a taste for warhorses.

Gah! I didn't even know about that Ligeti box! Fuuuuck...rrrg...yeah, probably just gonna go ahead and get that one.

whenever i see these crazy budget-priced massive box sets i sort of weep inside for that guy who spent 50 years and a million bucks putting together an impeccable collection of classical music on vinyl and CD and now it's like "oh i have your entire collection for a week's wages."

Even the first wave of box sets were ridiculously expensive. The Toscanini box was $2100 in 1991, adjusted for inflation. Now it's $120.

yeah, most of these end up being like $2–$4/disc. which is roughly what you might have paid in the 1950s for a LP.

someone should go back in time and give all those classical collectors a break. "here's all of mahler's symphonies with bruno walter conducting. no, don't thank me, it was no trouble at all. really."

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.

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

That's the Warner emi one? Pretty good classic to dud ratio. Worth it imo.