111: The Collector’s Edition 2 (56 CD box set, APE)

Audio CD
Number of Discs: 56 CD box set, Limited Edition
Format: APE (image+cue)
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Size: 13.5 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes

The best-selling catalog campaign from last year returns with all-new editions. Celebrate 111 years of Deutsche Grammophon with these limited-edition, specially-priced box sets. Hurry, because DG turns 112 on December 6, 2010. 111: The Collector’s Edition 2

As a counterpart to the original 111 Collector’s Edition (55-CD set which sold-out in less than 6 weeks last year), this 56-CD box-set is the perfect companion edition. Expanding both back in time to 1939 and forward to the most recent of DG releases, the set includes artists such as Kathleen Battle, Itzhak Perlman, Gidon Kremer, Vladimir Horowitz, Mstislav Rostropovich and many others.

CD 01-02: Claudio Abbado – Bizet: Carmen
CD 03: Martha Argerich – Prokofiev, Ravel: Piano Concertos
CD 04: Daniel Barenboim – Beethoven: Piano Sonatas
CD 05: Kathleen Battle & Itzhak Perlman – Bach: Arias
CD 06: Leonard Bernstein – Mahler: Symphony No. 1
CD 07: Rafa Blechacz – Chopin: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
CD 08: Karl Bohm – Mozart: Wind Concertos
CD 09: Pierre Boulez – Debussy: La Mer, 3 Nocturnes, etc.
CD 10: Victor de Sabata – Brahms & Strauss
CD 11: Placido Domingo – Pasion Espanola
CD 12: Gustavo Dudamel – Fiesta
CD 13: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau – Bach: Cantatas
CD 14: Ferenc Frisay – J. Strauss I & II: Various Works
CD 15: Wilhelm Furtwangler – Schubert: Symphony no. 9
CD 16: Elina Garanca – Aria Cantilena
CD 17: Emil Gilels – Brahms Piano Concerto no. 1
CD 18: Carlo Maria Giulini – Faure: Requiem / Ravel: Pavane
CD 19: Osvaldo Golijov – Ayre
CD 20: Helene Grimaud – Reflection: Works by Schumann & Brahms
CD 21: Hagen Quartet – Schubert & Beethoven: Quartets
CD 22: Hilary Hahn – Sibelius & Schoenberg: Violin Concertos
CD 23: Daniel Hope – Air: A Baroque Journey
CD 24: Vladimir Horowitz – Horowitz at Home
CD 25: Eugen Jochum – Bruckner: Symphony No. 4
CD 26: Herbert von Karajan – Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem
CD 27: Wilhelm Kempff – Schumann & Brahms
CD 28-29: Carlos Kleiber – Verdi: La Traviata
CD 30: Magdalnea Kozena – Mozart: Arias
CD 31: Gidon Kremer – Glass: Violin Concerto / Schnittke: Concerto Grosso 5
CD 32: Lang Lang – Memory: Mozart, Chopin, Schumann
CD 33: James Levine – Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue, American in Paris, etc.
CD 34: Paul McCreesh – Mozart: Great Mass in C minor, etc.
CD 35: Evgeny Mravinsky – Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 ‘Pathetique’
CD 36: David Munrow – Music of the Gothic Era
CD 37: Aanne-Sophie Mutter – Carmen Fantasy
CD 38: Anna Netrebko & Rolando Villazon – Duets
CD 39: Alice Sara Ott – Liszt: 12 Transcendental Etudes
CD 40: Anne Sofie von Otter – Weill: Speak Low
CD 41: Trevor Pinnock – Bach: Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 1 & 3
CD 42: Maria Joao Pires – Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 14 & 26
CD 43: Maurizio Pollini – Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Boulez, Webern
CD 44: Thomas Quasthoff – Schubert: Die schone Mullerin
CD 45-46: Steve Reich – Drumming, 6 Pianos, Music for Mallet Instruments
CD 47: Karl Richter – C.P.E. Bach: Symphonies Nos. 1- 4
CD 48: Sviatoslav Richter – Schumann: Marsch, Waldszenen, Fantasiestucke
CD 49: Mstislav Rostropovich – Tchaikovsky: Ballet Suites
CD 50: Gil Shaham & Goran Sollscher – Paganini for Two
CD 51: Giuseppe Sinopoli – Opera Choruses
CD 52: Rita Streich – Opera Arias
CD 53: Bryn Terfel – Opera Arias
CD 54: Yuja Wang – Sonatas and Etudes: Chopin, Ligetti, Scriabin, Liszt
CD 55: Narciso Yepes – Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez, Fantasia
CD 56: Krystian Zimerman – Chopin: 4 Ballades, etc.

A great companion to the first set

This second second volume of the DG 111 collection didn’t surprise me very much. When the first box came out several months ago I had the suspicion that it was indeed half of an original project and that DG had gotten cold feet because they thought that not many people would buy such an expensive anthology. Well, that first 55-CD box sold like hotcakes and they wisely decided to release the second one. That at first they really weren’t sure about what they were going to do would explain why they never made any mention of a forthcoming second box when the first one was released.

That first box all by itself gave the impression of a half-baked project with too many outstanding artists and composers left out (see my review). There was also too much emphasis on new, younger artists at the expense of many of the great figures of the past who were so instrumental in the success and international prestige of the yellow label.

With the appearance of this second set the project makes much more sense. Now the total number of discs is 111 (55 and 56). More previously (and unfairly) neglected artists are now included, such as Rita Streich, Yevgeny Mravinsky, David Munrow and Giuseppe Sinopoli, Still no Andre Previn, Evelyn Lear, William Steinberg or Geza Anda. This last one is quite puzzling, as Anda’s recording of Mozart’s “Elvira Madigan” Piano Concerto No. 21 was one of DG’s all-time best-sellers. One could also mention Anda’s pioneering achievement of recording all of Mozart’s concertos for DG, conducting from the keyboard. Now, that’s a milestone that should have been honored.

A sample of Eugen Jochum’s pioneering Bruckner project (Symphony No. 4) is finally included. Still no Shostakovich or Berlioz (as far as I can tell).

Curiously enough, when this second box appeared during last year’s Christmas season, the short-lived first box was re-released but quicky and abruptly it was discontinued once again within a couple of months. As far as I know it hasn’t come back. If you have that one, you might want to get this second volume before it too disappears and the price skyrockets. You know how greedy second-hand dealers can be.

All in all, the two big boxes – together with the two six-CD samplers and the big (and absurdly expensive) book – now make up a fairly comprehensive survey. If only DG would make them all available for a reasonable period of time. Happy 111th birthday, Deutsche Grammophon!