# Opinions on Brilliant Classic's Beethoven Compete Works (85-Disc Set)



## maestro57

Do any of you own this 85-disc set by Brilliant Classics? What are your overall thoughts on this boxed set? I'm thinking of purchasing it, but would like some input before I spend C$300 on it.

1) How "complete" is it? Any pieces/songs you noticed were excluded?

2) Is it well credited, meaning credit is given to all symphonies, conductors, pianists, quartets, etc. where appropriate?

3) How is the sound quality? Are some pieces/songs sampled from the early 1900s so as to have the mono hissing sound?

4) How are the musicians and conductors? Respectable/well-known?

5) What would you rate it out of 10 (with 10 being superb)?

If there's anything else you think I should know about this boxed set, please do tell!

Thanks, everyone. Cheers.


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## joen_cph

It can be a bit difficult to find a track list of that set. Here´s one:

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Page?pageName=pages/beethovenedition.html

(They also issued a 100 CD set with 15 CD of some historical recordings too, but I haven´t seen that set cheaper than the 85 CD set.)

The old DG complete Beethoven edition, much more expensive, also comprised 85 CD & I do think that the Brilliant Classics is reasonably complete.

There is absolutely no doubt that the Brilliant set is better than the 87 CD edition by another label, Ama: http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7450966


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## maestro57

joen_cph, that was very helpful. Thank you so much for that.

I'm quite disappointed that some of the songs towards the end are only "selections" of the set (like WoO 152, etc.).

I think I can look past it, however. Some good orchestras, and instrumentalists!


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## maestro57

I noticed that tracklist link is different than the tracklist here for the same set: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=570976#details

Strange.


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## joen_cph

It' s always been a bit messy with those Brilliant sets, they change the content like they did with a 40 Cd Beethoven set in the past too.

Some of the major differences have been the symphonies - Masur versus Blomstedt, the piano sonatas - early Brendel versus Gulda, the piano concertos - a terribly boring Japanese solist, Brendel or Gulda, the string quartets - Medici4, Yale4 and others ...


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## bigshot

The Brilliant boxes are modular, in that they are made up of a lot of individual releases. In the past, Brilliant has said it has been "upgrading" the performances and swapped in different disks with the same works but different performers. I don't know about the Beethoven set, but the changes they made to the Mozart box were definite improvements.


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## maestro57

Ah, yes. I see that they have "swapped" discs. There's a 2007 version of this and a revised 2011.


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## maestro57

joen_cph said:


> It' s always been a bit messy with those Brilliant sets, they change the content like they did with a 40 Cd Beethoven set in the past too.
> 
> Some of the major differences have been the symphonies - Masur versus Blomstedt, the piano sonatas - early Brendel versus Gulda, the piano concertos - a terribly boring Japanese solist, Brendel or Gulda, the string quartets - Medici4, Yale4 and others ...





bigshot said:


> The Brilliant boxes are modular, in that they are made up of a lot of individual releases. In the past, Brilliant has said it has been "upgrading" the performances and swapped in different disks with the same works but different performers. I don't know about the Beethoven set, but the changes they made to the Mozart box were definite improvements.


Thanks for joen_cph, I'll be picking up that boxed set for C$150! Half the price I was expecting to pay (it's $299 on Amazon.com, and that's the old version).

For the "mediocre" artists, and their upgrades to some discs (which really are upgrades), I think I can't go wrong with this $150. It's a steal. I'm going to click the "buy" button .... NOW!

Thanks for all the input, everyone!


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## jtbell

I bought this set (the 2011 version) when it first came out, and have been working through it gradually, in sequence, ever since. Last week I finished the piano music (disc 60) and have only the theatre, choral and solo vocal music left, I think. I'll probably finish sometime early next year.

I already had almost all of the music except the solo vocal music in other performances. So far, the only exact duplication with the rest of my collection has been Blomstedt's "Leonore" which I already have on Berlin Classics. So I now have some variety in performances for almost everything, and I'm glad I bought it.

However, I probably would not have thought to buy it at the normal price. When it first appeared for pre-order on amazon.com, it was listed at a ridiculously low price of about US$30 because of an error. I jumped on it along with a lot of other people. By the end of the day (maybe the next day) it was Amazon's second best-selling classical music item, behind only the Royal Wedding (Kate & William) album. 

Then Amazon suspended orders, removed the price, and later re-opened it at the correct price. Nevertheless, they honored the earlier orders at the mistaken price, one copy per customer.


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## KRoad

I bought the 100 CD edition (with 15 historical recordings) last year. I prefer it's symphony cycle to that of Karajan with the BPO. Over all it represents excellent value for the money.


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