Hiding behind a dreadful title and equally appalling artwork this series of "99 most essential...." proves to contain some real gems on a little more digging. This Schubert set is a case in point. Importantly COMPLETE works are included including real rarities so far from the 'classical pops' only the title would imply. Yes some of the recordings are sourced from obscure/not first rate ensembles but these are more than compensated for by top-notch recordings. For example this set includes many recordings sourced from some of the best companies (BIS etc) which collectors will know is usually a by-word for artistic and technical excellence. I have NOT listened to all of these performances yet. Here is a quick list of the main works included complete here:
Symphonies 3-6 (Jarvi/Stockholm Sinfonietta from BIS - quality as you'd expect from this source)
Symphonies 8&9 (Munich SO / Hans Swarowsky - not heard yet)
Octet
Trout Quintet
String Quintet (surely one of the greatest pieces ever written by anyone!)
String Quartets "Rosamunde" & "Death & The Maiden" (the Tokyo String Quartet - one of the world's great quartets play the latter)
Arpeggione Sonata (not heard)
Piano Trios 1&2 (beautiful music - Arion Trio)
Rosamunde Incidental music (not heard)
quite a bit of piano music from quality players including Peter Frankl, Alfred Brendel & Walter Klein
This is NOT a complete list - I reckon about 10 CDs worth at least all for half the price of a single Naxos disc!! It is worth looking at some of the other downloads in this series too. Some are not so good in terms of original recordings or indeed programming - the Dvorak is relatively disappointing & the Mozart/Beethoven/Vivaldi all good value but predictable. Check out the Saint-Saens & Brahms sets for some more gems. The compilations "99 essential baroque/choral/christmas" etc etc don't have complete works so to my mind are less interesting for a collector. These collections are worth looking at by both the classical newbie and the long-term collector
Bit rates pretty good - up around an acceptable 220-230 kps or better. Great way of getting old favourites as well as many rarities. Good job Amazon