Charity Shop Trawl

[Mandryka]

We all love these places, don't we? We can spend our money freely, knowing its going to a good cause, rather than vanishing into the capacious pockets of some invisible capitalist....and we can pass on our 'not wanted' items.

Today, a spot-check of the shops near me yielded:

Bernstein/NYPO - Tchaikovsky, Symphony 6

Ashkenazy - Rachaminov, Preludes, etc.

Catalini: La Wally - Tebaldi, Del Monaco/Cleva

Schumann: Complete Symphonies - BPO/Karajan

All for just short of thirteen quid.

[Ferretfancy]

Mandryka

There can also be wonderful LP bargains, including issues not available on CD. I recently bought a 6 LP set of piano works featuring Earl Wild in superb recordings which hasd obviously never been played, and al for £4.99! As far as I know, none of these appear on CD, they were originally RCA recordings for Reader's Digest made by Decca's Kenneth Wilkinson.

[Richard Tarleton]

Well done for getting the Tebaldi La Wally - Tebaldi is glorious in this, very touching, though del Monaco's bawling grates a little. I discovered this opera through the review in Gramophone in 1969 - I was and am a huge Tebaldi fan! "Ebben..." is a regular at the Cardiff Singer of the World, one winner (Anya Harteros) sang it, and La Georghiu sang it at the LNOTProms. It also featured in that curious, atmospheric film "Diva".

This opera was a favourite of Toscanini who named his daughter for the heroine. http://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/09/ob...worker-91.html

A shame it's not more often performed - OK the ending difficult to stage but nothing a back-projected film couldnt sort out.

[Mandryka]

Mandryka

There can also be wonderful LP bargains, including issues not available on CD. I recently bought a 6 LP set of piano works featuring Earl Wild in superb recordings which hasd obviously never been played, and al for £4.99! As far as I know, none of these appear on CD, they were originally RCA recordings for Reader's Digest made by Decca's Kenneth Wilkinson.

Yes, ff, there are some great LP bargains to be had at these places....sadly, though, they aren't really for me as I don't (currently) have a turntable. (Well, I do have one but it's not wired up to my system and I need a pre-amp before I can anything there!)

Richard - yes, I've often wondered whether Toscanini's children thanked for him for so naming them (Walter/Wally)?

[Eudaimonia]

If you don't have turntable, you might be interested in the fairly inexpensive "Ion" family of turntables, which turn LPs into Mp3s...I have one, and it works beautifully!

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&q=ion+record+player&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=5124639285614078545&sa=X&ei=UlnATdWoDoLu0gHo-5HDDw&ved=0CEIQ8wIwAg#

[Richard Tarleton]

Richard - yes, I've often wondered whether Toscanini's children thanked for him for so naming them (Walter/Wally)?

Indeed - perhaps different connotations in Italian?

[Ferretfancy]

La Wally,

"Have you heard about dear Blanche?
Got run down by an avalanche
( Plucky girl though, got up and finished fourth )
Well, did you ever! What a swell party that was ! "

C.Porter ( He must have seen the opera ! )

[Richard Tarleton]

Deathless verse Ff. Good thing her name wasn't Abigail, or Harriet. As Bart Simpson said of a similar lyric, "nobody says potahto". I hope Rob Cowan isn't reading this, he'll play it on Breakfast. We get "Shuffle off to Buffalo" about once a week as it is.

[BBMmk2]

Stowkowski Transcriptions. BBC PO/Slatkin For £1.50!!

[Pianorak]

. . . I recently bought a 6 LP set of piano works featuring Earl Wild in superb recordings which hasd obviously never been played, and al for £4.99! As far as I know, none of these appear on CD, they were originally RCA recordings for Reader's Digest made by Decca's Kenneth Wilkinson.

I got those when they first came out. Excellent performances.

[Mandryka]

Anyone else think that the people who are behind the Oxfam shops are bit more savvy and entrepeneurial than the folks behind other places?

In one branch today, I noticed a whole plethora of goodies......Hickox conducting William Alwyn's complete symphonies, Abbado and the VPO accompanying von Otter in some Berg songs, Bernstein's complete symphonies, etc, etc - but all priced in the regions of £20, etc, etc.

I know the same rules don't apply when buying from charity shops rather than market-value retailers, but I was impressed that somebody in the back-room had realised the probable value of these items.

Sadly, it meant I had to pass on them - I even left Keith Jarrett's Koln Concerto on the shelf (a snip at £4.99!).

[Norfolk Born]

The Oxfam shop in Ipswich is much more expensive than its competitors when it comes to jazz and classical DVDs and CDs. On the other hand, as I've mentioned elsewhere, I did pick up the DVD of Abbado's 2006 Lucerne Festival Mahler 6th for only £2 in the Cancer Research Shop in our local high street.

[pastoralguy]

I've never understood why our big Oxfam CD and Music shop sells individual cds for £4.99 but complete sets for £5.99! I recently got the Solti Brahms symphony set for that price whereas an individual symphony by the same folk was £4.99.

Most odd.

[pastoralguy]

I hope Rob Cowan isn't reading this, he'll play it on Breakfast. We get "Shuffle off to Buffalo" about once a week as it is.

Am I the only one who finds the Victor Borg stuff he plays toe-curlingly awful!? IMHO his act has not aged well.

[Ferretfancy]

Victor Borge was always terrible, but this type of musical spoof stuff nearly always is. I'd make a small exception for Anna Russell though. I've always liked her summing up of French art songs- " No voice, but tremendous artistry ! "