New Duttons for July release

[patmos.beje]

The Vaughan Williams 'Early and Late Works' disc is a real pleasure from start to finish.  The early Bucolic Suite and Serenade are well worth having and contain moments which presage Vaughan William's later style.

[Alan Howe]

The Chadwick CD turns out to be the pick of the bunch - at least for me. Although I think his music just misses the ultimate in individuality and memorability overall, there's so much orchestral colour and general imagination in everything he writes. The Adonais: Elegiac Overture from 1899, for example, is a very exciting piece, brim full of tunes and reminiscences of the best possible models - Tchaikovsky, Wagner, etc. It makes quite an impact on first hearing, although without having quite the personal stamp of the finest composers. But my goodness, what a craftsman.

[Alan Howe]

...mind you I just loved the Godard disc too. Perhaps I was in a particularly receptive mood (i.e. saccharine-starved for the day!), but not only was I swept along by the overture to his opera Les Guelfs - which had some genuine passion and thrust to it - but I was also seduced (as one can only be by French music sometimes) by the charms of the 2nd Piano Concerto. No, it's not a major discovery, but I defy anyone not to be taken by it. The man was a charmer alright. Dutton are doing a great job on these non-British music releases: more, please!

[semloh]

I am ordering the Chadwick, in view of Mark's enthusiasm, and the VW.

If Dutton carry on like this, we'll have trouble finding Unsung Composers of 20thC romantic orchestral works! 

[Gareth Vaughan]

Oh no we won't!

[bulleid_pacific]

Apologies if this smacks of pure advertising: my intention is purely to benefit friends on the Forum (at least in the UK) and not to promote any commercial interest.

And after that prolegomenon? I have just obtained all the new Dutton releases from HMV at £6.00 per CD, and post free.

Now head down for some serious listening. Not too sure if, for example, John McCabe counts as a 'romantic' composer. But a polite two fingers held up in disdain against pettifogging distinctions since McCabe has brought immense pleasure in the past, and all five new Duttons obtained at such a price certainly spreads a romantic glow across my features.

Sadly HMV seem to have increased the price for all the new Dutton titles to £10.00 now

[Alan Howe]

It may be a consequence of the changes forced upon their trading practices in the budget.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Alas, I can't explain it. I've noticed over the last month or so HMV prices dramatically increase or decrease within a few days.

In this case, their website gave the price of £6 (to UK customers). I promptly grabbed, since in the past HMV have been (by far) the cheapest source of Duttons. Two days after I placed my order the price increased to £10, and (selfishly!) I gave myself a pat on the head for grabbing 5 bargains.

Surprisingly, the price then decreased back to £6 (at the time I made my posting above so that others could also benefit). Duttons remained at £6 for 7-10 days....but now, as Bulleid_Pacific observes, they have reverted to £10.

I can't explain any of this. Exactly the same seems to happen with, e.g. Hyperion - new and recent releases swing between £9 and £15. Same with Chandos.

I suppose the only moral is: keep an eye on their site, and grab bargains when they are available.

HMV also advertise CPO and BIS - usually at very tempting prices. Full of glee I make an order.....and weeks and weeks go by whilst HMV continue to tell me "On special order with our suppliers". After a long wait I then become a grumpy old man, cancel the order, and get the item elsewhere.

Sorry to place a post entirely about precious pennies. But I trust it might be welcome since I suppose the Forum acts as an information source for members with an interest in UC!

[Alan Howe]

No, that's very helpful, Peter. Thank you! The moral, I suppose, is keep checking (and comparing) prices.

[Martin Eastick]

I, too, was pleasantly surprised when I noticed HMV offering the latest Duttons for £6, and, of course jumped at the opportunity to order the titles I was interested in. It would seem then that in spite of the recent Government-imposed tax changes, the Dutton new releases were still being offered at a more than competitive price (perhaps there has been a 1p increase this time - I can't recall exactly - but obviously of no consequence!). But the issue raised by Peter pertains to HMV and their most bizarre pricing structure which surely must be the most incomprehensible - and it must therefore come as no surprise that the group is/has been experiencing severe financial problems over the past 2 years at least.

Sure enough, it is most annoying when one orders a CPO (for example) new release at say £9, which, after several apologetic emails saying they are doing everything they can to obtain, they THEN CANCEL! I have then noticed that the same item is listed for £15!!! Needless to say I will not reorder, and one can safely presume that they will still be unable to complete the order! This now seems to be commonplace practice with CPO in particular, but alarmingly more specialist labels seem to be joining this list!

I know that the likes of us that regularly purchase new (and other) releases of unsung repertoire make up a very small proportion of HMV's customer base, but I have been assured by others that such inconsistency and incompetency is par for the course across the whole range of products offered by this company! Perhaps, therefore, it is not surprising that they are financially insecure! - and, if I recollect, their announcement after the recent VAT changes, to the effect that they consider their pricing structure to remain competitive in the current marketplace, seems rather laughable, to say the least!

[Alan Howe]

I rarely order from HMV these days. Anyway, back to the latest Dutton releases...

[Jimfin]

My first impressions have been very positive. I like the McDowall, not having heard anything of hers before, and the VW Dark Pastoral is a kind of "The Lark Descending". The early works are pleasant too, though I am still getting used to hearing VW before he sounded like VW. As for John McCabe, the Rainforest II is very atmospheric.

[chill319]

In case it might interest my North American compatriots, I ordered the Chadwick from crochet.co.uk. Their list price is competitive, and, like amazon.co.uk, they subsidize shipments abroad by lowering the disc price when you select, say, U.S. as the destination. Worth a look.

[musiclover]

I love the Godard disc and the VW. This pianist Dutton have brought forward (Victor Sangiorgio) is outstanding and his partnership with Martin Yates is clearly winning. It's great of Dutton to have brought Yates forward too as he is obviously so capapble in most repertoire. His VW 5 I just bought on the high reccomendation of BBC Music Magazine is really beautiful.
More from Sangiorgio & Yates please!