Presto Classical CD Box Sale

[maestrob]

Presto Classical is offering an outstanding collection of DGG and Decca boxes on sale for roughly $3 per disc. Some outstanding titles at the link below:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/p ... dium=email

Bach 333 at less than $2 per disc, 222 CDs and DVD video:



Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra Beethoven on DVD:



Shostakovich Quartets & Piano Quintet with the Borodin Quartet:



Two different sets of Mozart's Quartets:





A box of Trevor Pinnock's complete orchestral recordings of music by Handel:



And finally, perhaps a last chance at Wilhelm Kempff's great mono set of the Beethoven Sonatas:



Not to mention ALL of Carlos Kleiber's DGG recordings:



PLUS many, many more: Pesek's complete Dvorak Box and many others:

[barney]

ooooooh! I have nearly all of those, but the Shostakovich quartets leaves me strangely tempted. Anyone know how they compare with the Emerson's, my only complete set at present?

[premont]

To people like me, living in the EURO-zone, Brexit has made it as well as impossible to purchase physical CD's from Great Britain. Good to see, that Presto also offers a lot of the CD's in the shape of flac downloads. Most of these are very inexpensive, others are reasonably priced, but a few are ridiculously expensive. Downloads however are rarely on sale.

[maestrob]

ooooooh! I have nearly all of those, but the Shostakovich quartets leaves me strangely tempted. Anyone know how they compare with the Emerson's, my only complete set at present?

Haven't heard the Borodin/Shostakovivh cycle yet, Barney, but I plan on doing so soon through Spotify. I have the Emersons' live cycle on DGG also and admire it a lot.

Will report....

[maestrob]

To people like me, living in the EURO-zone, Brexit has made it as well as impossible to purchase physical CD's from Great Britain. Good to see, that Presto also offers a lot of the CD's in the shape of flac downloads. Most of these are very inexpensive, others are reasonably priced, but a few are ridiculously expensive. Downloads however are rarely on sale.

That's terrible! What seems to be the snag? Tariffs? Or are you somehow blocked from using Presto altogether because it's a British supplier?

[premont]

To people like me, living in the EURO-zone, Brexit has made it as well as impossible to purchase physical CD's from Great Britain. Good to see, that Presto also offers a lot of the CD's in the shape of flac downloads. Most of these are very inexpensive, others are reasonably priced, but a few are ridiculously expensive. Downloads however are rarely on sale.

That's terrible! What seems to be the snag? Tariffs? Or are you somehow blocked from using Presto altogether because it's a British supplier?

Yes, tariffs. There is a lot of declarations and paper-work, which must be paid, with packages from Great Britain, ensuring that the goods fulfill the EU standards. Formally it's not customs duty, but kind of unformal sucessor. It's so complicated, that I have refrained from exploring it in detail.But there are no problems with downloads.

[maestrob]

To people like me, living in the EURO-zone, Brexit has made it as well as impossible to purchase physical CD's from Great Britain. Good to see, that Presto also offers a lot of the CD's in the shape of flac downloads. Most of these are very inexpensive, others are reasonably priced, but a few are ridiculously expensive. Downloads however are rarely on sale.

That's terrible! What seems to be the snag? Tariffs? Or are you somehow blocked from using Presto altogether because it's a British supplier?

Yes, tariffs. There is a lot of declarations and paper-work, which must be paid, with packages from Great Britain, ensuring that the goods fulfill the EU standards. Formally it's not customs duty, but kind of unformal successor. It's so complicated, that I have refrained from exploring it in detail. But there are no problems with downloads.

Looks like somebody left out a paragraph when negotiating the Brexit deal, but let's not upset the applecart!

[Holden Fourth]

The beauty of it for us Australians is that VAT is removed though our government does like to add GST though it's half the rate of the Brit tax. Downloads are the way to go to avoid that.

I'll check the Presto site (I am a customer) to see what's available.

[maestrob]

The beauty of it for us Australians is that VAT is removed though our government does like to add GST though it's half the rate of the Brit tax. Downloads are the way to go to avoid that.

I'll check the Presto site (I am a customer) to see what's available.

Holden, the downloads are not on sale, so be forewarned!

[barney]

To people like me, living in the EURO-zone, Brexit has made it as well as impossible to purchase physical CD's from Great Britain. Good to see, that Presto also offers a lot of the CD's in the shape of flac downloads. Most of these are very inexpensive, others are reasonably priced, but a few are ridiculously expensive. Downloads however are rarely on sale.

I'm sure the Brexit ramifications will unfold for years. One of my 3 nationalities is British, but, living in Australia, I couldn't vote. If it's not too nosy, where in Europe do you live, Premont? All of us on CMG like our cultural reach to be as wide as possible. We have about three Australians (including me) and a pocketful of Poms (as we call the English), but otherwise its mostly good old Americans. All valued, of course.

[Holden Fourth]

The beauty of it for us Australians is that VAT is removed though our government does like to add GST though it's half the rate of the Brit tax. Downloads are the way to go to avoid that.

I'll check the Presto site (I am a customer) to see what's available.

Holden, the downloads are not on sale, so be forewarned!

...thanks for that and they are even more expensive then the full price CDs.

[premont]

To people like me, living in the EURO-zone, Brexit has made it as well as impossible to purchase physical CD's from Great Britain. Good to see, that Presto also offers a lot of the CD's in the shape of flac downloads. Most of these are very inexpensive, others are reasonably priced, but a few are ridiculously expensive. Downloads however are rarely on sale.

I'm sure the Brexit ramifications will unfold for years. One of my 3 nationalities is British, but, living in Australia, I couldn't vote. If it's not too nosy, where in Europe do you live, Premont? All of us on CMG like our cultural reach to be as wide as possible. We have about three Australians (including me) and a pocketful of Poms (as we call the English), but otherwise its mostly good old Americans. All valued, of course.

Of course you may ask. I am Danish and possibly the only one in CMG. Music fora are not overrun by Danes - not even TC, which originates in Denmark. I love my country but not in a fanatic way.

[barney]

To people like me, living in the EURO-zone, Brexit has made it as well as impossible to purchase physical CD's from Great Britain. Good to see, that Presto also offers a lot of the CD's in the shape of flac downloads. Most of these are very inexpensive, others are reasonably priced, but a few are ridiculously expensive. Downloads however are rarely on sale.

I'm sure the Brexit ramifications will unfold for years. One of my 3 nationalities is British, but, living in Australia, I couldn't vote. If it's not too nosy, where in Europe do you live, Premont? All of us on CMG like our cultural reach to be as wide as possible. We have about three Australians (including me) and a pocketful of Poms (as we call the English), but otherwise its mostly good old Americans. All valued, of course.

Of course you may ask. I am Danish and possibly the only one in CMG. Music fora are not overrun by Danes - not even TC, which originates in Denmark. I love my country but not in a fanatic way.

We have one Swede that I know of. But Danes of course are infinitely more civilised. (Unless I'm talking to a Swede, when it's the other way round. ) Glad you have returned, anyway.

[maestrob]

ooooooh! I have nearly all of those, but the Shostakovich quartets leaves me strangely tempted. Anyone know how they compare with the Emerson's, my only complete set at present?

Barney, I've been auditioning the first several quartets from the Borodin Quartet box on Spotify, and would recommend them highly. I do plan on ordering them as a supplement to the excellent Emerson box before they go OOP. They are certainly cheap enough!

[barney]

Thanks Brian. I'll ponder that. I just ordered the Schiff Brahms discussed on another thread, and I have literally scores of unopened CDs, plus a fascinating collection from a very generout benefactor. I had decided I might just live with the Emersons - after all I have plenty of recordings of individual Shostakovich quartets - but now you've re-opened the question...

[maestrob]

Thanks Brian. I'll ponder that. I just ordered the Schiff Brahms discussed on another thread, and I have literally scores of unopened CDs, plus a fascinating collection from a very generout benefactor. I had decided I might just live with the Emersons - after all I have plenty of recordings of individual Shostakovich quartets - but now you've re-opened the question...

OK!

I'm still pondering the Schiff/Brahms, as I need a bit more persuading about the HIP approach. My ears are still imprinted with the likes of Richter/Leinsdorf in II and Rubinstein/Reiner in I, but I suppose that I'll eventually be persuaded, as I'm such a great admirer of Andras Schiff.

Just listened to both Schiff's Brahms and Ton Koopman playing Schubert's Impromptus (both sets) and I'm quite taken with the possibilities of those mid-1800's keyboards.