Big-box Bach, mega Mozart

Inside the heart of every collector, there is this voice that murmurs, "I want it all." That's why the lure of the gigantic CD box set is so strong among music lovers: Just think, everything Bach or Mozart ever wrote, all in one tidy box under your own roof!

And then there are those collectors who don't want record producers' selections of the "full meal deal" when it comes to a composer's entire output, but who prefer instead to pick and choose among favorite artists, historical vs. modern approaches, and repertoire.

With this year's new releases, it's possible to please both types of collector. First off, there are two very successful supersized box sets of both Mozart and Bach on the Brilliant Classics label. There also are smaller-scale choices for the "pick and choose" specialists, including two very choice box sets of Mozart (made available in celebration of the composer's 250th birthday this year).

With the demise of Tower Records, many enthusiasts are looking to the Internet for their orders; buyers report a mere two- or three-day shipping period from some Web sites, which would get you the CDs in plenty of time for holiday gift-giving (investigate pricing and availability of these sets from foreign versions of Web sites, too, such as www.amazon.fr).

First, the big guns. Brilliant Classics' "Mozart: Complete Works" (list price, $149.98) is a 170-CD set that comes in a cardboard case sized like a footlong shoebox. How do they get all those discs into such a tidy case? The CDs are encased in paper slip sleeves, all color coded according to genre (yellow for the symphonies, orange for the concertos, etc.). Included with the set is a CD-ROM with all kinds of information in pdf files: artist bios, libretti of the operas, articles and essays about the works. Essentially, it's a replacement for all the liner-notes booklets that would take up a great deal of room on their own. The downside of this elegant solution: It's not all that convenient to check out those liner notes when you're playing the respective CDs.

As you might expect from a big box, the performances here are variable, but there are more on the excellent side than of the humdrum variety. Many of the performers are little-known entities (a lot of them from the Netherlands, which makes sense given the period-instruments orientation of this set; the Netherlands boasts a great early-music tradition). Some of the performances are reissues, though many of them were created just for this compilation.

Among the first-rate performers music fans are likely to recognize: Colin Davis, Teresa Berganza, Ton Koopman and Charles Mackerras. The operas (especially "The Magic Flute," "Don Giovanni" and "Idomeneo") are particularly well done, even though you might not know a lot of the singers' names. For music lovers who already own these operas, the Brilliant Classics versions will give you a new angle, and also offers an opportunity to own little-heard Mozart operas such as "Zaide," "La Finta Semplice," and "Apollo et Hyacinthus" (among several other rarities).

Then there's the coolness factor. In your hands, in about the same space a shoebox holding Manolo Blahnik strappy sandals, is the complete set of almost everything Mozart wrote — at about one-fourth the cost of those overpriced (though elegant) sandals. It gives you pause. It also gives you a heck of a lot of terrific music.

Here's the caveat, and for some listeners it's a big one. If you grew up listening to Mozart symphonies and concertos performed on modern instruments by major orchestras, and you are not an early-instruments aficionado, these performances may sound a little dry, muted, and somehow "off." (One friend who grew up listening to Mozart by Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields calls the Brilliant Classics version of Mozart symphonies, by Jaap ter Linden and the estimable Mozart Akademie Amsterdam, "Mozart underwater.")

Others, however, love this version. Of course, it's always possible that even the most unregenerate modernist may be converted by careful and extended listening of this set.

And for those connoisseurs after more choice on their music shelf? Murray Perahia's highly lauded "Mozart: The Complete Piano Concertos" ($79.98) has now been newly remastered and released as a 12-disc Sony Classical set in celebration of the Mozart year, with Perahia — one of the truly peerless Mozarteans among today's pianists — conducting from the keyboard in all 23 of the solo concertos and two Rondos (for piano and orchestra). Perahia teams up with fellow pianist Radu Lupu for the K.242 Concerto for Three Pianos (arranged for two pianos) and Orchestra, and the K.365 Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra.

Recorded between 1975 and 1988, these performances drew the highest praise from international reviewers, and it's easy to see why. The English Chamber Orchestra sounds like an extension of Perahia's nimble, lyrical fingers, breathing with him in every sensuous phrase in the slow movements and joyously bounding along in the Allegro passages. The rapport between orchestra and soloist is almost uncanny. And Perahia's playing, always imaginative and spontaneous-sounding, entices the ear at every turn. Keyboard fans and Mozarteans shouldn't miss this one.

More Mozart: As part of its very fine "The Essential Masterpieces" box-set reissues, the Decca label offers the five-disc "Ultimate Mozart" set ($18.98) with performers of impeccable pedigree: Georg Solti, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Neville Marriner and Peter Schreier, with orchestras including the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Dresden State Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. With only five discs, of course there are lots of significant omissions, but what is included is a lineup of consistent favorites, from the "Jupiter" Symphony and "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" to the Clarinet Concerto, the Requiem, and other choral and concerto classics. The performances sparkle.

And still more Mozart: The Sony Classical label has also released a "George Szell Plays & Conducts Mozart" 10-disc set ($79.98), remastered from the original 1949-55 recordings with the Cleveland Orchestra. Szell's tenure as music director there is a big reason why the Cleveland has long been considered one of the country's greatest orchestras. On the 10 discs are many of the most-beloved symphonies, plus other orchestral works and some chamber music (Szell himself plays the piano with members of the Budapest String Quartet in two Piano Quartets). A high point: the sublime Clarinet Concerto with soloist Robert Marcellus.

Big, Big Bach

The same Brilliant Classics people have issued a "Bach: Complete Works," ($139.98), a 155-CD box set of the complete works of J.S. Bach, which is also encased in a shoebox-sized set that — with thicker CD slipcovers — is several inches longer than the 170-disc Mozart set. This looks like the mother of all box sets, and it contains all kinds of period-instruments treasures: harpsichordists Trevor Pinnock and Bob van Asperen; Jordi Savall, viola da gamba; and Trio Sonnerie (with Monica Huggett, violin). Jaap ter Linden does a very creditable job with the Cello Suites; Andrew Manze livens up the Orchestral Suites considerably (with La Stravaganza Köln).

Other keyboardists could have made a more thought-provoking case for the Goldberg Variations than does harpsichordist Pieter-Jan Belder, and I wish they had asked Manze (a first-rate and imaginative violinist) to play the concertos and solo violin works. But what a thrill to hear organist Hans Fagius wend his way through several historical organs in Sweden for the complete organ works — and to listen through all the cantatas.

More Bach: The Decca "Essential Masterpieces" collection also offers a five-CD "Ultimate Bach" set ($18.98), reissues aimed at modernists who eschew the period-instruments approach in favor of Brandenburg Concertos by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (Marriner again), violin concertos with soloist Arthur Grumiaux, organist Carlo Curley's toe-curling "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" and András Schiff's masterly Goldberg Variations (on the piano, and very convincing, too).

Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattletimes.com