This box set is already sold out on Amazon and Presto Classical. Your influence on classical music market is already being felt. Thank you David for uploading great content and expending my horizons.
A very helpful review. It convinced me that I need to have this box to supplant earlier reissues of van Beinum material. This box amazingly seems to include almost his entire discography. Scribendum rocks.
Van Beinum saved the Concertgebouw Orchestra, rebuilding it block by block after the Second World War. Before he became their principal conductor, he was the revered and loved second-in-command, in the shadow of the mountain-sized Willem Mengelberg. He was offered the post of principal conductor with other orchestras in the 1930s, but the Amsterdam musicians went at lengths to keep him. You give him the attention he deserves. Yes, he did work from the inside out, a real primus inter pares and maybe the most beloved principal conductor in the history of the orchestra (with Jansons in second place)
Britten's Spring Symphony was premiered in Amsterdam by van Beinum and his excellent orchestra, so I think the live recording included in the box is that of the premiere. Decca released it thirty years ago in a series of historical stuff. (Ferrier was on the cover, of course.) The sound is very limited. And yes, van Beinum deserves more attention... He died relatively young, and then a certain Bernard Haitink came...
All I need to know, THANKS, I much prefer to read reviews while listening, but that may not be best for full comprehension. This set has been around for awhile
Decca is set to release Van Beinum's complete Decca and Philips recordings, all gathered in one box set, in September 2022. According to the breaking news posted on HMV Japan there will be 44 CDs in the box. Presumably the recordings are remastered from the original mastertapes in Decca and Philips's archives.
I’m almost (ALMOST) relieved to see I can’t get this on UK Amazon. When I saw you posted this I thought, well, I have the box the Concertgebouw put out (no longer available of course) and a Mahler 3 etc from same source, but there’s so much more there, and it doesn’t even sound like there’s that much overlap! The relief is just because I’m listening my way through so many box sets right now (and did order the Bruno Walter box, surprised to see it’s still available at a fairly reasonable price in the UK)
Thank you for discussing this box, Dave. I was curious and appreciate your honest assessment of the sound on some of the live material and air checks. I've been picking up his Bruckner and Mahler on Eloquence per your recommendations on this channel. I'll need to investigate his Brahms and Debussy as well. In this instance, you've saved me money. Not quite ready to go "Beinum Bananas" and splurge but definitely interested in hearing more of this conductors work.
Van Beinum’s Mahler 7th, available as a digital download on Presto and elsewhere, is well worth a listen. No muss, no fuss, straightforward but still idiomatic and immensely appealing and accessible. A must-listen for lovers of that symphony.
Absolutely Universal need to do an easily available complete Beinum box. I got hooked because on a trip to Australia in 2001 I picked up the Debussy Trios Nocturnes, La Mer (Concertgebouw 1957, stereo) & Images (Concertgebouw 1954, mono) mentioned but on Philips Eloquence, which presumably means it comes from the original masters. Great stuff and great sound which demonstrates the Concertgebouw had a fabulous version of the Nocturnes well before Haitink's!
I have the Water Music on an LP! If there is a better performance of the music elsewhere, I'd like to know about it. One of the greatest conductors of the 20th century.
Van Beinum's Bruckner is unique - the momentum he maintains throughout the 7th, for instance, disposes of the 'dawdle - climax- dawdle - climax out of nowhere' approach that afflicts so many performances.
Thanks for this spirited overview. I've been wondering if/when Eloquence might issue a box set containing all the van Beinum CDs that they've previously released individually. After all, they've recently released those two Knappertsbusch boxes; why not EvB?
Really no one does boxes like Sony Classical. Beautiful presentation and, where possible, to the notes to each disc (even if in tiny font), sturdy boxes. Just great. Universal could learn a thing or two... But often they give the impression that they just don't care.
It's a great box - Beinam is found nowhere else, and he is one of the greats. So unaffected. Could you review the Scribendum complete Haydn symphony box? I think it is first rate throughout.
This box set is already sold out on Amazon and Presto Classical. Your influence on classical music market is already being felt. Thank you David for uploading great content and expending my horizons.
Thank YOU for watching!
A very helpful review. It convinced me that I need to have this box to supplant earlier reissues of van Beinum material. This box amazingly seems to include almost his entire discography. Scribendum rocks.
Van Beinum saved the Concertgebouw Orchestra, rebuilding it block by block after the Second World War. Before he became their principal conductor, he was the revered and loved second-in-command, in the shadow of the mountain-sized Willem Mengelberg. He was offered the post of principal conductor with other orchestras in the 1930s, but the Amsterdam musicians went at lengths to keep him. You give him the attention he deserves. Yes, he did work from the inside out, a real primus inter pares and maybe the most beloved principal conductor in the history of the orchestra (with Jansons in second place)
Britten's Spring Symphony was premiered in Amsterdam by van Beinum and his excellent orchestra, so I think the live recording included in the box is that of the premiere. Decca released it thirty years ago in a series of historical stuff. (Ferrier was on the cover, of course.) The sound is very limited. And yes, van Beinum deserves more attention... He died relatively young, and then a certain Bernard Haitink came...
All I need to know, THANKS, I much prefer to read reviews while listening, but that may not be best for full comprehension. This set has been around for awhile
Decca is set to release Van Beinum's complete Decca and Philips recordings, all gathered in one box set, in September 2022. According to the breaking news posted on HMV Japan there will be 44 CDs in the box. Presumably the recordings are remastered from the original mastertapes in Decca and Philips's archives.
I’m almost (ALMOST) relieved to see I can’t get this on UK Amazon. When I saw you posted this I thought, well, I have the box the Concertgebouw put out (no longer available of course) and a Mahler 3 etc from same source, but there’s so much more there, and it doesn’t even sound like there’s that much overlap! The relief is just because I’m listening my way through so many box sets right now (and did order the Bruno Walter box, surprised to see it’s still available at a fairly reasonable price in the UK)
Thank you for discussing this box, Dave. I was curious and appreciate your honest assessment of the sound on some of the live material and air checks. I've been picking up his Bruckner and Mahler on Eloquence per your recommendations on this channel. I'll need to investigate his Brahms and Debussy as well. In this instance, you've saved me money. Not quite ready to go "Beinum Bananas" and splurge but definitely interested in hearing more of this conductors work.
Check Beinum out, by all means. David is totally right. He was an exceptional conductor.
Van Beinum’s Mahler 7th, available as a digital download on Presto and elsewhere, is well worth a listen. No muss, no fuss, straightforward but still idiomatic and immensely appealing and accessible. A must-listen for lovers of that symphony.
Absolutely Universal need to do an easily available complete Beinum box. I got hooked because on a trip to Australia in 2001 I picked up the Debussy Trios Nocturnes, La Mer (Concertgebouw 1957, stereo) & Images (Concertgebouw 1954, mono) mentioned but on Philips Eloquence, which presumably means it comes from the original masters. Great stuff and great sound which demonstrates the Concertgebouw had a fabulous version of the Nocturnes well before Haitink's!
I have the Water Music on an LP! If there is a better performance of the music elsewhere, I'd like to know about it. One of the greatest conductors of the 20th century.
Van Beinum's Bruckner is unique - the momentum he maintains throughout the 7th, for instance, disposes of the 'dawdle - climax- dawdle - climax out of nowhere' approach that afflicts so many performances.
Thanks for this spirited overview. I've been wondering if/when Eloquence might issue a box set containing all the van Beinum CDs that they've previously released individually. After all, they've recently released those two Knappertsbusch boxes; why not EvB?
I see that a Van Beinum complete Decca box is forthcoming, but the price is outrageously high... May be this box reviewed here is still the one to get
I look at the title -- 40 CDs -- and I look at the time -- 21 minutes -- and think, "Dave has this down to a science."
Really no one does boxes like Sony Classical. Beautiful presentation and, where possible, to the notes to each disc (even if in tiny font), sturdy boxes. Just great. Universal could learn a thing or two... But often they give the impression that they just don't care.
It's a great box - Beinam is found nowhere else, and he is one of the greats. So unaffected. Could you review the Scribendum complete Haydn symphony box? I think it is first rate throughout.
I think the Haydn is pretty mediocre.
Are any of these discs drawn from recordings made by Philips or Decca?