"The British Symphonic Collection": an ultra-bargain box

[alberto]

I've just bought in a shop, paying 15, 00 € for TEN CDs, "The British Symphonic Collection" (Membran LC 12281).
You can see them on www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=8509475 proposed at 28, 78 pounds.
They are the Douglas Bostock recordings (Liverpool-Munich 1998-2005) : I see them on the web still proposed as "Classico" at 12, 50 pounds each.
Between the ten, I had already two identical (Holst, Elgar) as "Scandinavian Classics"(?) and own other versions of several works in the box.
But forty per cent is a novelty to me (most interesting, on paper, Cowen Sixth Symphony) and the price near to nothing.
I am very fond of the ultra-cheap box.
But the decrease/falling of prices in reissues appears inexorable (for instance I have just bought the Bowen Symphonies paying  more for one CD).

[Gareth Vaughan]

This 10 cd set is available from amazon for £11.35 post free.

[albion]

To clarify, this is not the complete series of recordings originally issued by Classico which ran to 16 volumes.

Those included in this bargain box are:



CD 1 - Elgar: The Crown of India, op. 66; A Voice in the Desert, op. 77; Polonia, op. 76; Piano Concerto, op. 90 - Slow Movement; The Spanish Lady, op. 89: Suite; Civic Fanfare (Hereford)

Mette Christina Østergaard (mezzo soprano)
Peter Hall (narrator)
Margaret Fingerhut (piano)
Münchner Symphoniker
Douglas Bostock (conductor)

CD 2 - Cowen: Symphony No. 6 in E major "The Idyllic"; Coleridge-Taylor: Symphony in A minor

Aarhus Symphony Orchestra
Douglas Bostock (conductor)

CD 3 - Delius: On the Mountains – Symphonic Poem; Seven Songs from the Norwegian; Paa Vidderne – Melodrama

Jan Lund (tenor)
Peter Hall (narrator)
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Douglas Bostock (conductor)

CD 4 - Bax: Symphony No. 6; Tintagel; Overture to Adventure

Münchner Symphoniker
Douglas Bostock (conductor)

CD 5 - Vaughan Williams: Job – A Masque for Dancing; Prelude on an Old Carol Tune; Variations for Orchestra (Orch. Jacob)

Münchner Symphoniker
Douglas Bostock (conductor)

CD 6 - Holst: Symphony in F major, op. 8 "The Cotswolds"; Walt Whitman Overture, op. 7; A Hampshire Suite, op. 28, No. 2; The Perfect Fool – Ballet Music, op. 39; Scherzo for Orchestra (from an Unfinished Symphony)

Münchner Symphoniker
Douglas Bostock (conductor)

CD 7 - Alan Bush: Symphony No. 1 in C major, op. 21; Symphony No. 2 "The Nottingham"

Royal Northern College of Music Symphony Orchestra
Douglas Bostock (conductor)

CD 8 - Arthur Butterworth: Symphony No. 1, op. 15; Ruth Gipps: Symphony No. 2, op. 30

Münchner Symphoniker
Douglas Bostock (conductor)

CD 9 - Malcolm Arnold: Symphony No. 5, op. 74; Divertimento No. 2, op. 75; Machines – Symphonic Study; Solitarie – Ballet; The Belles of St. Trinians – Comedy Suite (Exploits for Orchestra)

Münchner Symphoniker
Douglas Bostock (conductor)

CD 10 - Edward Gregson: Contrasts: A Concerto for Orchestra; Alun Hoddinott: Concerto for Orchestra, op. 127; John McCabe: Concerto for Orchestra

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Douglas Bostock (conductor)


Those omitted are:

[Alan Howe]

A fab bargain, this. If friends don't have these recordings, this is unmissable, I'd have thought..

[chill319]

Duly ordered! Thanks for the notice, Alberto.

[albion]

A fab bargain, this. If friends don't have these recordings, this is unmissable, I'd have thought..

Absolutely, this is an essential purchase for any member who did not collect the individual discs first time around! The box is a no-frills release with no booklet notes, but at least some relevent information can by gleaned from the various reviews that each disc received over at MusicWeb.

Here is a link to the entire series http://www.musicweb-international.com/Themed_releases/ClassicO/British.htm - click on a cover for the relevent review(s).

[Peter1953]

Although I'm afraid some works are too modern for me, I couldn't resist the temptation for less than 10 euro, which is amazingly cheap. See here

[chill319]

For those of my compatriots who might wonder about delivery times from the UK, my order was processed by Amazon on 10 June. Royal Mail/USPS delivered it to my desk the morning of 14 June. (Standard delivery.)

[imirizaldu]

First time poster ... thanks for the heads up - ordered!

[Mark Thomas]

Welcome,  imirizaldu!

[britishcomposer]

Here is a link to the entire series http://www.musicweb-international.com/Themed_releases/ClassicO/British.htm - click on a cover for the relevent review(s).

Thanks for that, Albion! It offers at least some background information. I very much regret that the excellent booklets haven't been licensed for this re-release. I would have paid twice the sum for this box to have Lewis Foreman's invaluable thoughts. (I suppose he provided the most?) Unfortunately some of the original CDs have been deleted. Obviously they are much sought after: amazon.co.uk offers a second hand Cowen/CT for GBP 120, amazon.de one for 181 Euros!!! I missed a few CDs when they were first released, some I have in the Classico

[chill319]

For me, that Cowen CD is one of the best parts of the collection. Not a heaven-storming composer, but a genial and gifted one whose last symphony has given much pleasure over the last week.

[imirizaldu]

Welcome,  imirizaldu!

thank you,  sir!

[Peter1953]

What can I expect of a 10 CD box for £8.93 without costs for P&P? Well, reviews are positive. I like the Elgar disc (what a pity the PC lasts only some 6 minutes...) and Cowen's "The Idyllic". But that's it. Sorry to admit, but the rest of the music is not my cup of tea. Too modern for my ears, I suppose. But then, most of the music after the 1920s is not to my taste (exceptions for Rachmaninoff, Schmidt-Kowalski and Pink Floyd  ). Am I disappointed? Of course not. I've heard some music previously unknown to me, and CDs 1&2 are worth more than the price of the whole box.

[britishcomposer]

Dutton recorded a "realisation" of the Elgar PC by Robert Walker. I won't miss the 1st subject (1st movement) orchestrated by Elgar himself for its dark, haunting mystery but the rest is.... well, forget it. I suppose there is just not enough material to reconstruct a convincing Elgar. I guess even Anthony Payne would fail. If you must have an Elgar PC turn to Healy Willan's masterful essay in that genre!