Saturday, April 19, 2008

At ArkivMusic

I buy CDs at ArkivMusic for a number of reasons: great sales, good prices, and the availability of out-of-print sets. They've negotiated deals with some major labels to press-on-demand a range of otherwise unavailable sets. That's how I got my copy of Satyagraha, for example.

I get email from ArkivMusic once or twice a week, and usually have to bang my head against the wall a few times before clicking Delete, since I already have dozens of sets I've never heard. Currently tempting me is a boxed set of orchestral works by Mexican composers. Back, back, I say!

Not tempting me, because I already own the set, is John Eliot Gardiner's Schumann symphony set, with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. This set should, however, be tempting you. They're first-class performances in excellent sound, - and that ORR! The set includes the marvelous Konzertstück for Four Horns, both versions of the Fourth Symphony, and the "Zwickau" symphony. How can you possibly go wrong, for $29.99?

4 comments:

Empiricus said...

Usually, I abstain from advertising, but...

As a huge fan of JEG and ORR, this Konzertstück is to die for. Er, to live for. Or buy.

It was written as a pseudo-demonstration concerto, of sorts, at a time when the valve horn starting to make its way onto the scene. Still some of the most challenging horn music written.

Gorgeous stuff. Good pick!

Anonymous said...

That collection of Mexican music looks wonderful. I've heard many of the pieces (great stuff)but there's plenty there I haven't. I recently heard the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra (that's the correct translation, I'm told)conducted by Batiz, and rest assured they can play!

Henry Holland said...

Tim/Lisa/Others, where to start with Ruvueltas and Chavez, in terms of the individual pieces? Note: I like big, lush, heavily chromatic stuff like Strauss, Schreker and Szymanowski, not much of a fan of neo-classicism. Thanks!

8 CD's for $45, wow.

Lisa Hirsch said...

I don't know any of these composers to speak of. I've heard La noche de las Mayas and nothin' else by any of them, as far as I can remember.