Stupid Boxed Sets: Claudio Arrau's EMI (Warner) Editions

First we had 12 CDs as part of the ICON series, then we got the complete Warner (sic) recordings on 24 CDs, with the former material spread out over some half dozen additional discs so as to up the price. Stupid on the part of the label? Perhaps not, but definitely sneaky.

[@John.B.Ellis27]

Arrau's Complete Warner box is in no way stupid enough among recent reissues to warrant inclusion in this series. Generally speaking, Arrau Icon box + Arrau Rarities CD set = Arrau Complete Warner (almost) ... EMI was sneaky to omit a couple of the Beethoven sonatas from the Icon box, which were part of the earlier Arrau Beethoven Edition (the one in the weirdly-wider plastic jewel case). There are also other, assorted pieces lacking from the Icon + Rarities + Beethoven Edition combo. Consequently, the Complete Warner box is definitely the one to have out of all of these options. The Complete Warner set (which was cheap when new) is "original LP jacket" in design, by the way, so the CDs naturally are of shorter duration.

[@alanmcginn4796]

Dave. Please keep this series going. It is so fun and is almost like a sort of inventory check on boxes I have and need to get! For what is is worth I have the icon box of arrau. Have to say. Those icon boxes in general were superb value for money and of high standard. I have a ton of them.

[@gavingriffiths2633]

The Rubinstein releases have been really sporadic......the big box had so much stuff that has not seen the light of day subsequently! Oh dear....and as for the swift demise of the Philips Arrau box...don't get me started!

[@MLV_memories]

Would you consider reviewing The Complete Decca Recordings of Julius Katchen box set? It's 35 CDs and it's still available. He's one of my favorite pianists.

[@Sathoreas]

By the time I started collecting Claudio Arrau, the Icon box was already sold out. I was considering buying it digitally but I am glad I held off until I found out about the newer Warner box. I don't mind buying more CDs with original jackets, but it definitely wouldn't have been worth it for just a few extra discs if I had already bought the Icon box. I'm very happy I managed to get my hands on a used copy of the Complete Philips Recordings Box. Arrau is incredible.

[@carlcurtis]

Happily, I've got the Icon edition, but it's not as readily available as it used to be. Sometimes timing is everything.

[@jamesking7868]

stupid box set suggestion. DG handling of kempff box sets. For example the "complete" solo recordings box which omitted (amongst other things) the mono beethoven piano sonatas! Essentially any time there was a mono and a stereo version of the same work the mono was omitted. A few 1950s monos where included like the Brahms ballads. The "complete" solo box was then (re?)issued as two separate volumes with no other changes soon after (WHY?) The complete solo box partly overlapped with the 2003 issue of the complete 1950s solo recordings (the complete 1950s solo recordings also contained alternative takes of 3 beethoven piano sonatas recorded in 1960 in stereo! - which was NOT in the complete solo box). None of these boxes had solo recordings prior to 1950... The situation was different with the "complete" concerto box with both the stereo and mono Beethoven piano concertos and 1940s and 1936 concerto recordings included. This box contained all the material from the previously released "complete 1950s concerto recordings box" obsoleting it. Neither complete boxes contained any new remasterings or new material. If you thought the "complete" series would be finished off with a box of his chamber recordings then you would be disappointed. DG did not issue a box of the kempff "complete" chamber recordings despite most of the chamber recordings being out of print. So to recap the complete concerto box obsoleted the complete 1950s concerto box but the complete solo box did not obsolete the 1950s solo box. None of the solo boxes include pre 1950s material and you could not get the chamber recordings. APR then issues 6 cds of the pre 1950s solo recordings to fill in the gap DG had left. About 3.5 years after the APR issue, DG issues in late 2020 the kempff "edition" box, which obsoleted all the previous DG complete and 1950s boxes and included the exact same 6 cds from APR! So if you already had the previous boxes and the APR cds, the edition contained nothing new except the chamber music recordings. The APR cds where available when the "edition" came out and are still available now. In other words DG made zero remasters for the kempff "edition" release, released nothing that was not previously released by themselves or APR. The booklet for the edition was nothing to write home about and the entire ""edition" set had none of the care or quality of say sony issuing the big reiner or szell boxes despite being priced as high as the Sony boxes. Quite honestly I find the kempff DG piano sound to be rather dry brittle, slightly glassy, a bit too bright and clanggy and in desperate need of the same love and care Sony did with reiner and szell. But DG is not going to remaster when it can just roll out again and again the same transfers it originally did 20 or even 30 years ago and ignore improvements in remastering technology or just issue someone else's cds.

[@jdistler2]

I couldn't agree more! I reviewed the late 2020 Kempff "Edition" DG box for Gramophone and cited chapter and verse of what it contained and did not contain, while calling DG out on its inconsistent treatment of Decca material. At least Eloquence brought out the complete Decca material. And while I'm at it, we need a truly complete Solomon box set!

[@jamesking7868]

@@jdistler2 solomon remastered and complete would be wonderful. Pristine classical remastered the Beethoven piano concertos and one piano sonata (as a filler in the concerto issue). But unfortunately did not really do much more.

[@kellyrichardson3665]

WOW! ...YOU must be following me around. I just looked at this boxed set on Amazon, thinking: "WHAT'S this... Did I miss this???" Trying to tell what's on the discs -- track after track "Concerto, Op. 16... Etude, etude, etude... Concerto in G, Op. 58, etc." I already own that boxed set you have three copies of, bought the [magnificent] Phillips huge monster set, having already bought the "Complete Chopin," "Complete Beethoven[etc.]" -- DUPLICATE -- sets from THAT one, and this Warner one had me bewildered. Then I went to an orchestra rehearsal, came home and YOU answer my question: another "stupid" boxed set. I'm tempted but disgusted ... before ANY of these boxed sets came out, I already owned -- probably -- all of these performances, from the individual disc days, but with exceptions. REMINDS ME... I was meeting with a conductor/concert pianist INSIDE a synagogue library, next to the cantor's office. Feeling protected from "the world" when my colleague asked my opinion of Milhaud. Having hardly used the name in over a decade, I admitted that I barely knew some of his stuff, but "kind of" knew 'The Creation of the World," fairly well -- what was it called? "La creation du Monde..." or something like that. That was the WHOLE of our conversation, having said 'Milhaud' about twice. When I got home, checked my email, Amazon had a new message: "WE HAVE A RECOMMENDATION FOR YOU: Leonard Bernstein conducts Milhaud -- La creation du monde..." I bought it immediately -- no wonder they're following me around. Afterward, I immediately realized that I had the COMPLETE boxed set of Bernstein recordings "An American In Paris," TWICE -- one copy was literally on the KEYS (upper) of my piano -- which already had the contents of that CD in it. (So, if anyone needs a copy of 'La creation du monde..." Anyway, seeing this review three hours after asking myself the question kind of gave me the same feeling...

[@ezrakhayyam5609]

Its ridiculous from a listener perspective, its not from the shareholders of a big corporation one ;)

[@auriyashanee4854]

Hi Dave, can you please do a worst to best video of Mozart’s requiem? The piece has so many recordings, I don’t know where to start! 😂 Much thanks and love from Israel 🇮🇱

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Check out reviews at ClassicsToday.com. David Vernier, who wrote most of them, is an expert on the work. Personally, I just don't care for it.

[@philippecassagne3192]

@@DavesClassicalGuide My preference is for Herreweghe (just like Dave for St Mathew Passion !).

[@Clementkouroukis]

Arthur Schnabel’s icon box is another stupid box in point! So so much missing!!! An artist of his caliber deserves a complete edition. Even the new Klemperer complete edition is quite stupid…why not put everything in one single box?…Instead of one nice big box and then a tiny cheap looking box as the second one? But they are all stupid over there at Warner.

[@LyleFrancisDelp]

EMI always meant "Every Mistake Imaginable". Someone with a better imagination than mine should come up with an acronym for Warner.

[@paulgthomas84]

Why Are Reissues Never Ever Right?@@LyleFrancisDelp

[@LyleFrancisDelp]

@@paulgthomas84 PERFECT! As for Schnabel…..if you have his Beethoven and Schubert in reasonably decent sounding issues, you’re good. They’re only ever gonna be so good, due to the original source. I’m perfectly happy with my Dante/Lys sets. Both sound fine to me, and I don’t see the need to spend more money searching for that magical, perfect transfer.