Thread: Buying a Box Set for a Specifc Work Vs. just getting a Single CD?

Ok, so I have 3 or 4 works I'm in the market for recordings of right now and I've been looking at all sorts of different versions.

Anyway, everywhere I look you can buy the "specific work" on a Single (or Dual CD) for like $15...or if you pay an "extra $10-15" you can get a 7-10 CD Box Set with a bunch of other stuff on it.

Now, if the other works in the set don't really interest you per say (you might listen to them once or twice but it's nothing you're going to listen to on a frequent basis) do you get the Box Set anyway because it's a "deal" or do you just buy the Single CD?

Just curious if others can't resist the Box Set deal, or if they just get what they "really want" and get the single CD?

I'm always on the lookout for interesting box sets (featuring just one composer rather than a combination) if a) they don't duplicate too much of what I have already b) the performances are reputable c) the sound quality can be vouched for, and d) they don't cost too much. Not too many fill all the above criteria so I tend to end up opting for individual discs or twofers unless it's something like a multi-disc symphonic cycle where my gut feeling tells me to take the plunge.

I usually buy box sets. In a perfect example of what you are saying, I bought a Brahms box set not so long ago for the sake of the Clarinet quintet. I think it had 6 cds. It is good because now I have more Brahms.

I particularly like browsing for bargains - I don't have that much money - and bargains usually means box sets.

If one work in a box interests me, odds are alot of other things in it will interest me too. I'm on the lookout for music I don't know about yet. Box sets are a great way to find that.

I too have a penchant for boxed sets. I bought Mahler's complete works after only hearing Das Liede Von Erde and Symphony #2, as it was on sale on Amazon for $32 including shipping. He is now my second favorite composer. I received Brahms complete chamber music for Christmas after only knowing his cello sonatas and Requiem. He's my favorite. However, it's not something I always do. Just when the price and reviews are right.

I like the idea of a set. But the crappy cardboard sleeves are not a plus. I'd sooner have the cases if its 6 discs or less.

It depends on where you are with the works. If you're new to them, get the boxes. Otherwise, be far more discerning. Good luck, and enjoy!

Well, I ended up deciding to get at least one of the box sets I was looking at.

I've had a burned copy of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos with Trevor Pinnock for years now and I wanted to replace it with a real one because it's the version I always come back too.

I could buy just the Brandenburg Concertos for $8
There was another copy with the Brandenburg Concertos and Orchestral Suites (which I don't have from Pinnock) for $20
And a Box Set with all of Pinnock's Bach Recordings featuring the above and a bunch of Harpsichord & Violin Concertos for $25

I have listened to Bach's Harpsichord Concertos & Violin Concertos and have a few different recordings from other artists, but it's not something that I listen to very often. Why? I don't really know. I just tend to stick with the Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites & The Klavier Stuff (Goldberg, Well-Tempered Klavier, English & French, etc).

I just feel like I could have saved myself $17 and just got The Brandenburg Concertos because I listen to them most frequently, but maybe I'll find I listen to the other things more now.

As St. Luke's Guild once noted previously, listening to a variety of works helps to keep your favorites, or core pieces of the reportoire fresh and enjoyable.

I love the Bach's violin works, but a lot of modern artists play them too dry for me.

I'm a big fan of box sets - feel I'm getting better value for money with them. It's certainly a good way to build a collection

They're definitely good value (mostly) compared to single priced CDs. If only they weren't just available for the more popular forms of classical music. They are a good marketing gimmick which generally works.

I think of the epic Myaskovsky symphony set



This is just incredible value, and the first time ever, that the Myaskovsky symphonies were ever recorded and released all together. The cost is a fraction of the various (incomplete) recordings available at the time.

The Fine Arts Quartet also have a fine set:



It has a mix of well played (and okay recorded) standards, with a few obscurities to woo the rest of the sceptics who will probably buy it, for completist OCD tendencies.

That seems to be the general formula for box sets. The good thing is, they usually hold their value ....and disappear off the shelves .. like the Quatuor Parisii Recordings of Milhaud's complete (XVIII) string quartet cycle, which can now only be reassembled piecemeal by buying the discontinued CDs each, when the whole box set cost the price of a single CD back when ...!

That Myaskovsky set is just one in a series. I have several of them and they're great.