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Re: Scored a great haul, but is it really?

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Hi John Q.

For the price you paid, I'd say you did great. Just a hunch, but I'm going to guess that at least some--if not all--of these box sets may have been mail-order versions from International Preview Society, which was flogging them in magazines back in the late 70s/early 80s. These typically were mainstream Deutsche Grammaphon/Philips/London recordings, but pressed in Italy rather than Germany/Holland/England--and if so, that "made in Italy" will probably be noted somewhere on the boxes or on the record labels themselves. This isn't necessarily bad, but the pressings may be thin and aren't always the best available. I don't know all the performances, but I'll make a couple of observations:

Bohm's Beethoven Symphonies. Haven't heard the whole cycle, but like his 6th pretty well (a single LP of it is in my collection) and have heard good things about some of the others. There may be other, more ideal intros to LvB's symphonies, but this collection will probably be very listenable and easy to live with.

Kempff/Leitner Beethoven Ctos. Wonderful. Kempff is very good in all of them, especially the 4th and 5th. The sonics may be anything from superb to wretched--they were repressed many, many times, in many formats, so you just don't know until you try ;-). The finest sound can be found on very early "tulip ring" DGG vinyl--probably NOT what you have there, but worth picking up if you ever see any.

Mravinsky Tchaik Symphonies. Pretty much the ultimate performances, albeit not the very finest sound. Be happy. These are great.

Jochum/LPO Haydn late symphonies. I tend more toward the leaner, lighter Dorati versions on Decca, but these are considered classic large orchestral performances. I have knowledgeable friends who swear by these. Definitely worthwhile listening.

Karajan & Pav do La Boheme. Penguin guide used to gush over this, for both sonics and performance. I'm no opera buff myself, but if your copy is as good as mine, think you'll be happy with the sound. Pretty impressive.

The rest: I'll have to plead ignorance. But given the performers, I doubt you have a real stinker in the lot. (And I'd be surprised if those Haydn trios with the Beaux Art aren't REALLY good.)

Much happy listening awaits you. Enjoy.

Dirk


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  • Re: Scored a great haul, but is it really? - dirkronk 13:26:12 09/07/00 (1)


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