or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Colour:
Image not available

 

From Bach to Wagner [Box set]

Sir Adrian Boult Audio CD
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
Price: £16.84 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Only 7 left in stock (more on the way).
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. Gift-wrap available.
Want delivery by Tuesday, 28 May? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details

Frequently Bought Together

From Bach to Wagner + William Walton The Collector's Edition
Price For Both: £40.23

Buy the selected items together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Product details

  • Audio CD (6 Aug 2012)
  • SPARS Code: ADD
  • Number of Discs: 11
  • Format: Box set
  • Label: EMI
  • ASIN: B0084HGZKA
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 18,932 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

See all items

Product Description

11CD

Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
91 of 92 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A Superb Anthology of Sir Adrian's Art 9 Aug 2012
By Graham
Amazon Verified Purchase
In his day Sir Adrian Boult tended to be somewhat overshadowed by Beecham, Barbirolli and even Sargent. This was probably due to the fact that he was not in any way a flamboyant or charismatic conductor as these others were. He also tended to be regarded as a conductor who concentrated on the music of English composers, particularly Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Holst, all of whom he knew well and, in the case of Vaughan Williams and Holst, were friends. His repertoire, however, was immense and extremely varied and was built up, particularly during his years as conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 1931 until 1950, when he was expected to do anything.

After recording much music by English composers for EMI he turned to Austro-Germanic repertoire almost by accident. In August 1970 there was time to spare at the end of six days of sessions recording Elgar and Vaughan Williams, and this was used to record Brahms's Third Symphony and Tragic Overture. This was so successful that he went on to record, not only the other three symphonies and other works by Brahms, but most of the other works included in this superb new set from EMI: music by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert and Wagner. All of these met with considerable acclaim when they were issued, especially the four LPs of music by Wagner. In his review of the first of these the renowned critic and musicologist Deryck Cooke wrote, "I have never heard Sir Adrian Boult conduct Wagner before, and I suppose that most people, like myself, never thought of him as a Wagner conductor at all; but on this record he reveals himself as a 'perfect Wagnerite'".

When these recordings were made Sir Adrian was in his eighties, but you would never think so; everything is so fresh and alive. The recordings also have the advantage of a conductor who had spent more than half a century thinking about and performing this music which he loved.

Many will be familiar with the Brahms, Wagner and the Schubert Great C Major, a work in which Sir Adrian was unsurpassed. They may not have heard, however, his accounts of the Brandenburgs. I am glad that these have been included in this box, and not only because they are a curiosity, performed as they are in the style that the young Boult heard at the beginning of the twentieth century from conductors such as Nikisch and Steinbach. Sir Adrian was not interested in the so called authenic approach to baroque music and may actually have made these recordings almost as a protest, although he was far too much of a gentleman to say this. He did say to the producer Christopher Bishop that he was "tired of chopped-up Bach"! He uses what sounds like all the strings of the LPO in these performances, but the result is never heavy sounding nor congested; quite the reverse.
Here is a list of the works in this superb anthology of Sir Adrian's art:
Bach: Brandenburg Concerti 1- 6
Mozart: Symphonies 35 & 41; Overture, The Magic Flute
Beethoven: Symphony No.6; Coriolan Overture; Ruins of Athens Overture and Turkish March
Schubert: Symphony No.9
Johann StraussI: Radetzky March
Suppe: Poet and Peasant Overture
Wagner: Overtures, Preludes and Orchestral Excerpts from Rienzi, Der Fliegende Hollander, Tannhauser, Lohengrin,
Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg and The Ring, Siegfried Idyll
Wolf: Italian Serenade
Brahms: Symphonies 1-4, Serenades 1 & 2, Overtures, Haydn Variations, Alto Rhapsody (with Dame Janet Baker)
Was this review helpful to you?
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful
By Mr. Ian A. Macfarlane TOP 100 REVIEWER
I entirely agree with Graham - this is an exceptional and very satisfying issue. It includes many well-known recordings which have appeared at various times individually - the Schubert 9 and the Brahms Symphonies and Serenades, for example - but also there are little rarities - Poet and Peasant, the Radetzky March, the Magic Flute Overture (recorded for World Record Club in the 1960s) and the Ruins of Athens from an old Columbia EP, I think, all excellent, and though not very significant, very nice to have nonetheless. It is also nice to see the 'Haffner' reappear. It was originally coupled with the 'Jupiter' (also here) on an EMI LP, a performance quite recently chosen by BBC Radio 3's CD Review as the best 'traditional' performance available on CD. He was such a good conductor, often undervalued by those who like Olympic displays on the podium, but so knowledgeable and so musical, and his repertoire was huge. It was sometimes said that he never gave a bad performance (I don't quite agree with that!!), but the absolute excellence of his work at his best still takes me by surprise sometimes. Anyway, this is a fine set, and it is just that we are reminded that Sir Adrian was first and foremost a conductor in the great European tradition, not a specialist in English music (he never regarded himself as such), which is what these 11 CDS make quite clear.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A treasure trove 29 Aug 2012
I agree wholeheartedly with both of the previous reviewers . This is a wonderful compilation , long awaited of Boult's Indian Summer recordings of the Austro-German repertoire .

The Bach is buoyant and very enjoyable and David Munrow no less can be heard playing his recorder in a couple of the Brandenburgs. The Haffner and Jupiter are a delight and it is marvellous to see Boult's Wagner recordings back in the catalogue nearly complete.What a shame that EMI didn't give him the chance to record a few vocal excerpts too .

The Schubert 9 deserves all the plaudits it gets . The Brahms cycle is one of the very greatest .It is perhaps invidious to pick out one performance but that of No 2 is right at the top of my list of favourite performances of this symphony.

May I put in a word too for the recording of the Pastoral that I praised when it first reappeared on ICA Classics after 20 plus years missing from the catalogue . It is a complete delight from first bar to the last with a thrilling storm and a rather brisk scene by the brook which , however,seems utterly in context .

This is a treasure trove of wonderful performances and those of Beethoven 6 , Brahms 2, Schubert 9 and the Jupiter in particular deserve to be considered as amongst the very best in recorded history.
Was this review helpful to you?
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?   Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars grand boult
boult is good with all of composers on these discs. the bach areclear and rythmically precise,the mozart could be out of sync today but i loved it. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Denis A. Dye
5.0 out of 5 stars ...but what about the sound???
Others have already done justice to these wonderful performances, so I'll say only that the Brahms Symphonies 1-3 were all considered to be primary recommendations in their day,... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Richard Frankel
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Boult collection!
This 11CD compilation is a valuable addition to the Boult discography and is one of several superb box sets released by EMI this year which brings together an artist's recorded... Read more
Published 6 months ago by R. Kenchington
3.0 out of 5 stars Respect - with reservations
I'm aware that it's heresy to admit any dissatifaction concerning these recordings; for that reason I've tried to listen objectively, in particular to the Brahms symphonies, to... Read more
Published 6 months ago by R. C. Ross
5.0 out of 5 stars Different Sound Balance
This excellent set contains the Jupiter and Pastoral Symphony performances previously issued on ICA classics. Read more
Published 7 months ago by A. Hill
5.0 out of 5 stars A Treasure Trove!
This is quite the most significant CD purchase I have made in a very long time. I am old enough to remember being present when Sir Adrian conducted Brahms 1st Symphony in... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Norman Geddes
4.0 out of 5 stars eminent weak conductor
boult, beacham and barbirolli are the 3 eminent british conductors, but all are weak due to victorian gentility, altho good at british music. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Robert Chadis
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
Boult box 0 30 Jul 2012
See all discussions...  
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
   
Related forums


What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category


Feedback


Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges