I know there are more than fifty versions of Book 2 of the Debussy Preludes, but it seemed strange to me that no mention was made in last Saturday's CD Review of the recording by Werner Haas. The two Philips twofers which contain his complete Debussy piano music are, I think, a real bargain. Performances which I find at least as fulfilling as any I have heard, and fine analogue recordings very well transferred. The sound in the first movement of Pour le Piano, for example, is still stunning - seldom have I heard a piano recording with such weight and presence. That the recordings remain in the catalogue despite having been issued as long ago as 1970 (when they won a Grand Prix du Disque) surely says something for their worth?

As an aside... I remember once doing my own comparison of the opening bars of Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto in a helpful record shop (those were the days, eh?). Haas's was the only one of my limited sample which seemd to me to get the tempo of those opening chords just right, and my faith that this would be a reliable pointer to the worth of the rest of the performance was not misplaced.

More generally: are there now so many recordings of any even remotely popular work that to attempt a more-than-partial comparative review in the allotted 45 minutes is becoming pointless?

When I investigated the Biber Mystery Sonatas ten years ago there was only John Holloway, as far as I could make out.  Now there were ten recordings on BAL.  What will it be like in 20 or 30 years time.

I noticed that for both Biber and Debussy, the reviewers said almost any recording was acceptable.  What I want to know, is are there any obvious duds?  (And does an opera have the full libretto?)