More Bach Guild MP3 "Boxes"

[Al Eisner]

Quite a few additional Bach Guild "big boxes" and "little big boxes"
have been issued in 2016, most available at ridiculously low prices for
download from Amazon. I don't recall them being mentioned in rmcr
(although I might have missed that). A full list, with contents for
most of them, can be found at www.bachguild.com (use the "Releases"
button). It helps in searching at Amazon to have the full name. (The
ability to find them with just "big box" seems intermittent, and, while
I still had the "advanced search" button when that was being discussed
here, I haven't had it for the past few days at least).

One that particularly interested me (I've downloaded it) is the "Big
English Music Box". Unlike most of the earlier boxes, which were drawn
from 1960's-era Vanguard releases, most of this box seems to derive
from digital releases by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. For example,
it include Menuhin conducting Elgar ("Enigma Variations", "In the South",
etc.), Handley conducting Holst ("The Planets" and "St. Paul Suite"),
Barry Wordsworth with Elgar (Serenade for Strings) and a Purcell Suite,
and Christopher Seaman (of whom I know nothing) in some RVW hits and
much Delius. There are also performances by Nicholas Braithwaite and the
New Zealand Chamber Orchestra in Frank Bridge, and a lot of songs with
soprano Ruth Golden (who?). Most of this is music I might not otherwise
acquire (e.g., I'm not greatly attuned to either Elgar or Delius), but
would still want to hear.

Another set of possible interest which has a lot of Dohnanyi, who does
interest me (although some of the performances, with the Cleveland Qt.,
were panned in rmcr some time ago). Again, this is music I mostly
don't have. Exceptions to the latter are quartets by Debussy, Ravel
and Berg: how was the Galimar Quartet in these works?

The contents of the "Big Ragtime Piano Box" are also enticing (pianists
include Bolcom, List, John Arpin and others). Just $0.99 at Amazon.

Upcoming releases, under the "News" button, include a "Big KLR Trio Box",
with contents listed. I found it hard to figure out the provenance of
these recordings (year and original label), but that's certainly a
worthwhile group. Not yet listed at Amazon, so I don't know the price.

Lots more stuff listed, some not so new, but news to me.
--
Al Eisner

[cooper...@gmail.com]

Thanks for the pointer to the Bach Guild web site. Very convenient, and you can listen to everything there also. So listen to the Cleveland et al. Dohnanyi and see how you like it. There are better performances available of the individual works but so what. These are a fine way to get to know the music and incredible VFM. The op. 1 Piano Quintet, Serenade, and respective sonatas for violin and cello are all masterpieces, imo. Also, the set that includes the Dohnanyi works has several other gems. Not only the Galimir recordings rightly praised by Jeff, but also the Santa Fe performance of Arensky's String Quartet #2 (the one with two celli instead of two violins), another masterpiece that should be much better known. (If you know Arensky's Tchaikovsky Variations for strings you already know one of its movements, but it's more interesting in the quartet version.)

I don't know all the performers in the chamber music boxes, but it's great to see some stalwarts of the Vanguard catalogue, including the Griller and Yale Quartets, various Alexander Schneider ensembles, and Gomberg's Mozart K.370. I've invested in a batch of these mainly in order to keep my ipod well stocked for the daily commute. One box that has served particularly well for this purpose is the Big Flute Box. Julius Baker and Paula Robison, so how can you go wrong?

The KLR Trio box is a no-brainer; it's all good and their set of Beethoven Piano Trios is my overall favorite. At a glance, the recordings look like they're ex-Arabesque or ex-Koch. See http://www.kalichstein-laredo-robinson-trio.com/recordings.html.

Alan

[Al Eisner]

Thanks very much (also thanks to JR) for the detailed reply. I've
already gotten to hear and like a number of those Dohnanyi works because
Music@Menlo (a sort of surrogate for the Chamber Music Society of
Lincoln Center) like to include them, and this past summer's Russian
focus included that Arensky. So I welcome the opportunity to have
some good recordings. THe other chamber boxes are of somewhat less
interest, since I tend to already have recordings, sometimes even
of the same performances (e.g., the Griller's) and some are in the
Big Mozart Box.

I figured the KLR box would be a good one. I presume that, given the
imminent release date, it will show up at Amazon soon.

The excerpts on the Bach Guild site are, by the way, very brief, unless
one uses Spotify - I don't, but perhaps that could change. :)
--
Al Eisner

[Al Eisner]

On Sun, 16 Oct 2016, Al Eisner wrote:

> On Sun, 16 Oct 2016, cooper...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> Thanks for the pointer to the Bach Guild web site. Very convenient,
>> and you can listen to everything there also.

[snipped]

> The excerpts on the Bach Guild site are, by the way, very brief, unless
> one uses Spotify - I don't, but perhaps that could change. :)

I see that my remark applies (for at least the Chamber Box #2) to the
listing at the right of the web page. But up-front they also offer
the full first track, and one can get to other tracks by playing or
skipping through the tracks one at a time.

Or by investing the hearty sum of $0.99 and avoiding all rigmarole!

--
Al Eisner

[earth...@gmail.com]

So Bach Guild seems to have vanished. The KLR album never appeared and their Facebook site no longer exists. Does anyone know why?

Eric

[cooper...@gmail.com]

On Friday, February 24, 2017 at 5:22:53 PM UTC-5, earth...@gmail.com wrote:
> So Bach Guild seems to have vanished. The KLR album never appeared and their Facebook site no longer exists. Does anyone know why?
>
> Eric

I just went to the Bach Guild web site. The "Big KLR Trio Box" is still listed there as "upcoming" despite the alleged release date of last October. You can check out the contents and listen to Brahms op. 8 here: http://www.bachguild.com/big-klr-trio-box.html. I intend to purchase it if/when it comes out. While I own their excellent Beethoven set on CD there are many other desirable items. I enjoy the quick & easy transfer of the contents of these "big boxes" to my ipod. They sound good enough to make commuting almost bearable :-)

AC

[Al Eisner]

Wrapping up a loose end from this thread which I may have started in
2016: I hadn't checked since, but in fact Bach Guild continued to
produce their Big and Little Big Boxes, and they continue to be sold
by Amazon for as MP3 downloads or streaming for $0.99. I downloaded
'this KLR Trio box today/

--
Al Eisner

[cooper...@gmail.com]

Thanks, Al. Their URL changed since I last posted it 3 years ago, but it's nice to know that they're still out there. The catalogue: http://thebachguild.net/bach-guild-big-box-complete-listing/ I noticed a Shostakovich box with many desirable recordings, mainly by Soviet artists; also an Italian music box that looks like it's for fans of Antonio Janigro (I am one). These may not be new or even recent; I just hadn't paid attention to them before. Happy listening in good health!

Alan

[Al Eisner]

Thanks for mentioning the Shostakovich. How did this stuff get on Bach
Guild? It includes quartets #1-4 by the Beethoven Quartet. (That
may suggest another box is coming.) Did they record multiple versions?
Amazon lists a complete set on Diapason D'Or, which is said to be from
the early 60's. [This set was issued in the US in 2014, about a decade
after release in France, so maybe copyright expired then - that's what
this label tends to do.] Does that differ from the Beethoven's versions
which have been discussed in rmcr in the past?

Did I say there would be lots of questions? :)
--
Al Eisner

[Al Eisner]

By the way, Amazon lists that Shostakovich box as a 2018 release,
--
Al Eisner

[Steve Emerson]

On Sunday, March 29, 2020 at 4:17:48 PM UTC-7, Al Eisner wrote:

> On Sun, 29 Mar 2020, Alan Cooper wrote:
>
> > On Saturday, March 28, 2020 at 10:45:34 PM UTC-4, Al Eisner wrote:

Some Beethoven Quartet material may have come from Vanguard. I have the piano quintet with Shosty playing piano on that label, couple with a quartet.

The Schubert box here looks worthwhile -- lots of Lili Kraus that I haven't run into; a promising D956 with the Kavavians, Fred Sherry et al; a Symphony 9 "Great" with Schuricht...

A related Schubert box that a friend here once mentioned is this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017EU2L3M/

With the estimable Peter Rosel in numerous piano works, and the Tatrai Quartet's extraordinary D956. If you haven't got the 99 cents but have Amazon Prime, it streams free.

SE.

[Al Eisner]

That too is in the Shostakovich box.

> The Schubert box here looks worthwhile -- lots of Lili Kraus that I haven't run into; a promising D956 with the Kavavians, Fred Sherry et al; a Symphony 9 "Great" with Schuricht...

Also a lot of Elly Ameling. Other symphonies include several with
Mackerras, and a four-movement performance of the non-existent #7.

> A related Schubert box that a friend here once mentioned is this:
>
> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017EU2L3M/
>
> With the estimable Peter Rosel in numerous piano works, and the Tatrai Quartet's extraordinary D956. If you haven't got the 99 cents but have Amazon Prime, it streams free.
>
> SE.

That too looks interesting. You remind me that I bought Rösel's Brahms
CD set a few years ago, and still haven't listened to it. The problem of
course isn't the 99 cents, but listening time; also of course, I might
listen to only a portion and not even store it all. Or just stream.

I've also been toying with downloading the more expensive (but still
pretty cheap) the Diapason Discotheque Idéale set of mostly-historical
Schubert Chamber Music. I got the contents a few years ago using Google
Translate on the Diapason web-site's listing, and cleaned it up a bit:

Volume 9, Schubert Chamber Music (14 CDs):

? These two performances are not on the track list at Presto or Amazon

Fantasy for violin and piano D 934 (Oistrakh & Bauer 1969,
Huberman & Roubakine 1944),
Sonatina D 384 (Szigeti & Földes 1941, Grumiaux & Castagnone 1955),
Sonatinas D 385 and 408 (Boskovsky & Kraus 1957),
Grand Duo D 574 (Kreisler & Rachmaninov 1928),
Rondo brilliant D 895 (Shumsky & ? 1950,
Y. & H. Menuhin 1938),
Variations on "Trockne Blumen" (Kremer & Maisenberg 1974),

Works for piano four hands (A. & K.-U Schnabel 1937,
Badura-Skoda & Demus 1953),
? Fantasy D 940 (Britten & Richter 1965),
Grand Du0 D 812 (Brendel & Crochet 1962),
Divertissement à la Hongroise D818 (Kraus & de Magalhaes 1958),

Sonata "Arpeggione" (Gendron & Françaix 1952),

String Trio D471 (Wiener Konzerthaus Quartet 1953)
String Trio D 581 (Heifetz, Primrose & Piatigorsky 1960),
Notturno D897 and movement D28 for piano trio (Trio Wanderer 2000),
Piano Trio #1 D898 (Istomin, Schneider & Casals 1951)
Piano Trio #2 D929 (Serkin, A. & H. Busch 1935 ),

Overture D8A (Auryn Quartet)
String Quartets Nos. 1, 2 and 6 (Auryn Quartet 1995, 1997),
Nos. 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 (Wiener Konzerthaus Quartet 1951-1953),
No. 8 (Busch Quartet 1938),
No. 10 (Wiener Philharmonisches Streichquartett 1962),
No. 12 (Amadeus Quartet 1951, Kolisch 1934.
? Panocha 1991)
No. 13 "Rosamunde" (Amadeus Quartets 1956, Kolisch 1934),
No. 14 "Death and the Maiden" (Busch Quartets 1936),
(Juilliard Quartet, July 1959),
No. 15 (Kolisch Quartet, 1934, Cherubini Quartet, 1992),
Piano Quintet "The Trout" (Wiener Oktett members, incl. Willi Boskovsky
& Walther Panhofer (piano), 1950),
String Quintet (Hollywood Quartet & Reher 1951),
Octet (Wlach, Öhlberger, Freiberg, Kamper, Titze, Weis, Weiss & Fiala 1957).

Presto has downloads in FLAC as well as MP3:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8604460--schubert-musique-de-chambre-la-discotheque-ideale-de-diapason-vol-9

Al Eisner

[cooper...@gmail.com]

Those Diapason sets are amazing. I think my brother-in-law (DF) purchased a few and really enjoys them, but he can speak for himself. I haven't acquired any partly because of the listening time issue you mention, and partly because there's a lot of duplication of recordings that I own already. The Big Box mp3s are my commuting staples, but for the moment (hopefully *just* the moment) commuting is out, so there goes the incentive to buy any more Big Boxes. I've had the Big Schubert Box for almost 7 years and it's a treasure. Kraus, Hungerford, Schneider, Schuricht, etc. I didn't know (or forgot about) the other Schubert collection that Steve mentions, and will have to look into it. Back to the Bach Guild, I particularly enjoy Kraus's Schubert and think I have pretty much all of it on CD. There is a nice Japanese CD issue of the Vanguards that are included in the Big Box. It cost more than 99 cents, though :-)

Concerning the Shostakovich, I *think* that the Vanguard Beethoven Quartet issues are of different performances than those in the complete set, but one of the mavens will have to confirm.

Confession: I'm punch-drunk from spending too much time on Zoom om classes and meetings. When I told our ET about it, he said there there actually is a condition called "Zoom Fatigue" that afflicts video-conferencers.

With good wishes to all, Alan

[Al Eisner]

Thanks, and likewise.

After looking over the contents of both boxes Steve suggested -
thanks, Steve - I downloaded the Bach Guild box. On the whole it
contains performers (especially in the symphonies) and works I'm more
intrested in hearing than the "History" box (I'll try to listen to the
Tatrai's D956 via streaming). I don't think have any of the Kraus; I
have Brendel's excellent D958 on an old Vanguard LP, but not
digitally; and I'll be interested to hear what Hungerford does with
D959. It also has two symphonies new to me: #7 (arranged by
Weingartner - I might have heard this liong ago) and the Joachim
arrangement of the Grand Duo, both explained in the informative right
column on the Bach Guild web page. I'm surprised that they seem to be
so dedicated to their projedt, yet are selling it for so little.
--
Al Eisner

[operafan]

The "Big KLR Trio Box" (Kalichstein, Laredo, Robinson) box is outstanding. Among other items, the set includes the complete piano trios of Beethoven, Brahms, and Shostakovich. You may have to go to the Bach Guild website (http://thebachguild.net/) to identify the authorship of some of the pieces. I liked the KLR Beethoven Trios enough to buy the CDs on eBay in order to get the best sound, but for commuting or casual listening, the mp3s in the Big Box are fine.

[demcomm]

FYI, those Bach Guild boxes can be streamed as well as purchased ($10) from Qobuz: https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/discover

[demcomm]

> FYI, those Bach Guild boxes can be streamed as well as purchased ($10) from Qobuz: https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/discover ... In lossless (16-bit) rather than MP3.

[weary flake]

On 2020-04-05 21:51:00 +0000, demcomm said:

>> FYI, those Bach Guild boxes can be streamed as well as purchased ($10)
>> from Qobuz: https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/discover ... In lossless
>> (16-bit) rather than MP3.

Yes, Qobuz US looks much better, CD quality.
Amazon/itunes has a policy of only selling lossy
downloads, so should be avoided.

[RANDY WOLFGANG]

I really like Qobuz - very deep inventory and cd quality sound is available