Search - Astor Piazzolla, Aldemaro Romero, Emmerich Smola :: Astor Piazzolla 10 CD-Set

An Incredible Bargain

Kurt Harding | Boerne TX | 02/18/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I already own more than fifty Piazzolla CDs and so was more than a little curious about what new material could be gleaned from this ambitious box set. What I found is that despite thinking that my collection must be nearing completion, my collection is far from complete indeed! While most of the songs are very familiar, at least eighty percent of the arrangements are not.
The songs within are mostly from the late 60s-70s period of Piazzolla's long and glorious career. There are some live recordings, some recordings in Portuguese, some in Italian, and some recordings made with some of the more obscure Piazzolla ensembles as well as a modest number of arrangements as presented on recordings I already own. In short, this is a veritable treasure trove of some of the twentieth century's finest compositions. After hearing this set for the first time, I wondered just how many more of Piazzolla's recordings have yet to be released.
There are no favorite songs here, they are all good. This box set is an incredible bargain-do the math-which belongs in every music lover's collection. In addition to 10 CDs, the buyer gets an informative booklet. Get it while it is still available, it is one of the best deals I have ever gotten."

20-Year Piazzolla Fan in South Florida

B. Gooden | Fort Lauderdale, FL | 07/23/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"While there are several repeats of songs (works) in the 10-CD set, they are recorded at different periods in the late Astor Piazzolla's musical life, with different groupings of musicians. There is an incredible amount of song material in this set for such a small amount of money. The recording quality is variable, no doubt due to the quality of the original recordings, but it is still very good overall for the collection as a whole. For anyone just newly learning about Piazzolla, this is a very good collection to have as a starter set, at a very low price. And, for an oldtimer like me who already has a lot of CD albums of both Piazzolla performances and those of others who have covered his work with different instrumentation, I still added a lot of new song titles to my Piazzolla song list. I was lucky enough to have seen Piazzolla perform in concert in Miami about 1-2 years before his stroke, and 3-4 years before he died in 1992. I was also lucky to have heard and learned about his work before that time, even though it was long after he became famous (I never owned a Piazzolla record). It would have been nice to have an explanatory booklet ("liner notes") about the various works, even if the set cost a couple bucks more, which is why I downgraded to 4 stars."