Two more box-sets tonight. Mira pointed to my complete Bach (the Brilliant Classics 155 disc set) and I figured why not… I need to start it at some point, and I figure I’ll get a few discs of that done a night for the next few weeks. Of course – there are some usual mid-level expectations that come along with a set of 155 discs… they can’t all be amazing. And with Bach in particular I can be very picky. I got the set though because (when I bought it at $99) I was able to find what would be at least a hundred dollars worth of performances that I would want. Andrew Manze and La Stravaganza performing the Orchestral Suites for instance, and Jaap Ter Linden’s cello suites. Once I found these, I thought ‘hey – and I’ll have all the cantatas finally’ and this for some reason appealed to me so I picked it up. What surprised me was that I haven’t come across a disappointing disc yet (though I have only listened to maybe 30 of them). And there are some really nice touches in the set… a number of the harpsichord concertos have been reconstructed into violin concertos (there is ample evidence that these pieces existed in this way). Overall they aren’t top-notch performances (though a few have been), but none are mediocre so far. Now that I am ripping them, I look forward to going through more of them. I am a Bach fanatic after all… so I think this will be fun. I’m going to see if I get through the Orchestral / Chamber Music part of the set tonight, but that may be a tall order.

The other box-set is the complete Robert Johnson recordings. After hefting the Bach box the Robert Johnson set is nice and light. And though his complete recordings barely fills two discs, it is pretty amazing how influential the music on these two discs are. And they are amazing – mostly recorded on a portable field recording kit in a hotel room, there is something intense and sad about these recordings and the story behind the man making them. Any serious collector of music probably already has these discs or has at least heard them… and I guess all I can say is that if you haven’t then find them, take a couple hours out of your life and listen them. You’ll be amazed how much is familiar, yet so different and haunting at the same time.