George Szell – The Complete Columbia Album Collection CD Box Set.

Sony 88985471852.

This Sony box has been around since 2017 but as it has been made available at a very reasonable price and is a handsome presentation, I think it merits a closer look considering that according to many HiFi enthusiasts the CD is making a comeback.

Georg Szell (1897- 1970) needs no introduction to music lovers worldwide and his long association with the Cleveland Orchestra elevated them to world class status which the orchestra continues to enjoy to this day. Christoff Von Dohnanyi quipped that even after Szell's death the orchestra gives a great performance and Szell gets a good review!

This 106 disc collection contains every recording that he made for Columbia but does not contain all of his finest recordings—the legendary Brahms 1st Piano Concerto with Clifford Curzon or his blistering Tchaikovsky 4th Symphony with the LSO are available elsewhere as they were Decca and EMI originals and available on separate collections.

The first point to make is that this box contains 30 CDs of Mozart, not a problem if you are a devotee of his music but if you are more interested in the later 19th and 20th century repertoire that Szell set down on tape you might consider looking to build your collection with individual CDs that you can still get at reasonable cost online. This box has already increased in price since I first saw it and only going to become an investment as time goes by.

For me, the chance to get the very fine collections of Mozart Piano Concertos played by Robert Casadesus and Rudolf Serkin with the Cleveland under Szell is well worth it as these performances have been favourites of mine for some years and the Szell mantra of rhythm, articulation and phrasing are well in evidence and in fact are the stamp on every recording featured in the box.

The later repertoire contains some gems but also some sad omissions - only two Bruckner symphonies nos 3 and 8 and only three Mahler’s -  4, 6 and 10 are here and only Tchaikovsky no 5 together with a truncated Stravinsky Firebird suite from 1961.

What you do get however are the core cycles of symphonies by Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms and these should be part of everyone's collection and are wonderful readings by a conductor who in many ways embodies performance styles more akin to later eras with taut playing and much drama again showcasing the Szell style.

Leon Fleisher partners for the complete Beethoven piano concertos as well as Schumann, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky concertos and these are satisfying if not my first choice in this repertoire. I prefer the Emil Gilels’ Beethoven set recorded by EMI in Cleveland in the late ‘60s.

The outstanding performances are as you would expect—the Hungarian repertoire of Bartok, Janacek and Kodaly and his Richard Strauss recording which show the orchestra in its true glory. Also, his Wagner discs contain some wonderful sounds.

Nothing will disappoint in this box and the final disc contains fascinating interviews with Szell from the 1960s.

With fine performances of Debussy, Haydn and even William Walton's 2nd Symphony included amongst the gems you won’t go wrong if you can find this box under $250. The sound quality is good if not the most sonically impressive of 60s’ stereo and some of the recordings have been remastered with 24 bit technology which has improved them greatly—details of which are included in the handsome book that come with the set

Altogether worth getting if you don’t have much of Szell’s output which is never less than impressive and often lets you hear works with renewed discovery.

Szell will be getting good reviews for some time yet despite the 55 years since he  left us.