Just bought an 87 CD set of Beethoven's complete works!!!

[Michael]

Ah, I have about 32 Ninths and one is in the mail......

Why only 32 Ninths? Have you become tired of this work?

[AeolianHarp]

If indeed there is one with electronic piano for the second piano, that one is not worthy of playing but to sample the work. I got a used CD of piano that was called something like ghost piano, all electronic. It was lifeless, oh precise but too freaky weird. Reminds me of a sticker I saw on a car "Drum machines have no soul"--very true of pop music. Same for classical.

Yes I agree! Acoustic instruments all the way for me!

[AeolianHarp]

Why only 32 Ninths? Have you become tired of this work?

Seeing as you have like 32 performances of the Ninth who do you rate the highest?

[Harvey]

Seeing as you have like 32 performances of the Ninth who do you rate the highest?

Ferenc Fricsay 1958 for sure! But I am no music evaluator. I rate the Ninths entirely on the 4th movement vocals. Fricsay's has excellent singers and a high level of clarity in the parts where the soloists are singing together. That said, I do not have some of the highest rated Ninths, such as Furtwangler.

I also recall some of the better ones included Blomstedt's 1980 Ninth (Leipzig), Masur (1974 Leipzig) and Maazel's (1978 Cleveland Orchestra). Abbado's seemed pretty good too as I recall.

I see disc 11 is Creatures of Prometheus, so that is likely my first CD to listen to. I have only heard the overture and am not even that familiar with that part.

[AeolianHarp]

Ferenc Fricsay 1958 for sure! But I am no music evaluator. I rate the Ninths entirely on the 4th movement vocals. Fricsay's has excellent singers and a high level of clarity in the parts where the soloists are singing together. That said, I do not have some of the highest rated Ninths, such as Furtwangler.

I also recall some of the better ones included Blomstedt's 1980 Ninth (Leipzig), Masur (1974 Leipzig) and Maazel's (1978 Cleveland Orchestra). Abbado's seemed pretty good too as I recall.

I see disc 11 is Creatures of Prometheus, so that is likely my first CD to listen to. I have only heard the overture and am not even that familiar with that part.

You certainly have a passion for the Ninth! Oh Creatures of Prometheus is wonderful! It is played on his radio a lot!

[Harvey]

Yes the Ninth is sublime. Oh and I was perhaps having a bit too much fun chasing down CDs on Amazon.

I see that the Leonora (1805) on this 87 CD set is the good one--Blomstedt. I have the Gardiner and they use a narrator for the spoken parts, which is very odd. And I have the Leitner and it is poor sound quality. The Fidelio is the Halasz, which is a very good one, though I have it on NAXOS and Rocco has it in the Black Dog Opera Library series. No problem though, extra copies are good to have in case you find someone who appreciates great music.

[Harvey]

Why only 32 Ninths? Have you become tired of this work?

I actually did for a while. At one point I had about 15 Ninths and nothing else on my MP3. But after getting heavily into the Eroica and then coming back to the Ninth, I appreciate the Ninth even more.

Yes I agree! Acoustic instruments all the way for me!

Ah, yes. For clasical acoustic only. I was actually thinking that it was a computer generate second instrument, which would be even worse than a guy playing electric piano.

[Chris]

I see that the Leonora (1805) on this 87 CD set is the good one--Blomstedt. I have the Gardiner and they use a narrator for the spoken parts, which is very odd.

The Blomstedt recording is indeed very good. The Gardiner is not even really the 1805 version; it is some odd combination of the 1805 and 1806 versions. Soustrot has a nice recording of the 1806 version.

[Harvey]

The Blomstedt recording is indeed very good. The Gardiner is not even really the 1805 version; it is some odd combination of the 1805 and 1806 versions. Soustrot has a nice recording of the 1806 version.

I have the Gardiner and Bernstein Fidelios on the DG Complete Works, just that set though.

I love the Bernstein Fidelio ever since I got the DVD of it. Gundula Janowitz is the best Leonora ever in my opinion. Just love watching her sing and act. And the Abscheulecher aria is supreme! Hans Sotin is a great Pizarro, his face contorting into evil shapes as he sings of his planned revenge, and Manfred Jungwirth is the greatest Rocco ever. All my opinion of course, but the Bernstein Fidelio really is the only one for me to watch. Rene Kollo is a very good Florestan too. And Lucia Popp is quite good as Marzilena (now I am probably not spelling names so good).

I see the Gielen Missa Solemnis is on the 87 CD set, but is different from the Gielen Missa Solemnis I have, different orchestra and different choir. Also has the excellent Rilling Christ on the Mount of Olives.

And it has the Glorious Moment and Choral Fantasy, bet it is the same as the one that is out there (NAXOs I think pairs these two).

When this set arrives it will be like having 87 birthdays all at once!

[AeolianHarp]

Not as grand as your purchases Rocco and Harvey, but I just got Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6/Pastoral -Herbert von Karajan, Berlin, on CD on Ebay for £1.28 ( free postage)! Bargain! Nice cover too.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=331107695956

[Harvey]

That's $2.14 USD. Great deal. Those are the kind of deals you can't pass up. Nice CD cover too. Interesting package Classikon Library of Great Classics. I am not getting it to come up in US Amazon. Maybe a European exclusive of DG.

I once bought a CD off ebay for $2 with free shipping and when it arrived, the postage the person paid was around $3.50, so they basically paid me to take their CD!

[Rocco]

Nice find AeolianHarp! Great price too!

[AeolianHarp]

That's $2.14 USD. Great deal. Those are the kind of deals you can't pass up. Nice CD cover too. Interesting package Classikon Library of Great Classics. I am not getting it to come up in US Amazon. Maybe a European exclusive of DG.

Yes- I will now have almost all his symphonies on CD- just the Eighth and Ninth to get. If you think that is a great deal- the other ones I got for 50p each from second hand shops!

I once bought a CD off ebay for $2 with free shipping and when it arrived, the postage the person paid was around $3.50, so they basically paid me to take their CD!

They probably just guessed what the postage was when they listed it!

[AeolianHarp]

Nice find AeolianHarp! Great price too!

I ordered the Roman Rolland book off Amazon too. After a lot of faffing about I managed to get the mobi file onto my Kindle, but the formatting is a bit odd and many mispellings. I had to basically go to the package manager and get Calibre to read it. It took me ages to find out how to send a copy to the Kindle. Kindle is handy for long bus journeys, travel and to pass the time whilst waiting for an appointment or something..but yes, I much prefer a real book!
The mobi was also handy for me to see if I liked the book's contents enough to buy it.

[Harvey]

Rocco got his Karajan Beethoven nine symphony set for about $2 when we got a box of classical CDs at a garage sale for about $10. It came out to somewhere around 33 cents per CD. I let him have the Karajan set since I had the Walter set of the nine symphonies which I got at a different garage sale for $6. Just last month I ordered the Wand set of Beethoven symphonies for $17.