VA - The Decca Ultimate Box Set Series [170CD Amazon Exclusive Edition] (2008)

This Amazon Exclusive is the most comprehensive classical music collection available. The 26 individual box sets that make up this product each include 5 CDs of music, which means that this includes 130 CDs of the best in classical music and opera. It would take almost 6 days to listen to the entire set! Each individual box set is devoted to a composer, instrument or theme. There are boxes devoted to Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Dvořák, Handel, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Puccini, Rachmaninov, Schubert, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Vivaldi, Wagner as well as Ballet, Baroque, Cello, Guitar, Opera, Piano, Violin and more. More than just sampling these composers and works, many of the sets contain complete symphonies, concertos and large portions of operas. The recordings chosen for this set are taken from the extensive Decca and Philips catalogs. Orchestras include The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Vienna Philharmonic with the conductors Riccardo Chailly, Sir Colin Davis, Charles Dutoit, Bernard Haitink, Herbert von Karajan, Hans Knappertsbusch, Sir Neville Marriner, Zubin Mehta, Sir Georg Solti and others. Soloists include Claudio Arrau, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Clifford Curzon, Alicia de Larrocha, David Oistrakh, András Schiff, Pinchas Zuckerman with singers Carlo Bergonzi, José Carreras, Franco Corelli, Plácido Domingo, Marilyn Horne, Birgit Nilsson, Luciano Pavarotti, Leontyne Price, Dame Joan Sutherland, Renata Tebaldi, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Jon Vickers and others. From Bach's Brandenburg Concertos and Vivaldi's The Four Seasons to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and Puccini's La Bohème, this massive collection, at an extraordinary price, is the perfect collection of classical music.