Charity Shop Trawl

[Bryn]

Nothing particularly special, but various Wagner bits and pieces from the LPO and Mark Elder (EMI Eminence) and a Stephane Grappelli 'collection' (Castle Communications). No great damage to the bank balance. They cost 20p each.

[Barbirollians]

The Katchen Double Decca of the Brahms concertos for £2 in Leeds -

Wonderful musical performances - not in the barnstorming style . The accompaniment of Monteux and the LSO in No1 is particularly fine.

[Conchis]

Recently:

Douglas Lilburn - Symphonies (Naxos) - £1.00
Mozart - Il Sogno Di Scipone (Brilliant double) - £1.00
Schumann - Kreisleriana/Novelletten - Youri Egorov £0.99p

[cloughie]

The Katchen Double Decca of the Brahms concertos for £2 in Leeds -

Wonderful musical performances - not in the barnstorming style . The accompaniment of Monteux and the LSO in No1 is particularly fine.

[Conchis]

Today:

Bach: Complete Keyboard Concertos - ASMF/Murray Perahia (3CDs)
Bartok: Complete String Quartets - Emerson Quartet (still in shrink-wrap)
Elgar: Violin Concerto/ V-W: Lark Ascending - Hilary Hahn LSO/Davis
Strauss: Vier Letzte Lieder and Orchestral Songs - Fleming - Houston SO/Eschenbach

All for a quid each: 7 discs for four quid!

[vinteuil]

.

oxfam, Turnham Green Terrace, Chiswick -

£3.99 - six CD harmonia mundi set -

'Les Très Riches Heures du Moyen Âge'

http://amzn.eu/8wg8Duw

.

[pastoralguy]

Just a couple of observations.

I've come across a couple of charity shops in Edinburgh and one in Lancaster who no longer stock CDs of any description. The prevailing attitude is 'we can barely give them away so it's not worth the shelf space'. The same seems to be true for dvds. I often come across shops with mountains of them at prices such as 3 for a pound! (Mind you, I did pick up some nice Karajan discs in a charity shop in Penny Lane, Liverpool that were 5 for a pound!)

I've also noticed that I've always found charity shop CDs to be in excellent condition but this last year I've had my share of duds that I've either passed over or risked it and bought because they were ridiculously inexpensive. I've got a cd cleaning/repair machine and, occasionally, it'll fix a disc with minor scratches.

Does anyone else have thoughts on this?

[Conchis]

Just a couple of observations.

I've come across a couple of charity shops in Edinburgh and one in Lancaster who no longer stock CDs of any description. The prevailing attitude is 'we can barely give them away so it's not worth the shelf space'. The same seems to be true for dvds. I often come across shops with mountains of them at prices such as 3 for a pound! (Mind you, I did pick up some nice Karajan discs in a charity shop in Penny Lane, Liverpool that were 5 for a pound!)

I've also noticed that I've always found charity shop CDs to be in excellent condition but this last year I've had my share of duds that I've either passed over or risked it and bought because they were ridiculously inexpensive. I've got a cd cleaning/repair machine and, occasionally, it'll fix a disc with minor scratches.

Does anyone else have thoughts on this?

As you say, you pays your money and you takes your choice. Fortunately, there is relatively little to be lost.

I recently bought a Bernstein Barber/Gershwin, etc compilation on DG which turned out to be unplayble but as I'd paid all of 20p for it, I wasn't too bothered.

Slightly more bothered by an Emma Johnson 3 disc set on ASV which had appalling bronzing issues (a real problem with that source).



Btw: good to have you back - you've been missed!

[visualnickmos]

...Slightly more bothered by an Emma Johnson 3 disc set on ASV which had appalling bronzing issues (a real problem with that source).



Btw: good to have you back - you've been missed!

Exactly! Beware of ASV - they don't last very long before the bronzing sets in. Such a pity, as they do have some good stuff on that label....

[Dave2002]

Just a couple of observations.

I've come across a couple of charity shops in Edinburgh and one in Lancaster who no longer stock CDs of any description. The prevailing attitude is 'we can barely give them away so it's not worth the shelf space'. The same seems to be true for dvds. I often come across shops with mountains of them at prices such as 3 for a pound! (Mind you, I did pick up some nice Karajan discs in a charity shop in Penny Lane, Liverpool that were 5 for a pound!)

I've also noticed that I've always found charity shop CDs to be in excellent condition but this last year I've had my share of duds that I've either passed over or risked it and bought because they were ridiculously inexpensive. I've got a cd cleaning/repair machine and, occasionally, it'll fix a disc with minor scratches.

Does anyone else have thoughts on this?

Must look out Penny Lane next time I'm in Liverpool!

I had one CD (Naxos - Idil Biret) which had a track which wouldn't play. I think I used Brasso and toothpaste on it until I succeeded in getting it to play - or at least well enought to be copied by computer software, and then made a new CD-R. I would't have bothered if I hadn't liked the performances. I don't know how well the CD cleaning/repair kits do - my suspicion is that they won't work for really tough cases, whereas perseverance and other abrasives can give results.

Normally even CDs which appear on the surface to be quite badly scratched aren't a problem, and most charity shop CDs are in better condition than that. More of an issue is when you get a 2 or 3-fer and when you think you are listening to Brendel you discover it's Acker Bilk on CD 2. Not such a big deal at 25p a throw, though I'd probably object more for some "popular" music genres.

[pastoralguy]

Btw: good to have you back - you've been missed!

Many thanks, Conchis.

[pastoralguy]

Must look out Penny Lane next time I'm in Liverpool!

I had one CD (Naxos - Idil Biret) which had a track which wouldn't play. I think I used Brasso and toothpaste on it until I succeeded in getting it to play - or at least well enought to be copied by computer software, and then made a new CD-R. I would't have bothered if I hadn't liked the performances. I don't know how well the CD cleaning/repair kits do - my suspicion is that they won't work for really tough cases, whereas perseverance and other abrasives can give results.

Normally even CDs which appear on the surface to be quite badly scratched aren't a problem, and most charity shop CDs are in better condition than that. More of an issue is when you get a 2 or 3-fer and when you think you are listening to Brendel you discover it's Acker Bilk on CD 2. Not such a big deal at 25p a throw, though I'd probably object more for some "popular" music genres.

Thanks for the tip, Dave. I'll try that. We were in Lancaster last weekend staying with a friend in anticipation of a wedding in Liverpool last weekend. There's a colossal charity warehouse in Lancaster where I bought some classical CDs for 50p a pop but I passed on a Handel Oratorio which was scratched appallingly. Lo and behold, did Andrew McGregor and his guest not recommend it on Record Review?! So, I popped back and duly bought it for 50p and found it miss-tracked right from the start. However, the friend I'd bought it for was able to rip it to his computer.

I once walked into a charity shop in Edinburgh and found 20 double CDs for sale. 25p each! Alas, EVERY SINGLE ONE had the second disc missing! Ah well...

[cloughie]

Exactly! Beware of ASV - they don't last very long before the bronzing sets in. Such a pity, as they do have some good stuff on that label....

I’ve had some badly bronzed unplayables but others which played OK at the time of purchase but took the precaution of making CDR copies.

[Conchis]

Picked up the Szell/Cleveland Beethoven cycle today in Nottingham: 5 discs for £1.50.

[visualnickmos]

Bargain of the year!