Jos expressed some interest in my comments about the Brilliant/Bach
Cantata sets.  There isn't much I can say about them, not having bought
any of it.  I have heard a little, and it seemed "worthy".  Folks on the
Bach Recordings list who have bought the sets appear fairly pleased with
the performances, highlighting the very low cost.

Many months ago I stopped thinking of the Brilliant boxes as possible
purchases and mainly look at them from the "time" and "logistical"
viewpoint.  I don't buy giant sets of any music; it's very important to me
to purchase at a frequency which allows me to fully savor each disc within
a reasonable time frame.  Further, "worthy" recordings are not worth
clogging up my cd storage spaces or renting a mini-storage unit.

Walter asked about the current status of the Koopman/Bach Cantata series.
He evidently has purchased through volume 7.  The status is that volume
10 came out a short number of months ago, and volume 11 is to be released
very soon.  Walter seems to have the patience to wait for the sets to reach
bargain-price levels; I don't have that patience at all.

Peter mentioned that the Brilliant boxes might be a cheap way to have
all the Bach cantatas performed fairly well.  That may well be true, but
a serious collector would already have many superb performances of Bach
cantatas; why take on a giant set that adds little to what you already
have? As for new collectors, I get a little concerned that those persons
will buy the boxes and not really get the full greatness of Bach.

I suppose I just have a "thing" against these gigantic sets/boxes.  I
see the Horowitz box, Rubinstein box, Teldec/Bach box, and others in the
stores.  They do not attract me at all.  My maximum is a box set like the
Prague/Dvorak string quartets or Vegh/Beethoven set.  I can handle that
quantity, and I snap them up quickly.  I really don't want to deal with
150 cd's at one pop.

Don Satz
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