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The Marshall Cavendish partwork
c1985 and onwards
This series provides a fascinating background into the life and times of a major composer, plus key musical works.
But it's thoroughly confusing. We have come across at least 3 different releases, all Marshall Cavendish, all issued at different times and with different part numbers identifying much the same works. One of these, in 30 parts issued around 1995, involved a fat double CD case with music on one side and a mini-magazine tucked into the other. We had this collection at one time but the entire set was bought by a customer in Singapore and we haven't come across another since. In some cases, even when you think it's the same series because the works and magazine numbers coincide, it turns out the performances may be different. To make matters worse, some of the later operatic issues came out with the same appearance but different numbers, usually when the LP was superceded by CD. These are marked with an *. So, if you are looking to fill gaps in your collection or to replace LPs with CDs, do be careful to choose the right one.
If anyone can enlighten us why there are so many variations, please do. My guess is that the literature was the hardest part to produce and has remained more or less current whereas the recording media have changed enormously over the period. Maybe one day it will all come out on DVD.
Meanwhile, we'll begin by listing what we believe to be the earliest release, from 1985. This first came out on vinyl (a collector informs us it actually began in 1984 but got off to a shaky start and had to be relaunched). We have most of the LPs including some still in their original plastic sleeves and never played. We also have many issues on cassette. It's also possible to find CD versions of the first release but these came a little later (see below). We have set up the order lines to give you the option of selecting any of the available items. Please check your requirements against our quoted availability figures for each option. We try to keep these figures up to date but if in any doubt, or if none of the above makes sense, please use 'Contact' to enquire before ordering.
The magazine collections are easily identified because they are often housed in black hardback binders with gold lettering, the mags being held in place with long plastic retaining strips. The mags for this edition have a centre-placed box with the title 'Great Composers', the later ('96) Edition has 'Great Composers' in a much larger right-justified serif font.
The issues 53-65 are devoted to great works of Opera and, because they came as an add-on to the original release, are generally harder to find. The CD version was still being published as late as 1993. There followed a 2-3 year gap then the whole series was released again, completely revamped - see separate listing for the 1996 Edition.
If the availability figure for an item shows zero (0), this means we are out of stock at the present time.
Update January 2012