18 July 2008

Sieglinde asks: would you rather have half a tank of gas or a box full of Bayreuth

Surely this year's steal: a 33-disc set from Decca of all of Wagner's standard repertory recorded live from Bayreuth. List price: $69.98 (which is, what, about three euros?). The catch: it's "limited edition". WTF would they do that, you ask? Sieglinde has no idea. But it seems that Decca means what it says. It's already "temporarily out of stock" at Amazon, where they're practically giving it away for $55.97. If they restock it, that is.

P.S. The set includes the Levine Parsifal from 1985, which nearly everyone online pooh-poohs. Am I the only one who thinks it's a great recording? It's characteristic Levine: meticulous, majestic, worshipful. Sure, it's damn slow, but what's your hurry? As if you have more important things to do.