It looks like it's out of print, as amazon now re-directs you to third part resellers. In any case, this collection of DG recordings is very high quality throughout, and the endeavour of listening to the entire contents was quite rewarding. I began with a marathon listening session back in July, and it took until now to complete the exercise.
Here are some of the highlights:
Lieder. I wondered about listening to 10 solid CDs of lieder. That's quite a lot, but this proved to be a highlight of the experience. Incidentally, I took each major section of the box and proceeded sequentially through each section, but hopped from section to section, so that I wouldn't have to listen to many consecutive hours in one particular genre.
Most of the lieder are sung by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. The first three CDs, including op. 24,25,27,30,31,35,36,37,39 and 40 are superb. After that the results are a little more uneven, although the Dichterliebe, op. 48, Belsatzar, op. 57 are also excellent. The further we go into the 10 CDs, the fewer the high points. Many of the lieder are sung by Edith Mathis, and I just don't care for her voice very much. On the other hand, Julia Varady was much more to my liking.
Orchestral. What's disappointing is that Schumann's orchestral work and his concertoes are over in just 5 CDs. Everything in this collection is top flight, and Gardiner and the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique perform the symphonies. I found them almost all superb, except on the 3rd Symphony, the forces sounded a little light. The piano concerto performances are by Ashkenazy and the Piano Concerto in A minor is another highlight of the set. Szeryng on the Violin Concerto was also good, Harrell on the Cello Concerto, not quite as.
Works for Chorus and Orchestra. I guess I better not go into every single piece or I'll be here all night. However, this section was my favourite in the box, and contained works I may never have encountered otherwise. Das Paradies und die Peri covers most of 2 CDs, and was the best thing in the box, hands down. This performance featured Barbara Bonney, Gerald Finley, Cornelius Hauptmann and others under the baton of Gardiner and also with the Monteverdi Choir. But the voice I really liked and had not heard before was the mezzo- Bernarda Fink. I should at least also mention 'Szenen aus Goethes Faust', conducted by Benjamin Britten with a sterling cast. It's good, parts are even great, especially the Aldeburgh Festival Singers, but at time Fischer-Dieskau sings with too much bluster. (I wanted to think Peter Pears was the problem, but checking the libretto, no, it was Fischer-Dieskau, although Pears was not always great either.)
Chamber Music. 7 CDs of chamber music, all of it good, with the Hagen Quartett, and solo music from Gidon Kremer, Martha Argerich, Heinz Holliger, Alfred Brendel, but the highlight for me was the Piano Quartet in E flat major, op. 47, with the Beaux Arts Trio. But nothing suffered in this section, well, possibly the last CD with various short pieces for oboe, horn and so on.
Piano Music. I won't say I was disappointed with this section, the last 9 CDs in the box. But I have quite a lot of Schumann piano music already, most of it better than this. Not that there is anything wrong with these performances. However, I didn't really warm to Pollini's playing in general which amounted to about half of the piano music. Ashkenazy is much better, and in a listening exercise like this you see the contrast. He was much more forceful, controlled tempoes, majestic when needed, and with greater dynamics than Pollini. I like Pollini when the music needs to dance, which I don't think is a quality generally required for Schumann. But perhaps it's just my taste and mood, lately, they are both great pianists.
So, in general, if you don't already have a huge overlap of the material in this collection, it's well worth getting. Deutsche Grammophon have not put any padding or filler in this collection, it's all worth the time invested in listening. The piano music would be the weakest spot, but in a way, I prefer to get something I don't already have, so if they had included Kempff, I would have just had duplicates. And Gardiner's Schumann symphonies were also something I didn't already have. In that way, this set really couldn't be any better.
