I've just bought in a shop, paying 15, 00 € for TEN CDs, "The British Symphonic Collection" (Membran LC 12281).
You can see them on www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=8509475 proposed at 28, 78 pounds.
They are the Douglas Bostock recordings (Liverpool-Munich 1998-2005) : I see them on the web still proposed as "Classico" at 12, 50 pounds each.
Between the ten, I had already two identical (Holst, Elgar) as "Scandinavian Classics"(?) and own other versions of several works in the box.
But forty per cent is a novelty to me (most interesting, on paper, Cowen Sixth Symphony) and the price near to nothing.
I am very fond of the ultra-cheap box.
But the decrease/falling of prices in reissues appears inexorable (for instance I have just bought the Bowen Symphonies paying more for one CD).
This 10 cd set is available from amazon for £11.35 post free.
To clarify, this is not the complete series of recordings originally issued by Classico which ran to 16 volumes.
Those included in this bargain box are:
(http://www.musicweb-international.com/Themed_releases/ClassicO/Elgar.jpg)(http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Sept06/Cowen_classcd684_150.jpg)(http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/July02/thDelius_in_norway.jpg)(http://www.musicweb-international.com/Themed_releases/ClassicO/bax6.jpg)(http://www.musicweb-international.com/Themed_releases/ClassicO/Job.jpg)(http://www.musicweb-international.com/Themed_releases/ClassicO/holst.jpg)(http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Sept06/bush_CLASSCD484_150.jpg)(http://www.musicweb-international.com/Themed_releases/ClassicO/butterworth.jpg)(http://www.musicweb-international.com/Themed_releases/ClassicO/Arnold5.jpg)(http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/July02/thConcert_for_orchestra.jpg)
CD 1 - Elgar: The Crown of India, op. 66; A Voice in the Desert, op. 77; Polonia, op. 76; Piano Concerto, op. 90 - Slow Movement; The Spanish Lady, op. 89: Suite; Civic Fanfare (Hereford)
Mette Christina Østergaard (mezzo soprano)
Peter Hall (narrator)
Margaret Fingerhut (piano)
Münchner Symphoniker
Douglas Bostock (conductor)
CD 2 - Cowen: Symphony No. 6 in E major "The Idyllic"; Coleridge-Taylor: Symphony in A minor
Aarhus Symphony Orchestra
Douglas Bostock (conductor)
CD 3 - Delius: On the Mountains – Symphonic Poem; Seven Songs from the Norwegian; Paa Vidderne – Melodrama
Jan Lund (tenor)
Peter Hall (narrator)
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Douglas Bostock (conductor)
CD 4 - Bax: Symphony No. 6; Tintagel; Overture to Adventure
Münchner Symphoniker
Douglas Bostock (conductor)
CD 5 - Vaughan Williams: Job – A Masque for Dancing; Prelude on an Old Carol Tune; Variations for Orchestra (Orch. Jacob)
Münchner Symphoniker
Douglas Bostock (conductor)
CD 6 - Holst: Symphony in F major, op. 8 "The Cotswolds"; Walt Whitman Overture, op. 7; A Hampshire Suite, op. 28, No. 2; The Perfect Fool – Ballet Music, op. 39; Scherzo for Orchestra (from an Unfinished Symphony)
Münchner Symphoniker
Douglas Bostock (conductor)
CD 7 - Alan Bush: Symphony No. 1 in C major, op. 21; Symphony No. 2 "The Nottingham"
Royal Northern College of Music Symphony Orchestra
Douglas Bostock (conductor)
CD 8 - Arthur Butterworth: Symphony No. 1, op. 15; Ruth Gipps: Symphony No. 2, op. 30
Münchner Symphoniker
Douglas Bostock (conductor)
CD 9 - Malcolm Arnold: Symphony No. 5, op. 74; Divertimento No. 2, op. 75; Machines – Symphonic Study; Solitarie – Ballet; The Belles of St. Trinians – Comedy Suite (Exploits for Orchestra)
Münchner Symphoniker
Douglas Bostock (conductor)
CD 10 - Edward Gregson: Contrasts: A Concerto for Orchestra; Alun Hoddinott: Concerto for Orchestra, op. 127; John McCabe: Concerto for Orchestra
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Douglas Bostock (conductor)
Those omitted are:
(http://www.musicweb-international.com/Themed_releases/ClassicO/jacob.jpg)(http://www.musicweb-international.com/Themed_releases/ClassicO/owen_bainton.jpg)(http://www.musicweb-international.com/Themed_releases/ClassicO/Arnold_Rinaldo.jpg)(http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Sept06/Elgar_choral_tradition_Classico_150.jpg)(http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Sept06/Bennett_Potter_classcd634_150.jpg)(http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/Apr07/Britten_Ireland_classcd704_150.jpg)
A fab bargain, this. If friends don't have these recordings, this is unmissable, I'd have thought..
Duly ordered! Thanks for the notice, Alberto.
Quote from: Alan Howe on Saturday 04 June 2011, 19:36
A fab bargain, this. If friends don't have these recordings, this is unmissable, I'd have thought..
Absolutely, this is an essential purchase for any member who did not collect the individual discs first time around! The box is a no-frills release with no booklet notes, but at least
some relevent information can by gleaned from the various reviews that each disc received over at MusicWeb.
Here is a link to the entire series http://www.musicweb-international.com/Themed_releases/ClassicO/British.htm (http://www.musicweb-international.com/Themed_releases/ClassicO/British.htm) - click on a cover for the relevent review(s).
:)
Although I'm afraid some works are too modern for me, I couldn't resist the temptation for less than 10 euro, which is amazingly cheap. See here (http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/The-British-Symphonic-Collection/hnum/4933347)
For those of my compatriots who might wonder about delivery times from the UK, my order was processed by Amazon on 10 June. Royal Mail/USPS delivered it to my desk the morning of 14 June. (Standard delivery.)
First time poster ... thanks for the heads up - ordered!
Welcome, imirizaldu!
Quote from: Albion on Thursday 09 June 2011, 18:52
Here is a link to the entire series http://www.musicweb-international.com/Themed_releases/ClassicO/British.htm (http://www.musicweb-international.com/Themed_releases/ClassicO/British.htm) - click on a cover for the relevent review(s).
Thanks for that, Albion! It offers at least some background information. I very much regret that the excellent booklets haven't been licensed for this re-release. I would have paid twice the sum for this box to have Lewis Foreman's invaluable thoughts. (I suppose he provided the most?) Unfortunately some of the original CDs have been deleted. Obviously they are much sought after: amazon.co.uk offers a second hand Cowen/CT for GBP 120, amazon.de one for 181 Euros!!! I missed a few CDs when they were first released, some I have in the Classico
For me, that Cowen CD is one of the best parts of the collection. Not a heaven-storming composer, but a genial and gifted one whose last symphony has given much pleasure over the last week.
What can I expect of a 10 CD box for £8.93 without costs for P&P? Well, reviews are positive. I like the Elgar disc (what a pity the PC lasts only some 6 minutes...) and Cowen's "The Idyllic". But that's it. Sorry to admit, but the rest of the music is not my cup of tea. Too modern for my ears, I suppose. But then, most of the music after the 1920s is not to my taste (exceptions for Rachmaninoff, Schmidt-Kowalski and Pink Floyd ;)). Am I disappointed? Of course not. I've heard some music previously unknown to me, and CDs 1&2 are worth more than the price of the whole box.
Dutton recorded a "realisation" of the Elgar PC by Robert Walker. I won't miss the 1st subject (1st movement) orchestrated by Elgar himself for its dark, haunting mystery but the rest is.... well, forget it. I suppose there is just not enough material to reconstruct a convincing Elgar. I guess even Anthony Payne would fail. If you must have an Elgar PC turn to Healy Willan's masterful essay in that genre! ;)
Just taken delivery of this box set - I actually think it's brilliant and there's lots there that I personally enjoy. Thoroughly recommended...... :)
Quote from: britishcomposer on Wednesday 29 June 2011, 21:34
Dutton recorded a "realisation" of the Elgar PC by Robert Walker. I won't miss the 1st subject (1st movement) orchestrated by Elgar himself for its dark, haunting mystery but the rest is.... well, forget it. I suppose there is just not enough material to reconstruct a convincing Elgar. I guess even Anthony Payne would fail.
I have to agree that Walker's version is a failure. Perhaps someone else will take a look at the fragments one day. I seem to remember watching a television program about this a few years back, and there is apparently no shortage of genuine bits, but Elgar hadn't strung them together, possibly not even in his own mind.
Payne's version of Elgar's 3rd Symphony is utterly brilliant.
I seem to recall liking one of the others of Walker's reconstructions- King Arthur possibly?... though that had so much music in common with the 3rd symphony that I was very confused listening to it. I'm probably confused now. About Payne's reconstruction I agree. Of the three recordings I know of, I think I prefer Colin Davis' LSO one which I've heard on Austrian radio from time to time - he and the orchestra get the dynamics (in the broad, not just the ff-pp sense) of the finale especially (its opening is a good example) - the orchestration, the dynamics (now in the narrow sense :) ), the quirks of harmony and stress-destress - some Elgar, some Payne, there - to really sound much more than it seems happens on the Naxos recording (which I have and am generally much pleased with, mind...)
Just received my copy - I'd forgotten the earlier postings to this thread, so although the Amazon price has gone up a bit (to nearly £14 plus postage), this is still an exceptional price for 10 CDs (I haven't listened yet but if only two are well-liked, it is enough to justify the outlay).
The reason for the post is that the box-set does NOT come with the usual notes (I guess MEMBRAN who marketed this set needed to save some money to do the pressings in the first place??). So, does anyone in UC know from where (if at all!) the original PDFs of the individual CD notes can be downloaded?
Any help much appreciated (tried but failed to find a direct contact for ClassicO)
Best wishes
Richard