So it's official: Pentatone issuing a 1-9 Bychkov Mahler box

[barryguerrero]

They're showing an April 10 release date for the Bychkov/Czech Phil. Mahler symphonies 1-9 box on Pentatone. They don't even tell you how many discs the cycle is on. They're showing a cost of $75, which seems reasonable. While I'm happy that the Bychkov cycle will be completed and made available, I think this is also piss-poor treatment to those who have already purchased some or all of symphonies 1-5. I assume they'll at least make symphonies 6-9 available as downloads (?). I'll probably still end up getting this, but it makes me sore.

https://vintagevinyl.com/UPC/8717306264907

[shawn]

I share your anger. They do these kind of things all the time. Didn't they do the same with Jansons's Bavarian Mahler cycle? It makes me weary to buy individual CD's nowadays. It's a great disservice to classical music lovers 

[barryguerrero]

Yes indeed! I ended up buying the Jansons/BR Klassik Mahler box, because I wanted the three items that they hadn't released separately: M4 with Miah Persson; M6 in scherzo/andante order (which they're now issuing separately), and the M8 (which has John Botha as the tenor soloist, and big tam-tam smashes at the end). Even more annoying, the box contains one or two discs of Jansons rehearing the orchestra, and Jansons blabbing on and on about who-knows-what. I'm tempted to just throw those one or two discs into the garbage. I go by the philosophy of, "Blicke mir nicht in der Lieder".

[John Kim]

Great news!

I already have the 1st-5th and am willing to pay $75 for entire set. That means I will be paying $18.75 per symphony for the remainder of the cycle, 6th-9th. I'd need to pay around that much for each of the symphonies anyway~.

John

PS. I've heard M6th and 9th by Bychkov/CPO and they're magnificent. Barry likes the 6th very much too^

[ChrisH]

I imagine that these will be available individually for purchase digitally. Presto will have them. Glad to see this cycle finished.

[brunumb]

They could at least also issue a partial box with the remaining symphonies for those who have already purchased 1-5 individually.   

[John Kim]

They could at least also issue a partial box with the remaining symphonies for those who have already purchased 1-5 individually.   

If they release the 6th-9th individually they'll probably cost around $30 for each, higher than $18.5 that you'd pay for each of the 6th-9th should you get the entire box set. Pentatone must have thought about it and decided to sell the set for $75^

John

[waderice]

They could at least also issue a partial box with the remaining symphonies for those who have already purchased 1-5 individually.   

Will never happen, at least from a cost of production viewpoint and return on sales to justify production.  Earlier example is with the Vanska/Minnesota cycle box.  All the symphonies in that box came with the individual booklets for each of the symphonies if you had previously bought them singly.

[barryguerrero]

The Minnesota Orchestra was selling the Vanska/BIS cycle for $50. I regret not having 'swallowed my pride' and just bought myself a box. As annoyed as I am over how Pentatone is handling this, I'm not going to make the same mistake twice.

[waderice]

The Minnesota Orchestra was selling the Vanska/BIS cycle for $50.

Seeing this price for the Minnesota Mahler cycle makes me want to kick myself, for I paid almost twice that for it from Amazon.    I went to the Minnesota Orchestra's website to see if it was still available, but couldn't find it.  If I purchase the Bychkov/CPO cycle, it probably would cost more for me to order it from their website, as I'd likely have to pay import and tariff duties, so it would likely be more worth it to buy it from Amazon.

[barryguerrero]

I wonder if Pentatone can get around tariffs, as they do have a U.S. office at the S.F. Conservatory of Music building. I think their main office is still in The Netherlands, but the S.F. office seems to have a fair amount of clout.

[barryguerrero]

Guys and gals, here's a shop in San Diego that's taking preorders at the ridiculous price of $60.93. You might want to inquire if that means shipped directly to you, or if they would tack on a shipping charge. I think they should be able to have it shipped directly to you from the distributor or the 'one stop' service they might use (?). I would assume 'preorder' means they keep your money now, and ship on or near the release date. If that part doesn't bother you, you might want to contact them.

https://redyetiwarehouse.com/UPC/8717306264907?srsltid=AfmBOoqeBqBfmeEbC-X-Hsx6loUFyE9xMXItoCg3F-zV_rEmR-aBEfyk

[John Kim]

Barry

Great news! Thanks for letting us know^ With tax and S&H it might come to around $70.

John

[barryguerrero]

Maybe. It might be wise to check with them first. Good luck!