Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 50th Anniversary Box

This is a wonderful set of music. I have bought much of this music in individual CD's at many times the price, and so this collection represents a terrific value. You should grab it while you can. This is an heirloom package we're talking about here. Because this collection is so nice you may want to ask yourself what kind of condition you want it to be in when it arrives. I think this inquiry is very important if you are considering buying from one of Amazon's affiliated sellers, who often offer these sets at prices significantly better than Amazon's price. While I have had good luck buying individual CD's from the affiliated sellers, I have had abyssmal experiences with buying heavy "coffee table"-type books and these larger CD and DVD box sets. Why??? Because they aren't packaging them well. I bought this set from a reputable seller--MovieMars--and they literally sent it in an ENVELOPE. That's right! The thing has 50 CD's and weighs close to four pounds and is housed in a formal presentation box, and they pathetically wrap it in a paper backed bubble wrap--with absolutely NO BOX--and send it media mail. You can imagine the condition it was in when I received it. The box was dented and the lid was split open. This set does not use jewel cases--if it had, the plastic shards would have just poured out (as has happened several times in the past with these corner and cost-cutting affiliated sellers). This has now happened with about half the box sets have bought from these Amazon-affiliated sellers. And the heavy books typically get bent corners, which is unacceptable to me. It is wasteful and tragic. Art become landfill due to their slothful indifference. It is obvious they are trying to cut shipping costs and so they compromise their packaging materials and effort. It is terribly frustrating: you have to either do a send-back (and you'll have to find your own shipping box), or accept an expensive item which is in tatters. Should you roll the dice and give one of these sellers a try to see if you can save some money?? After this experience with this set (Movie Mars offered me a $5 credit--which I obviously declined), I have decided that in the future I'm just going to spend the extra dollars and buy directly from Amazon. I just don't have time to send stuff back all the time, and it totally takes the fun out of buying these exquisite sets if they arrive in less than perfect condition. Amazon ships the old-fashioned way: a sturdy cardboard box. I'm willing to pay more for that.

Fabulosa coleccion en excelente estado.

This is a beautiful set. Well performed with good sound. Even if there are some duplicates with your collection, there is so much music you can't go wrong. If you just find 8 new recordings in this for your collection, the set will have paid for itself.

Deals like this don't come around often and don't last. I collected a few of these recordings over the years when they were first released, so when I saw this set come up for sale I ordered immediately. Here's what you get: CD 1 ASTORGA - Stabat Mater PERGOLESI - Confitebor DURANTE - Magnificat Freiburger Barockorchester Thomas Hengelbrock CD 2 BACH Concertos pour hautbois § Double-concerto Camerata Köln CD 3 BACH Variations Goldberg Gustav Leonhardt, clavecin CD 4 BACH L'Offrande Musicale Barthold Kuijken Sigiswald Kuijken Wieland Kuijken Robert Kohnen CD 5 BACH Motets Cantus Cölln CD 6-7 BACH Messe en si mineur Freiburger Barockorchester Thomas Hengelbrock CD 8 BACH / VIVALDI Ouvertures, Symphonies, Concertos Thomas Hengelbrock CD 9-10 BACH Suites pour violoncelle solo Hidemi Suzuki CD 11 BAROCCO ESPA'OL Literes / Duron Martha Almajano Al Ayre Espanol CD 12 Le violoncelle au 17ème Siècle FRESCOBALDI GABRIELLI JACCHINI ANTONII Anner Bylsma CD 13 BIBER Requiem à 15 STEFFANI Stabat Mater Gustav Leonhardt CD 14 BOCCHERINI Concertos pour violoncelle Symphonies Tafelmusik Anner Bylsma CD 15 BUXTEHUDE Sonates Capriccio Stravagante Skip Sempé CD 16 CACCINI Le Nuove Musiche Jordi Savall Montserrat Figueras Schola Cantorum Basiliensis CD 17 COUPERIN La Sultane Skip Sempé CD 18 FACCO Pensieri adriarmonici 6 Concerti Op.1 L'Arte Dell'Arco CD 19 FORQUERAY Pièces de viole et de clavecin Jay Bernfeld Skip Sempe CD 20 FRESCOBALDI Messa della Domenica Canticum Lorenzo Ghielmi CD 21 FRESCOBALDI Messe de la Madone Canticum CD 22 GLUCK Les Chinoises Un Opéra-Sérénade Anne Sofie von Otter Schola Cantorum Basiliensis René Jacobs CD 23 LASSUS Musica Dei Donum Lauda Sion Salvatorem Missa « Puisque j'ay perdu » à 4 voix Pro Cantione Antiqua CD 24 LASSUS Requiem à 5 Magnificat Pro Cantione Antiqua CD 25 LITERES Los Elementos Opéra harmonique Al Ayre Espanol CD 26 LULLY Divertissements Capriccio Stravagante Skip Sempé CD 27 MACHAUT - Messe à Notre-Dame MAGNUS / LE CHANCELIER Deller-Consort Collegium Aureum Alfred Deller CD 28 KNÛPFER, SCHELLE, KUHNAU Les Maîtres de la Chapelle St. Thomas avant J.-S. Bach Cantus Cölln CD 29 MARAIS Fantaisie champêtre Pieces in trio Ensemble Rebel CD 30 MONTEVERDI Lamento d'Arianna Combatimento di Trancrede et Clorinda Capriccio Stravagante Skip Sempé CD 31-32 MONTEVERDI Vêpres de la Vierge Cantus Cölln CD 33 PACHELBEL BACH Motets Cantus Cölln CD 34 PALESTRINA Lamentations du Samedi Saint Missa in duplicibus Ensemble Gilles Binchois Schola Cantorum Basiliensis Dominique Vellard CD 35 PERGOLESI La Serva Padrona Maddalena Bonifaccio Siegmund Nimsgern Collegium Aureum CD 36 PURCELL Dioclesian suite HAENDEL Concerto grosso Il duello Amoroso Freiburger Barockorchester CD 37 PURCELL / LAWES LOCKE / MATTEIS English baroque music from the 17th Century, pour flûte § clavecin Pedro Memelsdorff Andreas Staier CD 38 RAMEAU Hippolyte et Aricie Suite pour orchestre La Petite Bande Sigiswald Kuijken CD 39 RAMEAU Platée et Dardanus Suites Nicholas McGegan CD 40 RAMEAU Pygmalion La Petite Bande Gustav Leonhardt CD 41 REBEL « Tombeau » Les Sonates en trio Ensemble Rebel CD 42 SAINTE COLOMBE Pièces pour viole de gambe Hille Perl CD 43 SCARLATTI Cantates / Cantatas David Daniels Nicholas McGegan CD 44 SCARLATTI Passion selon St Jean René Jacobs Schola Cantorum Basiliensis CD 45 TELEMANN Concertos pour instruments à vent Camerata Köln CD 46 VIVALDI Les quatre saisons Freiburger Barockorchester The Harp Consort CD 47 VIVALDI Avanti l'opera Ouvertures d'Opéras oubliés L'Arte dell'Arco Christopher Hogwood CD 48 VIVALDI 6 sonates pour violoncelle et basse continue Anner Bylsma Hidemi Suzuki CD 49 ZELENKA Missa dei Filii Tafelmusik CD 50 ZELENKA / PISENDEL Concerti Freiburger Barockorchester Amazing, no? Most followers of Baroque music will find something new in this set. How delicious it is to discover music that is both new and yet hundreds of years old. The performers are first-rate as well--DHM cut no corners.

Although I had some problems receiving the product, Grandmafred answered all my doubts and provided the solutions to all the drawbacks. I would say that the supplier is serious, and recommend it to anyone.

If you are interested in baroque and earlier music, this is the set for you. While the notes are somewhat cryptic, the music is outstanding and contains a number of compositions not elsewhere available

There are few words that can describe the breath and quality of this wonderful set. Buy it and ENJOY!

Last Thursday, I received my boxed set of Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 50 Years. While the music itself was highly satisfactory, the packaging was not. There were no libretti for the texts of the vocal selections, no liner notes, and no CD ROM containing all this essential information. This was surprising in that I had purchased the French Harmonia Mundi 50 Years collection some time ago, also a boxed set, and it came with a CD ROM containing full libretti and liner notes. Same company? Why different packaging? Possibly a different Marketing manager? Fire him/her for poor judgment which debases company image and product usability. I immediately wrote a review to this effect and posted it, suggesting that Amazon advise Harmonia Mundi to issue a CD ROM even if it had to be purchased separately at additional cost. It is now becoming standard practice in the recording industry to issue boxed sets containing vocal selections with a free CD ROM containing libretti and full liner notes. Let the buyer beware: all that glitters is not gold.

Do yourself a favour--fork out the ludicrously low price for this box, and if you have even the slightest interest in Baroque music, then I guarantee you'll have months, if not years, of delight ahead of you. There seems no particular strategy underlying the choice of discs for this 50th anniversary set, except that every one is well worth listening to. Frankly, it would be worth buying just for the excellent versions of such standards as the Bach Cello Suites, Monteverdi Vespers, and Vivaldi Four Seasons (and if you already have all of those, don't worry, you'll want to hear these versions) but the real delights are the incredibly obscure items by composers such as Literes, Facco and Zelenka. Then there are the unlikely connections: if you're a fan of the film 'Tous les Matins du Monde' you'll find a disc each devoted to both Marin Marais and St Colombe! Performances dates back as far as the 1970s, almost the prehistoric period in 'period performance practice', but even those recordings have a certain fascination. There's not a single disc out of the 50 that I won't be returning to. Given the price, it's not surprising that there are no notes, and minimal information even as to the individual movements or performers. That is a drawback, as even Google can be defeated by the most obscure figures here, but the set as a whole is so fabulous, that it's not enough to stop me giving it five stars.

A fantastic, mostly Early, Music collection that you will keep playing and playing. So much choise for every moment you want to listen.

Comment résister à ce coffret qui comporte des enregistrements de grande qualité? Comment résister à ce catalogue d'oeuvres indispensables à une bonne discothèque? On y retrouve les meilleurs interprètes, les meilleurs spécialistes. Alors si même vous avez déjà quelques albums parmi ceux composant ce coffret, offrez-les à des proches: ça leur fera plaisir et vous n'aurez aucun scrupule à vous offrir cette merveilleuse compilation qui renferme des trésors.

これを聴いて以外に思ったのは収録された中でも近年に録音されたものの方が古いものに比較して演奏に良いものがあるということで、昔の古楽ブームがファッション的なブームで物珍しさを伴ったものだっのに対し近年のものは技術的に安定しレパートリーも広くなったにも関わらす以前程には人気のぁるジャンルではなくなった事情を考えた。