Search - Symphonies, Mozart, Haydn :: The Complete Symphonies

Bargain of the Decade?

Zvi Szafran | Marietta, Georgia | 08/16/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was looking around for a set of the complete Haydn symphonies, and the Penguin Guide to Classical Music listed the Adam Fischer set (with the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra as being the best recordings. A quick look on Amazon shows that the set is composed of 33 discs, and sells for some $85. I was almost set to buy it, when I saw the listing for this set--the Complete Symphonies--as containing the same 33 discs by Haydn/Fischer, as well as 67 others for a total of 100 discs. And what's more, the larger set costs less than the Haydn/Fischer by itself.



I ordered it, and am just now going through it. It's the Brilliant Classics set (though Amazon doesn't list it that way). I've listened to several of the Haydn/Fischer symphonies, and they are excellent as expected. The set also contains the complete symphonies of Mozart, Beethoven, Muzio Clementi, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Mahler, Nielsen, Rimsky-Korsakov, Shostakovich, and Borodin, as well as some scattered others (Symphonies 4-6 only by Tchakovsky, for example). The recordings I've heard so far are all first rate.



The only real negative is that the packaging of this set is pretty darned minimal--it comes in a big stiff box that opens toward the top, and inside are the 100 discs in individual cardboard sleeves. There is minimal information on the sleeve (name of the work, name of the conductor and symphony, not much more), and no liner notes or booklet whatsoever. The symphonies included are written inside the top of the box, and the discs are also numbered, which will be helpful in keeping them in order.



Well, I know how I'm going to spend much of the next few months in my classical listening. At less than 80 cents per disc, you're not going to find a better bargain than this anywhere. Even if you already have several sets of complete symphonies (and I do--I already had sets of Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, and Borodin; and some of the individual symphonies for the others) this is still highly worthwhile.



Excellent recordings throughout, so far, with excellent conductors and orchestras. What's not to like?"