Customer Reviews

Glenn Gould: The Complete Original Jacket Collection - Amazon.com Exclusive

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Frankly, this is unbelievable. This beautiful and huge set of classic classical CDs for this ridiculous price? This can't last, and I would urge you to go buy this limited edition set RIGHT NOW--before it sells out--then come back and read the remainder of this review.

Glenn Gould is undisputedly one of the great pianists of the recorded era, particularly when performing the works of Bach, and this set basically includes every album he ever released. This is part of Sony's "Original Jacket" series, which is distinguished by straight reissues of albums originally issued during the vinyl era, in exact (but smaller) replicas of the original issue. Luckily for us, Gould recorded exclusively for Columbia (now Sony), so there were no licensing issues. The mastering here is excellent, and sounds like, essentially, flat transfers of the original recorded programs. Given that Columbia's classical division was home to many very skilled producers and engineers, a flat transfer is all that is required.

There's no need to go over the performances here. There is ample documentation of Gould's life and music on the Web. But one point is worth noting: Unlike most classical pianists, Gould preferred the studio to live performance. As a result, in 1964 he retired from the touring circuit and devoted the remainder of his career to studio performances. That means that his (studio) recorded works represent close to the entirety of his career and that his tremendous reputation is based almost entirely on the music represented on these CDs.

There is almost too much music here to digest in any resonable amount of time, but even if you start by only picking and choosing among your favorites, it won't take long to fully justify the price of the entire 80 CD (!!!!) collection. It would be difficult to select discs in this set that WOULDN'T be worth full retail price if sold on their own. The nice book that accompanies the set is a bonus.

This collection is a must for any fan of Gould (which means almost any fan of classical piano).

I am sooo pleased with this box that I want to be one of the first to review it.

First of all, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S HERE! Several years ago Sony released a 12-CD box in their "Original Jacket" collection containing roughly half of Gould's recordings of Bach. I have been desperately hoping that one day they would release another companion box with the rest of the Bach. BUT I wasn't expecting this, not even in my wildest dreams! The COMPLETE official releases of everything, including fantastic rarities! And at an incredibly low price! Little more than two bucks per CD. What's more it arrived in just a couple of days with free shipping!

In spite of the ultra-low price Sony didn't cut any corners. The CDs are individually housed in strong, thick, lovely laminated mini-LP covers, each one replicating the original LP artwork. There are three CDs of interviews and unfinished projects: "Glenn Gould: Concert Dropout" - an interview with John McClure of CBS Records, "In Conversation with Tim Page" and "Italian Album Fragments and Wagner's Siegfried Idyll". There's also a 250-page handsome, hardbound book containing a new, detailed essay by the German Gould specialist Michael Stegemann plus notes, reviews, rare photos and additional alternative LP artwork taken from the reissues and compilations. You also get the complete listings and timings for all the CDs in clear, legible type.

All of this is contained within a sturdy, durable and very beautiful carrying case that will look very cool on your shelf. This is easily the greatest reissue edition of anything so far attempted by Sony. It even surpasses in several aspects the first release on CD of the "Stravinsky Legacy" (available now in a slim super-budget box. Very few frill but an astonishing bargain).

Any quibbles? Well, it would be ungrateful to find flaws in such a beautiful, comprehensive and well-thought-out surprise but I could mention a few things that I would have added:

* The dialogue and outtakes from the 1955 Goldberg Variations. Those were included on the recent "Birth of a Legend" release and should have been part of this issue as well.

* At least one bonus DVD with some essential biographical stuff and snippets of performances on TV and film.

* The notorious Brahms First with Bernstein. I know it's a live recording and not really part of the official "canon" but it is on Sony's "Great Performances" and it wouldn't have cost them much to include it. Lenny's disclaimer at the beginning of the concert is more than worth it.

* Perhaps a CD-rom with printable large versions of the liner notes from the original LPs.

Anyway, a dream come true for Glenn's fans. I might add that the sound (from what I have heard so far) is uniformly excellent. That should come as no surprise since Mr. Gould was very actively involved in the recording and engineering aspects of his work.

What next, Sony? Perhaps a big Bernstein box? A giant Szell retrospective? Ormandy? Mitropoulos? Walter's mono and stereo versions of his core repertoire? Stravinsky's complete MONO recordings, including the RCA masters? (that one in particular could be easily achieved since Sony and BMG are now one company. Ah, we can dream!

As for the Glenn Gould box. Buy it now! It's a very limited edition and if you shop around you will find that almost everywhere they are already charging much more for it, often more that double! Don't miss out on this. I don't think it can be done any better in the future. This is definitive. BUY IT NOW!!!

Glenn Gould was certainly one of the most unique classical artists of the 20th century. His recordings are spontaneous and heart felt, often revealing colors you never even dreamed were there. Every recording has tremendous freshness and originality. The only shame is that we only have 77 CDs of music (3 of the CDs contain interviews, which are quite helpful and enrich the listener's experience).

If you are not familiar with the story of this sometimes eccentric artist, use your favorite web search engine and read some of the volumes of biographical literature available. I will not even attempt to do justice to the life here.

The Original Jacket CD collection contains complete replicas of every studio recorded LP released during Gould's lifetime. In Gould's case, this is certainly a very valid and appropriate presentation of his recorded legacy. Gould took great pride in participating in every element of the recording and production process. While the music could be rearranged and squeezed onto fewer than probably 50 CDs, with Gould it makes perfect sense to present the listener with exactly what Gould took great care to produce without modification. And given that the entire set is available for less than $3 per CD, any gripes about getting short changed by being forced to buy 80 CDs is short-sighted nonsense. And the CDs hardly take up enormous shelf space. The box is 10 inches long with a hinged cover, the equivalent of 24 standard jewel cases. The original album covers are only slightly useful, being that one can hardly read the liner notes. And one must consult the 250+ page book to get CD track numbers, as the sleeves have LP sides/track numbers. But that is a minor quibble.

Don't hesitate. Order the set now. Avid collectors will confirm that these Sony Original Jacket Collections become very hard to obtain very quickly. Limited Editions they truly are.

This is indeed the Holy Grail of Gouldiana, though it doesn't contain one or two scraps from the "master's workbench" that surfaced in Sony's previous Gould Edition (presumably because those were live performances, and this "Original Jacket" Edition reissues only those studio recordings which Gould originally intended to release for public distribution).

On the basis of my sampling so far (about one-third of the total set), I can say that the remasterings are good, and in fact sound uncannily like the original LPs. My guess is that the producers of this edition thought that for the sake of maximum nostalgia value they ought to return as much as possible to the sound that listeners recall from those Columbia vinyl discs of old. Hence, there is a good deal more tape hiss and other "surface noise" on these tracks than in some of the more heavily doctored (e.g., filtered) reissues of the past decade or so. And of course the by now infamous Disc Thirty-Seven has a prominent burst of white noise at the beginning of Track 30 and some tracking problems elsewhere. Also the bands that separate tracks are absurdly short--almost as if the producers wanted the entire set to sound like one vast cycle of variations on the Goldberg "Aria" from track 1 of the first disc (a fascinating conception, but I somehow don't think it was intended)! So be prepared to lurch from one piece to another, and often from one idiom to another, with only a breath intervening.

No matter; this is still an essential set for the Gould-intoxicated. It may well call for a revision of critical opinion, too, as listeners take the long pilgrimage from 1955 to 1982 with this troubled but transcendental genius.

Just don't give away all of your previous Gould CDs; you may find that you prefer the sound quality (and longer band separations) on those which have been released in recent years, and which have undergone more substantial digital retouching than this new "integral edition."

The product is truly fantastic. The quality of the box set is superb and I completely recommend it. I picked it up for $109.00 during one of those random price fluctuations that happen on Amazon so I'm very happy.

However, be aware that CD 37 does indeed have problems. Track 27 crashed iTunes (spinning wheel of death due to CD read errors), 26, 28 have short bursts of white noise. Track 30 has a nice loud burst right at the top of the track and so does 31 at about the :43 second mark.

If anyone has come up with a better way to get a good pressing of this CD without playing box set ping-pong with Amazon please leave a comment. Either way I look at it, for the price you can't beat this set.

I have read reports mentioning a manufacturing defect in CD-37 (Beethoven's Variations). I listened to my copy (purchased here) and confirmed, unfortunately, that the report is true. Harsh noise, a brief very loud electronic "screech", came out of nowhere on tracks 26, 28, 30, 31. Very annoying. Anyone else hear this? I sent my set back to Amazon for a replacement. I forgot to look at mine to see where the CDs were actually manufactured. An acquaintance in Canada bought one there and it was OK.

In recording technology, Glenn Gould saw a new future for music -- a future not of the public concert, or even of the "embalmed concert moment" (as he referred to un-edited "live" recordings), but one in which the artist was able to splice and edit until he reached a recording as close to his ideal as possible. He also believed that, listening to these recordings at home, free from the social trappings and musical limitations of the concert hall, we would be able to come to a much deeper understanding of the music. With this philosophy in mind, Gould produced in incredible wealth of recorded material that survives and speaks to us even 25 years after his death.

Gould did not live to see the advent of the CD, nor of earbuds and portable music players, but when I listen to this remarkable collection on my iPod, I think that Gould would have liked this part of the future (though perhaps not other aspects of our modern zeitgeist) very much.

As for the collection itself -- it's very well compiled, and I had none of the problems with CD37 that others have mentioned, so I think perhaps sony/amazon have resolved that. I am particularly pleased with the preservation of the original jacket, complete with liner notes. Often written by Gould himself, these liner notes are by turns insightful, hilarious, and outrageous, and always a pleasure to read. (The imaginary reviews of his recording of Liszt's transcription of Beethoven's fifth are particularly amusing.) The fact that, by necessity of CD:LP size ratios, the liner notes are very small and sometimes require a magnifying glass is a minor annoyance, and it would be a dream come true if, as another reviewer suggests, Sony released these notes full-size on CD-ROM. A similar project that I would whole-heartedly (and whole-walletedly) support would be a glossy coffee table book of Gould's album jackets and liner notes.

All-in-all, this is a wonderful collection worthy of Gould's legacy.

This set is back in stock at Amazon (who knows for how long) after a few weeks of being on backorder. Mine just arrived last week and I can assure everyone here that the box sets in Amazon's stock now contains a perfect copy of disc #37 ("Beethoven Variations"). The bottom of this "new" box still says, "Made in the EU." I say "new" because upon opening Amazon's shipping carton, I noted that the cellophane wrapper was rather loosely draped over the box, leading me to suspect that the remaining stock of these had been opened and disc #37 replaced. What a relief!

That aside, let me say that this set is incredible! Sound quality is outstanding, with all the warmth found on the original vinyl releases -- at last! Although I own a great number of these on vinyl, I missed a few over the years and this is like a gift from heaven to finally have every album with the original artwork and liner notes. Any fan of Glenn Gould should order this immediately before it goes out of print.

Truly, I am astounded by not only the price, but that this set even exists at all. It is, and will always be, the crown jewel of my entire CD collection.

I had not idea of the depth and breath of Glenn Gould's recordings. I was fairly well acquainted with the Goldberg variations, but was pleasantly surprised by all the other works he recorded as well. I have not listened to all the CDs yet, but thus far, I cannot fault the quality of the performances nor their recording quality. I own a high-end hi-fi gear and the musicality of the works is very well communicated. Thouroughly enjoyable, this set will provide with many hours of listening pleasure and will complete one's appreciation of Glenn Gould's talent.

I'm happy to report that Disk 37 on the set I just ordered is completely free of defects. Order date was Mar 29, 2008.