Deutsche Grammophon Centenary Collection, 1978-1987 (Box Set) [BOX SET]

Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Leonard Bernstein (Composer), Max Bruch (Composer), Frederic Chopin (Composer), Edouard Lalo (Composer), Franz Liszt (Composer), Felix Mendelssohn (Composer), Moritz Moszkowski (Composer), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Sergey Prokofiev (Composer), Sergey Rachmaninov (Composer), Maurice Ravel (Composer), Camille Saint-Saens (Composer), Pablo de Sarasate (Composer), Domenico Scarlatti (Composer), Robert Schumann (Composer), Alexander Scriabin (Composer), Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (Composer), Giuseppe Verdi (Composer), Antonio Vivaldi (Composer)

Product Details

• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach, Leonard Bernstein, Max Bruch, Frederic Chopin, Edouard Lalo, et al.
• Audio CD (November 10, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 11
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B00000DI2R
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #454,462 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
This is the decade when Deutsche Grammophon discovered America. Though the label's motherland is still well represented by Herbert von Karajan's unveiling young Anne-Sophie Mutter in Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5 and Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 (both played with the freshness of youth), Carlo Maria Giulini brought the yellow label to Los Angeles in a much-heralded return to opera with Verdi's Falstaff. The mellifluous though not always dramatically attuned dream cast features Barbara Hendricks (Nannetta), Katia Ricciarelli (Alice Ford), and Renato Bruson as the most poetic Falstaff on record. Leonard Bernstein's all-star but problematic Candide and West Side Story recordings are heard in well-chosen excerpts, and the one-act opera Trouble in Tahiti is reconstituted from his opera A Quiet Place (in which it was dispersed and imbedded). Elsewhere, Ivo Pogorelich's early Chopin Sonata No. 2, Ravel's "Gaspard de la nuit," and Prokofiev's Sonata No. 6 show a musician of staggering imagination limited by unrefined technique. Horowitz in Moscow, Krystian Zimerman's Chopin Ballades and Daniel Barenboim's Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 have all aged well, though Gidon Kremer's Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and Giuseppe Sinopoli's Mendelssohn "Italian" Symphony paired with Schumann's Symphony No. 2 have surprisingly little to say. Mischa Maisky's Bach and Vivaldi recordings (many with Martha Argerich on modern piano) have lots to say, but not to the historically informed performance crowd. --David Patrick Stearns

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Schumann, etc., November 7, 2000

By	Daniel W. Sneed "Dan Sneed" (houson, tx USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Seven years ago I was in a Vienna music shop and passed on the opportunity to buy the original Sinopoli recording of the Schumann Second - my favorite musical work - with the Vienna Philharmonic. Until this collection was released, I had never heard this particular 2nd Symphony recording which is now truly my favorite (and I have them all). It even led me to find the original release (which includes the Manfred Overture) by searching the Internet for used CDs. Sinopoli and Vienna beautifully convey the struggle and ultimate triumph of this great symphony.

The other recordings are also among DG's best and helped to fill in several repertoire gaps in my collection. I highly recommend the entire set. Thanks to DGG for reissuing these great recordings, especially Sinopoli's Schumann.

5.0 out of 5 stars Who says there was nothing good in the 1980s?, April 9, 2000

By	Tom (Concord, MA) - See all my reviews

Not enough can be said for this marvellous compilation of some of the finest recordings from 1978-87! Nevertheless, I will try to do some justice and start at the beginning. Anne-Sophie Mutter's Mozart concerto and stellar Bruch set the tone for this set. Very few recordings have the depth of insight into the Mozart that she does, and for such a young woman! The next disc is dedicated to another violinist par excellence: Gidon Kremer, whose Tchaikowsky concerto will blow you out of your chair, even compared with the Perlman recording of the same work. Disc three focuses on Daniel Barenboim the conductor, although the last track features one of his finest recorded piano works, the paraphrase of Rigoletto by Liszt. The two recordings featured are (brace yourself), the Perlman/Paris recording of the Lalo Symphonie Espagnole, the likes of which have not been known before or since, and the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony with Chicago and the organ of Chartres. The little catch in the Saint-Saens is that the organ part and orchestral work were recorded a month seperate from each other and across the Atlantic, but if you didn't read the liner notes, it would be impossible to tell; the editing is so well done! Ivo Pogorelich's Gaspard de la Nuit gives the work new meaning, not to say any less of his Chopin Second sonata. Giulini's conducting of Verdi's Falstaff is a force not to be reckoned with, with flawless casting to boot. I would expect more from Sinopoli than the Schumann delivers, however this is partly DG's fault for picking one of his least successful recordings. The Bernstein disc is all of his own music, including highlights from the splendid Candide and Trouble in Tahiti. Have a laugh over Carreras' pronunciation in West Side Story (why cast him as the American! ) and the other thoroughly inappropriate voices for this work, but remember that Bernstein was given the cold shoulder on this work and was trying to make it appeal to the classical crowd that had unfortunately shunned it on Broadway.

Maisky's cello playing is next, with the three sonatas originally for harpsichord and viola da gamba being played on modern cello with Martha Argerich at the piano. These are excellent recordings if inauthentic, but are certainly the best modernizations available, as are the two Vivaldi concerti with Orpheus. Saving the best for last, Vladimir Horowitz's landmark 1986 return to Moscow is no less breathtaking on the 1000th listening than on the first. There may be no better single CD of piano music in existance; the simplest track "Träumerei" from Schumann's Kinderszenen is utter perfection and emotion molded into one. Zimerman holds his own beautifully, though, with some of the best Chopin Ballades to be had. True, they lack some of the momentum and drive of the Rubinstein recordings, but the sheer technical ability displayed along with absolute control (and they're not at all skimpy on the emotion either!), they are in the top five recordings of these works ever. Add to this his recording of the Liszt E-flat concerto with Seiji Ozawa/Boston Symphony, which is flawless. The cherry on top (!) is the Liszt Totentanz, which is so often played as an overly flashy, bangy, loud and raucous showpiece. Not so here, even in such a murderously difficult and crashing work, Zimerman displays control, even if it means wrestling the work to the floor. This set is pricey, no doubt, but well worth it (and the sore arms you'll get carrying it home, another good reason to mail-order it) for the unmatched brilliance.