[redshifter]

if you like to hear the musician, try the pianist glenn gould. you can often hear him singing along with his playing: "hmmm.. hnnn.. yeeeaaaaa.... hmmmnnnn..."

i remember seeing bernstein rehersing the boston philharmonic at tanglewood, and you could sure hear him... SCREAMING at the top of his lungs to play LOUDER!!

 

[sacriste]

You're right about some discs of some audiophile labels, but you can find a great performance and excellent sound too. Anyway, the CDs I listed are not audiophile in the sense of being made for that especific market, are general market records made with audiophile standards.

 

[Xevion]

Today I picked up a few cheap CDs, one of them is an Infinity Digital compilation of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (Which I like), and Night on Bald Mountain, and the sound is fairly decent. It dosen't compare with my Telarc The Planets CD, but it sounds a good bit better then a somewhat less inexpensive copy of The Nutcracker Ballet I got, and the performance is decent, if not earth shattering. For $4 I will say it was a bargain.

Both seem to be a bit warm sounding though.

(The Tchaivkovski CD is a "Lifestyle Classics" one, I wouldn't buy from them again unless someone else here says that some of their other stuff is better.

 

[timoteus]

I frequent www.half.com

I have real good luck there and usually pay only $2-$6 and sometimes thats for new and sealed CD's.

 

[DarkAngel]

Yes half.com is the best place anywhere to get cheap used alt/rock Cds, biggest selection and great prices......no classical though

Classical CDs can be confusing because of many price points. All the major 1st tier conductors/orchestras have contracts with major labels (EMI, DG, Phillips, Decca, Sony, Virgin etc) and a few high end boutique labels (Telarc, Delos etc) these are full price new Cds. These same labels release older back catalog at cheaper mid price and bargain price levels. Most of the time you will find the best performances/sound with the major label releases.

2nd tier conductors/orchestras sign with smaller bargain priced labels, best known of which is Naxos. In the last 5 yrs I have bought selective Naxos releases because their sound quality has improved greatly (often now as good as major labels) and some of the performances are the best available anywhere. Good example is recent Bruckner Symphony series conducted by George
Titner. However in general the sound/performance quality is a step down from major labels.

The really cheap Cds for under $5 are practically worthless and often are embarrassed to even list the conductor/orchestra, sound quality is only acceptable or worse.

 

[Trawlerman]

Re the pricing of CD's

Quote:

Originally posted by DanG Maybe Telarc and MFSL are better, but I don't think I'm going to spend $20 on a CD again.

You should come to the UK, nearly all CD's are the equivalent of $20.