I serien "Kjekt å ha" ble denne boksen bestilt (pre-order) 28 Februar, med estimert leveringstid 22. Mars
I dag kom det et bud på døren med en liten pakke.... Dette er helt spinnvilt; 14 CD's boks levert i hånda på kontoret for totalt CDN 34.43 (eller ca. 200,- norske...) hvor av frakt utgjør CDN11.48.... eller ca. 60 norske kroner! Den billigste standard bedriftpostpakke, korteste avstand (sone) og inntil 1 kg. koster nå nærmere 90,-
Jeg sier det igjen, har sagt det mange ganger før; pass på, NÅ er tiden for å kjøpe CD'er.
Her er da dagens fangst, Janowski's "Ring" - innspilt tidlig på åttitallet som den første digitale studioinnspilling. Enjoy!
You'll never hear a perfect RING. There are just too many variables, options, and difficulties, plus it's an organic entity that takes 15+ hours to stage. So the law of averages automatically kicks in: when you've got more things that can go wrong, more will.
And so it is with its multitudinous recordings. Among the live versions, the earlier ones (Furtwaengler, Krauss, Knappertsbusch) suffer from murky sound, while even those in decent stereo (Keilberth, Boehm, Sawallisch, Barenboim) feature thuds, clunks, and assorted live-performance anomalies that grow less endearing with every listening. As for the studio recordings, they're variously undermined by continuity problems (Solti, Karajan), subpar singing (Swarowsky), or deficiencies in tension and energy (Levine, Haitink).
Which brings us to this Marek Janowski set. I first reviewed it for Amazon in February 2005, and I'm now updating that review. One of the great unheralded achievements of the waning LP era, Janowski's was the first all-digital RING, recorded in just 2 efficient years during the early 80s. Later the same decade it was the first version to debut on CD, at the top of the 90s a mid-price edition emerged, then a dirt-cheap reissue marked its first appearance in the 21st century ... and finally here it is again, pricewise an even more astonishing bargain. After numerous return visits down through the years, I'm ready to call it the cycle with the fewest things wrong and the most right.
