Just had a look at the contents of the DG 32CD box. Looks pretty good. No musique concrete, however. I wonder where Robert Sherlaw-Johnson appears - most likely in some of the song cycles such as Harawi, I guess. His version of the Catalogue, which I have only on vinyl (Argo), is marvellous, especially in the phrasing, and nuancing and shading of colours. It would be good to have seen that released on CD during this centenary year. Apparently there is also an (unreleased) recording of La Fauvette des Jardins, which I would dearly love to hear some day. Interesting that DG have included the piano works played by Roger Muraro - I bought the original releases, and was never able to understand how Messiaen's music could be interpreted (and recorded) quite like that.

I bought the Nikolai Lugansky recording of Rachmaninov No. 3, with the State Academy Orchestra of Russia, conducted by Ivan Shpiller. It almost comes up to expectations, although not quite. The performance is not as good as the Proms one, I think, especially as the Proms one had those few quieter bars just before the end, wich I thought added an extra something to the grand finish. I think I like it better than Arcadi Volodos's Carnegie Hall recording, but will have to play the two consecutively to decide!

Well, I actually paid for it a few days ago, but the EMI Messiaen centenary box arrived today. There appears to be much worth investigating in it, but one surprising aspect is that according to the booklet, the remastering of Chronochromie (Dorati) is that published in 1991, rather than the new remastering issued a month or so ago. However, the track timings given in the new set's booklet accord with those of the 2008 remastering, not the 1991 as credited. Too many other items in the set cry out for earlier audition than Chronochromie, but I will report back when I get round to listening to it.

[Another thing about the booklet information, or in this case lack of it, concerns the recording of Le Merle Noir. The flautist, Emmanuel Pahal alone is credited. No mention of the pianist is made. A bit of Googling suggests it is Éric Le Sage:

Source CD

Upsoming concert.]

Arriving in London earlier than anticipated, I wandered over to Gramex where I picked up some bargains, including these:



 

After downloading Rubbra 5 at the end of August, I've been meaning to investigate him further and a 5-disc set at £16 seemed a good prompt...

Cheer up,bbm.  Enjoy what you have to hand.

I would be intrigued to know what IGI makes of Pizzetti's Murder in the Cathedral.  I am fond of T S Eliot's play.  Does the music add anything?  Although I can see that the static, hieratic nature of the text gives itself to musical setting.

We all do indeed, bbm.  All the best.

BBM - maybe we should start a "look what I nearly bought but restrained myself because I have no money" thread.  I'd be a regular. 

I should imagine there are people here who spend more than that!  I tend to restrict myself to 1 or 2 a month at the best of times, but this month it's been none at all due to various expensive inconveniences, such as friends who arrange weekends in cottages and people with birthdays.    All highly enjoyable inconveniences of course but they don't come cheap...