Handel - Celebration Edition (39 CDs) Brilliant Classics

[bwv1080]

Handel - Celebration Edition (39 CDs), Brilliant Classics.

1) Are the performances good?
2) How complete is it, i.e. how far is it from being the opera omnia of Haendel?
3) Any technical flaws?
4) Is it worth buying?

Thanks!

[Contratrombone64]

I see you've posted about these Brilliant sets (I own a couple) my advice, just buy it, what I think or someone else thinks is irrelevant really. Beauty IS, afterall, in the ears of the boholders.

[dll927]

Contra, you're right, but there is the little matter of shelling out the shekels for all those CDs. And although I haven't been in the market much the last few years, I'd bet they are more expensive than when I bought mine.

I probably have somewhere between 700-800 CDs in my collection, and a goodly portion of those are organ music.

I've long felt that, when CDs came out, the record companies shot themselves in the foot. They were so anxious to re-issue everything they had in CDs that, before long, there were 39 or so versions of almost any of the workhorse pieces. And many of the performances were somewhat aged even then.

Also, when CDs got started, the story was that as they became more common, the prices would go down. HAH, any more jokes? I can remember when the going rate for most new issues was around $12.95-$13.95 per disc, and less in sets. Anybody purchased any lately? It's like old-timers talking about when gasoline was 10 cents a gallon. 39 discs at $20.00 a throw (am I anywhere close?) comes to $780, and that's not counting the cut for the state capital. I'll stick with what I have -- I eventually reached tha point where I pretty much had everything I wanted.

[Corno Dolce]

Aloha dll927,

You bring up a valid point about shelling out the shekels for all those Cd's. Maybe a solution would be to download a couple of mp3's of particular recordings for to make an informed decision before taking the plunge and splurging on the collection.

In greatest humility,

CD