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    #1

    They know my weakness...

    For large and complete sets of CDs.

    Dang it, I don't even like Liszt that much, and I'm still having a hard time resisting this:

    http://www.amazon.com/Liszt-Complete...3709274&sr=1-1

    Seriously, the enormity of this accomplishment by Leslie Howard astounds me, and the ridiculousness of a box set this huge amuses me, and those reasons alone make me want to buy it. Not to mention the incredibly low price for so much music and that fact that they are surely not going to be around for very long.
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    #2
    With over 20 pages of complete box sets listed there Chris, it looks like a very expensive Xmas for you! Seriously though why bother if you don't like Liszt that much especially as much of that is below par - I'd go for a small selection of Liszt at his best such as the B minor sonata if it was me and save some pennies/dimes! Now some of those other box sets are another matter!!

    I've just seen this Liszt set in there which seems a much better bet to me at a fraction of the price
    http://www.amazon.com/Liszt-Collecti...ref=pd_sim_m_8
    'Man know thyself'

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      #3
      In almost 100 CDs, there are bound to be masterpieces I have never even heard of! But I really just wanted to make a comment on the enormity of what Howard accomplished with this. Truly impressive, and a worthy life's work for a pianist, I believe. And I do appreciate when record companies make releases like this as well.

      Actually, the only other box set that interests me is Belder's set of the complete sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti, not because I am really a huge fan of Scarlatti, but because I am fan of Belder's playing, and I am fascinated by an artist actually playing all of them. It's not just the music, but a single artist traversing all of it that I find fascinating.

      Actually, there are definitely large sets that I would love to buy, but don't exist! How is it that there are at least three complete editions of Bach's music on CD, but not all of Handel's music has been recorded yet!? I would also like to see the complete works of Palestrina and Byrd (a Byrd edition may be in progress, I think).

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        #4
        Fair enough - just make sure you get Liszt's Totentanz, the most amazing thing he ever wrote I think, but being for piano and orchestra I'm not sure it's in your set?
        'Man know thyself'

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          #5
          Yes, the set includes all the music for piano and orchestra as well. I don't really know if I'm going to buy it, though. I hate to say it, but my favorite music from Liszt (that I have heard so far) is actually the Beethoven transcriptions, which I already have two versions of (neither by Howard). But I do at least want to get the disc from Howard that contains Liszt's earlier attempts, as well as Beethoven's own attempt at transcribing Symphony No. 7.

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            #6
            Originally posted by Peter View Post
            Fair enough - just make sure you get Liszt's Totentanz, the most amazing thing he ever wrote I think, but being for piano and orchestra I'm not sure it's in your set?
            It's even better: Totentanz appears twice in the Howard set, once in the first version and once in the final version, with particularly in the two last variations and the coda spectacluar differences.
            Btw, I've got all the Howard Liszt-recordings, and are much cherished (and -as already mentioned- including the premiere of Beethoven's own transcription of the slow introduction to the 7th symphony. Comparing those Liszt's seems to be much closer to the original than Beethoven's).

            Belder Scarlatti is on my wish list too.

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              #7
              Originally posted by Chris View Post
              I hate to say it, but my favorite music from Liszt (that I have heard so far) is actually the Beethoven transcriptions.
              Both sets of Liszt's transcriptions are miracles in themselves -listen particularly to his non-vocal finale 9 and you'll discover how near these variations are to the Diabelli ones. But please don't forget the other Beethoven transcriptions, e.g. of the Septet and a series of songs.

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                #8
                What do you mean by "Both sets", Roehre?

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                  #9
                  Beethoven's attempt at arranging the 7th symphony for piano progressed no farther than the first-movement introduction. It was included in the disc I bought last year of the "Creatures of Prometheus" piano arrangement.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by Chris View Post
                    What do you mean by "Both sets", Roehre?
                    Beethoven 3, 5, 6 , 7 exist in two versions (the first version from the 1830s published simultaneously as "one set"), as does 9.
                    The former were recorded by Howard as well, the latter only in the non-vocal one-piano version (of all 9 symphonies dating from 1864), not the two piano version with choir and soloists.

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                      #11
                      Do make sure you check the zShop prices, as well. That might make the temptation even more difficult to resist.

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                        #12
                        It's really more about the investment of time, I think!

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