# Mozart 225 Set and Complete Operas on DVD (33-Disc Set)



## PriyaW (Nov 22, 2020)

I have the PHILLIPS Complete Mozart Collection, all 45 volumes. I wanted to know how the new Mozart 225 edition from DECCA, DG, etc compare. There are several Mozart 225 boxes available, but I am not sure if the new edition would be better or an upgrade over PHILLIPS edition. How does the performances compare overall?

In addition, there is an accompanying 33 disc DVD of complete operas by Mozart. Comments on Amazon website says, there are technical problems with DVD getting stuck, not being able to fast forward, and some even not playing. Also settings of are not original, but more modern setup. Appreciate your comments and will help me decide whether to buys these or not.

Priya


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## Guest002 (Feb 19, 2020)

I had both sets.

I use the past tense advisedly: they're great if you're a 'completist', desiring to have a recording of every bar the man wrote. But I simply don't recommend doing that these days. The Phillips set contains mostly competent recordings... but I still deleted them all off my hard drive and threw the set away. I find it makes for more listening to Mozart if I have fewer recordings, but simply choose to buy the best of a particular and individual work (where, of course, opinions as to 'best' are varied and numerous!).

I've still got three cycles of the symphonies, a couple of versions of Figaro, Magic Flute and the da Ponti operas, and a handful of the serenades. A few of the piano concertos, obviously the clarinet and bassoon concerti, too. But no, I didn't feel the need to own multiple copies of the first 15 bars of music he wrote when he was 4 etc.

Answering your specific question, though: since you have the Phillips, stick with it. I think it is at least as good as the other box sets I've seen or heard.

But personally: ditch them and collect specific works instead.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Some of the non-HIP recordings in the PHILIPS edition sounded just terrible to me. I once listened to K.192 in that set; I was amazed. I still think of it as one of prime examples of non-HIP butchering of pre-Romantic era music. If I were you, I wouldn't get "complete sets" like that.
This is Harnoncourt's HIP:


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

hammeredklavier said:


> Some of the non-HIP recordings in the PHILIPS edition sounded just terrible to me. I once listened to K.192 in that set; I was amazed. I still think of it as one of prime examples of non-HIP butchering of pre-Romantic era music. If I were you, I wouldn't get "complete sets" like that.
> This is Harnoncourt's HIP:


Hey Hammeredklavier, I wanted to pick up a complete of Mozart's Sacred music. What's your recommendation? I liked Harnoncourt's later recordings, but his earlier recordings of Mozart's masses sound half-hearted, though maybe still better than the Phillips set?


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## Handelian (Nov 18, 2020)

I bought a Brilliant complete set of Mozart from a charity shop for next to nothing then had to carry it home on the bus as a punishment. Must confess not played many of them. If you can get hold of something really cheap like I did it is worth it otherwise it is a waste of money. Better going for stuff you like and are likely to play.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

I have the Phillips set, and must admit that I mostly listen to the same handful of items. Occasionally, I dip into other volumes mostly because I have them.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

AbsolutelyBaching said:


> I had both sets.
> 
> I use the past tense advisedly: they're great if you're a 'completist', desiring to have a recording of every bar the man wrote. But I simply don't recommend doing that these days....
> 
> ...But personally: ditch them and collect specific works instead.


I could not agree more, particularly with Mozart. He wrote a lot of great music during the last decade or so of his life, but there's a lot of his early compositions that are pleasant but not really worth hearing a second time.

The only composer for whom a "complete" set might be worthwhile is Brahms - because he destroyed every composition that he considered inferior to his best.


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## Andrew Kenneth (Feb 17, 2018)

PriyaW said:


> (..) In addition, there is an accompanying 33 disc DVD of complete operas by Mozart. Comments on Amazon website says, there are technical problems with DVD getting stuck, not being able to fast forward, and some even not playing. Also settings of are not original, but more modern setup. Appreciate your comments and will help me decide whether to buys these or not.
> 
> Priya


In the last year or so I managed to collect all Mozart opera's on blu-ray and dvd. Started out with collecting blu-ray. (for picture and sound quality reasons) It turns out that a lot of early Mozart opera's are only available on dvd so I also collected a lot of the dg Mozart dvd's. I never experienced any technical problems with these discs. You are right to point out that they all look quite modern.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

vtpoet said:


> Hey Hammeredklavier, I wanted to pick up a complete of Mozart's Sacred music. What's your recommendation? I liked Harnoncourt's later recordings, but his earlier recordings of Mozart's masses sound half-hearted, though maybe still better than the Phillips set?


I think so. I find the set of recordings by 'Harnoncourt / Concentus Musicus Wien/ Arnold Schoenberg Choir' generally satisfactory, 
https://www.amazon.ca/Complete-Sacred-Works-Mozart/dp/B00000IMUB
except there are some "glitches and background noises";
for example in K.321/ii, there is a "knocking sound" 
(listen to 



 at around 0:31),
and I remember hearing background noises somewhere in K.195/iii as well.
Also the tone of the bass soloist gets slightly annoying to me in K.317/iii,
but on the whole, I find the set generally satisfactory.

With K.192 (which I mentioned earlier) for example, I'm so used to the orchestral sound quality of the Harnoncourt set that I find other recordings like these just plain "wrong":









But I actually prefer other recordings when it comes to single-movement offertories like K.341 and K.222 cause I feel Harnoncourt doesn't quite do a good enough job in bringing out the "grave feel" of these pieces:

Kyrie in D minor, K.341 · London Symphony Chorus · John Constable · London Symphony Orchestra · Sir Colin Davis




Misericordias Domini, K.222 · Rundfunkchor Leipzig · Volker Bräutigam · Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Leipzig · Herbert Kegel · Walter Heinz Bernstein


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