# Excellent ITunes deals thread



## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Suggest some really excellent ITunes deals.


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## Guest (Jul 6, 2013)

Well you could pay $149.99 for the Essential Sibelius collection on iTunes, or get it for $9.99 at a higher bitrate from 7digital.

Sorry to be flippant, but there are usually cheaper sources. There are a few labels that are hard to beat outside of iTunes (Hyperion I think), but most of the bargains are gone.

Ok - thought of a bargain - the Hahn/Lisitsa album of Ives' Violin Sonatas seems to be on sale for $8.

Of course there are the recycled collections - Rise of the Masters, etc. I don't know much about them, but they could be quite useful when you're building your collection.

Hopefully others will give you a better answer.


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

Deals on iTunes are much harder to come by than on Amazon mp3. 

As an example, the Rise of the Masters sets are $8 on iTunes last time I checked. They are $2 on Amazon.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Beethoven Complete Symphonies - Josef Krips and the LSO
wait for it...
$7.99


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## Notung (Jun 12, 2013)

Karajan's 1960's beethoven 9: ten bucks, and mastered for iTunes. Found under the "Essentials" sub-section of the Classical section of iTunes.

Great interpretation and sound. Price could be better, but worth it.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Cosmos said:


> Beethoven Complete Symphonies - Josef Krips and the LSO
> wait for it...
> $7.99


If you look around, you can buy the CDs in a great tin can for $10...only used right now.
http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Nin...&qid=1373176917&sr=1-1&keywords=krips+tin+can


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

BPS said:


> Well you could pay $149.99 for the Essential Sibelius collection on iTunes, or get it for $9.99 at a higher bitrate from 7digital.


Or $7.99 from Amazon (256K VBR). http://www.amazon.com/Sibelius-Comp..._shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373168920&sr=301-1


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## Guest (Jul 7, 2013)

KenOC - the Complete Sibelius has about 7 discs but the Essential Sibelius has 15 discs. Same performances but 8 more discs.

But amazon has Essential Sibelius too:
http://www.amazon.com/Sibelius-The-Essential/dp/B0041J64OM/ref=sr_shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373175556&sr=301-1

They must have been having an office party the day they came up with these prices.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

BPS said:


> KenOC - the Complete Sibelius has about 7 discs but the Essential Sibelius has 15 discs. Same performances but 8 more discs.
> 
> But amazon has Essential Sibelius too:
> http://www.amazon.com/Sibelius-The-..._shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373175556&sr=301-1
> ...


That's a new one! But not all the same performances, it looks like. Regardless, what a deal!


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## Guest (Jul 7, 2013)

Notung said:


> Karajan's 1960's beethoven 9: ten bucks, and mastered for iTunes. Found under the "Essentials" sub-section of the Classical section of iTunes.
> 
> Great interpretation and sound. Price could be better, but worth it.


This isn't really a great deal. $10 is the standard price for a regular album on iTunes. So this isn't really a deal. Amazon usually charges $1 less for a normal album.

But there are some good deals I have found over time. One advantage that iTunes has over Amazon mp3, is that Amazon mp3 doesn't have any Hyperion releases. If you want those, you have to either go through Hyperion's website, or iTunes.

Some of my favorite Klemperer albums are pretty cheap on iTunes:
Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem - Klemperer $4.49
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 - Klemperer (the live recording with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra) $4.49

Many times, Harmonia Mundi's Musique d'Abord line are cheaper than other albums. 
Bach: Italian Concerto - Kenneth Gilbert $5.99
Bach: Goldberg Variations - Kenneth Gilbert $5.99

Older releases on the Supraphon label are usually a few dollars cheaper than normal albums - $7.99 instead of $9.99 - and there are some incredible recordings on that label, particularly for the Czech masters like Dvorak and Smetana. Mackerras recorded much of the Dvorak repertoire on Supraphon, and the Panocha Quartet's recordings of Dvorak's string quartets are among the best.

I know I have found other deals over the years there, but those are the ones that I can remember off the top of my head. I love iTunes - probably 90% of my classical collection comes from there. When I first started getting into classical, my wife would buy me iTunes gift cards for birthdays and Christmas and Father's Day. After that, it is a wonderful used bookstore up in her hometown of Chattanooga, TN, that has a very large selection of used (or sometimes new, still sealed) classical CDs for very cheap.


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## Ravndal (Jun 8, 2012)

Usually when buying from itunes digitally you get stiff prices and a 256 mp3 bit rate. If I'm using money on music, I want at least 320kbps.


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

I have just bought a few excellent deals.

1. Beethoven - String quartets 1-16 and the Great Fugue for £3.49
2. Fournier - A selection of his recordings with about 70 tracks for £3. 49
3. Richter - This one is not so excellent but I am very happy with it... Richter's recordings of Schumann and Grieg piano concertos with Matacic mastered by ITunes for £7.99.


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

A couple of good ones I have come across recently:


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

There is a good deal on a Bach Harpsichord set from Christiane Jaccottet for $10 at the U.S Itunes. 

200 tracks total that include both books of the WTC, the Goldberg Variations, 5 concertos and a bunch of other stuff including English suites and French suites.

Lots of music.


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

You can get the Denon Essentials recordings of Beethoven's 5 piano concertos for $8.

In fact, there are quite a few deals from the Denon Essentials label available. I've purchased several and they all sound good.


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

EricABQ said:


> You can get the Denon Essentials recordings of Beethoven's 5 piano concertos for $8.
> 
> In fact, there are quite a few deals from the Denon Essentials label available. I've purchased several and they all sound good.


You can get these played by Arrau for about £5 along with the Brahms concertos, Tchaikovsky concerto 1, Grieg and Schumann concertos and many other solo works in an album called "virtuoso piano collection".


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

Burroughs said:


> You can get these played by Arrau for about £5 along with the Brahms concertos, Tchaikovsky concerto 1, Grieg and Schumann concertos and many other solo works in an album called "virtuoso piano collection".


I just checked that out and that is a heck of a deal. $7 here in the U.S.


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