New Jean Martinon 14-CD "Icon" box on Erato

[Lance]

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Warner/Erato 61549[7], 14 CDs "The Late Years: Erato and HMV Recordings 1968-1975"

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Quite a huge list of works. Collaborators include Perlman, Rampal, David Oistrakh, Laskine,
Marie-Claire Alan, and several orchestra. The Martinon discograpy continues to grow!

[Lance]

Curious ... how many are going for this set?

[Mookalafalas]

A lot of crickets hereabouts...

I'm quite interested. I didn't know who Martinon was until the buzz around the 10 disc RCA CSO set that came out a few months ago. My take was that everyone agrees he was a great conductor, but several of the discs in that box had really poor sound. If the Erato doesn't suffer from that problem, I expect I will go for it.
Do you have the RCA set? If so, what do you think of it? Actually, I would spring on that one if I had a little push...

[Lance]

Well Al, RCA remastered the sound on their issue and what I've heard from it sounds very good. The Chicago Symphony has always been among my most treasured orchestra (especially under Reiner), and the pricing for the RCA is excellent. The Erato/Warner box is an extraordinary set. I would not want to be without that one either. A huge amount of repertoire with several superb collaborations. Let me know what you decide to do. I love to know what people are acquiring.

A lot of crickets hereabouts...

I'm quite interested. I didn't know who Martinon was until the buzz around the 10 disc RCA CSO set that came out a few months ago. My take was that everyone agrees he was a great conductor, but several of the discs in that box had really poor sound. If the Erato doesn't suffer from that problem, I expect I will go for it.
Do you have the RCA set? If so, what do you think of it? Actually, I would spring on that one if I had a little push...

[Mookalafalas]

Well Al, RCA remastered the sound on their issue and what I've heard from it sounds very good. The Chicago Symphony has always been among my most treasured orchestra (especially under Reiner), and the pricing for the RCA is excellent. The Erato/Warner box is an extraordinary set. I would not want to be without that one either. A huge amount of repertoire with several superb collaborations. Let me know what you decide to do. I love to know what people are acquiring.

Good to hear, Lance! Actually, I went back to the Amazon reviews I had looked at before, and realized that the criticism of the sound wasn't nearly as harsh as I had remembered. I will pick it up today, after I go to the gym.

By the way, my local shop has the new Perlman and Gould boxes. Very attractive sets! I have the Gould I want already, and will wait a year or so on the Perlman to see if the price comes down, but from a sales/packaging perspective, they are very handsome products.

[Mookalafalas]

Got the box (The RCA/CSO one, that is) and played through everything once (plus a bit more). Very impressive! Better than I had hoped. Very good sound and some off-the-beaten-track repertoire mixed in with a couple of war-horses (closing disc 10 with Bolero wouldn't have been my choice...). All in all, thanks for the recommendation. I look forward to the Erato box

[Lance]

Al, I just KNEW you would enjoy this set!

Got the box (The RCA/CSO one, that is) and played through everything once (plus a bit more). Very impressive! Better than I had hoped. Very good sound and some off-the-beaten-track repertoire mixed in with a couple of war-horses (closing disc 10 with Bolero wouldn't have been my choice...). All in all, thanks for the recommendation. I look forward to the Erato box

[Mookalafalas]

Just ordered the Erato from Amazon UK. A nice price (Got the Columbia Gunter Wand box too, so Jean wouldn't be lonely on his long journey to my door )

Thanks again, Lance.

[Mookalafalas]

I finally started playing through the Erato box. Wow! What a joy. And it gets better and better as you go through it. I've played Franck's Symphony in D-Minor many times, but never really loved it til this one. Worth the price of the whole set. Listening to his Honegger now. I may start the whole box over when I'm done

[maestrob]

Well, Al, you can be forgiven for taking several months to get to the set: I'll admit that I'm in the same boat about the RCA set: I know it's excellent, but it just hasn't been opened yet! With your enthusiastic review, that's put it next in my pile to open.

Thanks to Lance: I'm also interested in the Erato set: there's some mighty interesting repertoire there. It's on my birthday want list for sure......

[karlhenning]

I finally started playing through the Erato box. Wow! What a joy. And it gets better and better as you go through it. I've played Franck's Symphony in D-Minor many times, but never really loved it til this one. Worth the price of the whole set. Listening to his Honegger now. I may start the whole box over when I'm done :D

Parenthetically . . . I never thought much of the Franck Symphony in d minor either, until I got the Monteux box : )

Cheers,
~k.

[slofstra]

Just this past month I've been working through the Martinon/ CSO box, and I'm about half way through. I really like the CSO sound, big, brassy (but not overly) and more expressive than orchestras of that time were on the European side. (Although I treasure my RCO recordings of the 1960s also).
One CD in that collection I disliked was the Martinon / Mennin symphonies recording (CD 6). Pieces like that seem very dated to my ear. I can't figure out where they are going, and the music is cacophonic and also dull. I'll hold out that the sound is just too unfamiliar and new for me, and that that could change with repeated listenings.
No such problem with the Hindemith, Lalo and Nielsen recordings. I acquired this set for the big CSO sound, and also because the repertoire is a slight bit off the beaten path. I've heard mixed reviews of Martinon as a conductor, by those who know better than me, but I perceive no significant loss in quality from the earlier Reiner recordings. Those are also of the inimitable kind.