Great Pianists (Philips) vs. Great Conductors (EMI)

[Lance]

When Philips came out with the "Great Pianists of the 20th Century" collection, one big box or individually available, I jumped on it, but selected individual 2-CD sets rather than the entire collection. A bit later, EMI jumped on the bandwagon and arranged for the release of the "Great Conductors of the 20th Century." Once again, I opted for the individual 2-CD discs rather than the whole package. I have never regretted either of those decisions. Have other CMGers acquired many or some of those released by Philips or EMI. I have heard a rumor that Decca "might" reissue their Great Pianists series (many companies participated in providing recordings to make the project happen; copyright may have run out on that now). Have heard nothing about Warner reissuing the Great Conductors (also with the participation of other record companies).

[Holden Fourth]

GPOTTC introduced me to a number of pianists I was barely aware of and like you Lance, I cherry picked what I bought rather than get the whole set.

[maestrob]

Both issues are ripe for megaboxing, for sure! I was gifted some of the Great Pianists series, but I would still purchase a box if it were offered.

[Lance]

Understand completely. The problem with the "Pianists" box is that it replicates so much one may already have by pianists such as Rubinstein, Horowitz, Arrau, Backhaus, Gilels, Richter, Curzon, Bolet, Cherkassky, Cortot, Fleischer, Friere, Gieseking, Gulda, Francois, Fischer, Janis, Katchen, Kempff, Lupu, Ogdon, Pletnev, Schnabel, Weissenberg, Solomon, Sofronitsky, Kissin, and others. I only list those because you might already have much by those pianists. Nice, though, to have it all in one big, two-ton boxed set! I'm actually glad they did make individual issues available, and same for the "Conductors."

Both issues are ripe for megaboxing, for sure! I was gifted some of the Great Pianists series, but I would still purchase a box if it were offered.

[barney]

I bought 37 of the two CD sets as they came out, then found the whole 100 in the two boxes, new, for NZ $537 (about $400 US, I think). They weren't that cheap in Oz. I never regretted that! A while ago Lance posted that he'd seen the whole lot on eBay for US$4000, but it's irrelevant - I'll never sell. Reissuing would, of course, cut the value of many of these mega-sets, including Rubinstein, Horowitz and Grumiaux.

[Lance]

Yes, and who could live without a complete Grumiaux, Rubinstein or Horowitz? All those sets are now commanding big bucks just about everywhere. I got 62 of the "Pianists" set; I don't recall how many there were but it seemed more reasonable to just go for the ones of pianists harder to get, that is Ginzburg, Godowsky, Hess (always get her no matter what), Hofmann, Magaloff, Lhevinne, Moiseiwitsch (always), Paderewski, Yudina and, an odd one for the set, Bruk & Tamanov (why that was included, great as they are, I don't know). And not sure why André Previn was in the set as he is better known as a conductor (though also a fine pianist). I have only 77 of the "Conductors" set and I cannot recall how many there were in that series. I used to communicate with one of the folks (in Canada) who was involved in the production of the "Pianists" set, but i cannot now recall his name; I can almost say it. Through him, I recall there was an error in a Cortot set with a wrong-date (later) version of something by Schumann as I recall.

I bought 37 of the two CD sets as they came out, then found the whole 100 in the two boxes, new, for NZ $537 (about $400 US, I think). They weren't that cheap in Oz. I never regretted that! A while ago Lance posted that he'd seen the whole lot on eBay for US$4000, but it's irrelevant - I'll never sell. Reissuing would, of course, cut the value of many of these mega-sets, including Rubinstein, Horowitz and Grumiaux.

[Ricordanza]

I'm not in the "collector" category--I only have a couple hundred CDs--so I never considered buying the entire group of Great Pianists. I just have five, and I'm glad to have them:

Jorge Bolet
Vladimir Horowitz 1 (Schumann)
Julius Katchen 1
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli 1
Sampler