Vladimir Ashkenazy - Piano & Chamber Music Collection | Classical Piano Masterpieces | Perfect for Home Listening, Study Sessions & Relaxation

This box contains some absolutely fabulous performances by Ashkenazy in the solo/chamber repertoire. Especially noteworthy is the inclusion of some of his more recent Shostakovich recordings. I imagine most folks are like me and will pick one box out of the Ashkenazy series that reflects their primary interest. For me it was this one.The "50 years" box is excellent, but reflect a smorgasbord of performances. It provides a good overview, but there were many performances I could either do without (Ashkenazy's unexceptional Beethoven and - in my opinion - inconsistent Mozart), or already own and admire ( i.e., a few Ashkenzy conducted symphonies + tone poems). However, if you're looking for a few performances of those German warhorses, you might consider it as an alternative collection. This box fit the bill for my collection, and I could not be more pleased with either the sound (apparently not remastered) or the contents.In fact, I rounded it out by placing three related EMI discs/sets into the box - Ashkenazy's legendary Beethoven Trios with Harrell and Perlman, along with their equally fine Brahms and Tchaikovsky trios. It all fits in the box, and makes for a very complete package.Ashkenazy is frequently damned with faint praise (although the choruses are dimming as he acquires elder statesman status. For decades I have felt that this was both unjust and undeserved. Many if not most of his recordings have stood the test of time, and I would argue that some (his Chopin, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, Brahms/Rachmaninov Concerti) have attained classic status. There are many of those gems to be found in this box, along with some other surprises.The box itself is a convenient size - just a week bit longer than the standard 50 disc cube. However, I DO miss the original jacket format used by Sony. While cover photos are original, the disc holders lack the original liner notes, and more important also lack their titles on the cover's spine, allowing easy access to the selection looked for. While there is a handsome book enclosed that serves as an index, I have felt the need to take the discs out of their nonsensical numeric order, and I have alphabetized them by composer name for easier, more straight forward access.So - why not go for it? The current price is reasonable (and currently ridiculously cheap on amazon's UK site) for what you are getting, and if current trends continue these boxes will soon be out-of-print and much more expensive. If you enjoy the piano solo/chamber repertoire I guarantee that you will enjoy the great majority of recordings included in this outstanding boxset.