Bargains

[Dave2002]

Another ClassicSelectWorld free download:

https://www.classicselectworld.com/products/liszt-saint-saens-piano-concertos-emil-gilels-kiril-kondrashin-russian-state-symphony-orchestra

Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1.
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 2.

Emil Gilels, State Symphony Orchestra of the USSR, Kiril Kondrashin.

Mono FLAC and mp3

Vanguard Release from 1954:

https://www.discogs.com/release/15308049-Emil-Gilels-Liszt-Saint-Saens-Emil-Gilels-Plays-Liszt-Saint-Saens

Looks like the recordings date to 1948-50:
https://pianistdiscography.com/disco...amp;cdnum=7280

There was a glitch with this one - but it was fixed I believe later on. Some of the sections were missing originally.

This week there is a collection of some unusual Rachmaninov - and most likely in a much more modern recorded sound.

Curiously the cover of the album refers to digital surround sound - but that's probably not what's on free offer here.

https://www.classicselectworld.com/

[Retune]

There was a glitch with this one - but it was fixed I believe later on. Some of the sections were missing originally.

This week there is a collection of some unusual Rachmaninov - and most likely in a much more modern recorded sound.

Curiously the cover of the album refers to digital surround sound - but that's probably not what's on free offer here.

https://www.classicselectworld.com/

Glitches seem to be quite common with their free downloads! Though to be fair I've not had any problems with the stuff I've bought from them.

Just grabbing the Rachmaninov:

https://www.classicselectworld.com/products/rachmaninoff-the-isle-of-the-dead-five-picture-studies?variant=44762640351482

From the Discogs images, it looks like this was recorded in something called StereoSurround that came from technology developed for home theatre AV, and released on a conventional stereo CD. I've never heard of this process before, but supposedly if you have the right decoder it can be played in surround:

https://www.discogs.com/release/13610892-Rachmaninoff-San-Diego-Symphony-Orchestra-Yoav-Talmi-The-Isle-Of-The-Dead-Vocalise-Five-Picture-Stud

https://rec.music.classical.recordings.narkive.com/qCEFMK9P/shure-hts-steteosurround-encoding

'Listeners will hear the best possible sound, of course, when using a Shure HTS decoder or a Dolby ProLogic decoder. However, Shure claims that all listeners will benefit, even those with just stereo TVs. The Stereosurround system creates a greater depth of sound on regular stereo broadcasts. Any surround-sound decoder will reproduce all four channels encoded by Stereosurround.'

Would that also be expected to work with, say, a FLAC?

[Dave2002]

Glitches seem to be quite common with their free downloads! Though to be fair I've not had any problems with the stuff I've bought from them.

Just grabbing the Rachmaninov:

......

Would that also be expected to work with, say, a FLAC?

Assuming the CD surround process works - which has been questioned in the comments threads in the quoted articles - then FLAC should simply produce a version of the CD which would then work with the surround sound decoders, as it ought to be pretty much bit for bit equivalent to the CD.

I used to think that making surround sound recordings was a "natural" process, involving using spatial microphones, so all that was required for distribution was a suitable multi-channel carrier system. However perhaps few recordings are actually made that way, and there's nowadays a lot of tinkering with the sound. Some of the DAWs and other tools used nowadays can do amazing things with audio sound tracks, so a considerable amount of reinterpretation can be done by mixing and mastering engineers. Is that a good thing?

Maybe sometimes yes - but other times definitely not. Like photo editing/retouching remastering can completely ruin any authenticity present in the original source.

[Cockney Sparrow]

50% Off DOWNLOADS this weekend.
Given the wording below and as it doesn’t say “up to” this looks interesting (how much time have I got free until late on Sunday, I wonder?).

We are thrilled to announce our Black Weekend Sale, offering a staggering 50% discount on all our albums from almost all our labels. This includes both new releases and our extensive back catalogue.
https://www.eclassical.com/pages/selected-labels.html
BIS Records; Harmonia Mundi; Naxos; Pentatone; Chandos; Mirare; Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra; LSO Live; Aparté

[HighlandDougie]

Not quite with the breadth of the eclassical universe but, if physical CDs are your thing:

https://outhere-music.com/en/news/our-birthday-weekend-spectacular

Note that postage is free worldwide. I've just ordered the recent ICA Boult 2 CD coupling of V-W and Holst and some Antonini Haydn.

[HighlandDougie]

50% Off DOWNLOADS this weekend.
Given the wording below and as it doesn’t say “up to” this looks interesting (how much time have I got free until late on Sunday, I wonder?).

We are thrilled to announce our Black Weekend Sale, offering a staggering 50% discount on all our albums from almost all our labels. This includes both new releases and our extensive back catalogue.
https://www.eclassical.com/pages/selected-labels.html
BIS Records; Harmonia Mundi; Naxos; Pentatone; Chandos; Mirare; Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra; LSO Live; Aparté

As they seem to have stopped sending me emails, I missed this - possibly fortunately - so thanks for the heads-up, CS. This morning's BaL recommendation for less than £6 was, though, too much of a temptation so downloading as I type.

[Dave2002]

As they seem to have stopped sending me emails, I missed this - possibly fortunately - so thanks for the heads-up, CS. This morning's BaL recommendation for less than £6 was, though, too much of a temptation so downloading as I type.

Which was that?

I have been buying quite a bit of stuff while it's on offer, but most reductions are less than 20% In the scheme of things it's much better to pay for the more expensive items or software which might have 40-50% reduction, as the items with smaller reductions will probably still be affordable later on. I did look to see if there are any good CD offers [I still prefer physical discs.] and even applying searches such as "CDs box sets classical" or "CDs box sets classical bernstein" didn't find many good reductions. There were some reallly old recordings [10CD boxes] from Membran or Documents - such as Ormandy or Beecham, but going back to recordings before 1940 doesn't seem good to me unless the performances are outstanding.

[HighlandDougie]

Which was that?

I have been buying quite a bit of stuff while it's on offer, but most reductions are less than 20% In the scheme of things it's much better to pay for the more expensive items or software which might have 40-50% reduction, as the items with smaller reductions will probably still be affordable later on. I did look to see if there are any good CD offers [I still prefer physical discs.] and even applying searches such as "CDs box sets classical" or "CDs box sets classical bernstein" didn't find many good reductions. There were some reallly old recordings [10CD boxes] from Membran or Documents - such as Ormandy or Beecham, but going back to recordings before 1940 doesn't seem good to me unless the performances are outstanding.

Javier Perianes on a Harmonia Mundi album, "Jeux de Miroirs". As a hi-res download, it sounds much better than it did on Radio 3 this morning. Pace Louis Lortie (and BG), a deserving winner.

FNAC (no use for the UK, alas) had a few DG/Decca big boxes (Ingrid Haebler Legacy; Reinhard Goebel etc) at about 50% off. Pretty much zilch on Amazon that I could see.

[Dave2002]

Javier Perianes on a Harmonia Mundi album, "Jeux de Miroirs". As a hi-res download, it sounds much better than it did on Radio 3 this morning. Pace Louis Lortie (and BG), a deserving winner.

FNAC (no use for the UK, alas) had a few DG/Decca big boxes (Ingrid Haebler Legacy; Reinhard Goebel etc) at about 50% off. Pretty much zilch on Amazon that I could see.

Thanks. I'll check that out. I might have been interested in Haebler, but if no good in the UK will have to wait for another occasion. I've been spending too much on other things anyway - but trying to get the reductions into the 40-50% range.

[Dave2002]

In this period of Black Friday and Cyber Monday - fancy names designed to entice us into buying too much stuff perhaps - it has been difficult to decide whether there are any really good CD bargains.

However I did spot a few which might be bargains, and might be worth considering, including the box set from Cecile Ousset - mostly 1980s EMI recordings - but a good range of works, the Warner Barbirolli box - even though it probably duplicates several individual and box sets I have already, and maybe Marin Alsop's Naxos set of Bernstein works.

I wasn't looking for anything too special, and most of my "money saving" efforts have been in other directions - and I've already spent too much - but to quote the words of someone sometimes close to me "I'm saving you money". Mmmm. I'll leave it there.

[Dave2002]

Re post 8800, the Warner Barbirolli box probably was a bargain - for those who wanted it - as the price has now reverted to something close to £150. The Cecile Ousset box is still within affordable range, however, and I might still try for that. As I wrote earlier, money was spent [and arguably "saved"] in other areas.

[mathias broucek]

Remy Ballot Bruckner 0-9 £10 or so for FLAC (16 bit) at Presto. Can't link as am travelling

[crb11]

Remy Ballot Bruckner 0-9 £10 or so for FLAC (16 bit) at Presto. Can't link as am travelling

Link here. Insane price, particularly as you're getting about 10-15 extra minutes per symphony compared to the competition!

[gurnemanz]

Link here. Insane price, particularly as you're getting about 10-15 extra minutes per symphony compared to the competition!

Snapped up the Bruckner. It could be a mistake, so not destined to stay at that price for long.

Also well worth snapping up is the latest freebie download from Classical Direct. Rimsky Scheherazade with Mario Rossi and Vienna State Opera Orchestra. Very early "stereo" from 1956. It's a Vanguard Stereophonic Demonstration Disc, which sounds very good and was a top seller in its day. It also has the brilliant Miriam Solovieff on violin solo.

[AuntDaisy]

Snapped up the Bruckner. It could be a mistake, so not destined to stay at that price for long.

This might be a silly question, but why are some of the Presto tracks marked as "Album only" & in a somewhat random way?
Who would want to buy just part of a symphony?
Presumably the £10.50 FLAC has all the tracks for all the symphonies (& necessarily in the right order).

For example: