I don’t know if compact discs are making a comeback, like vinyl has, as a prestigious luxury item. Are listeners finally yearning after something they can literally get their hands on? Certainly not in the realm of today’s pop music, but that market hasn’t aligned with classical music in a very long time. Regardless, classical CD reissue boxes keep coming, many of them from Eloquence, Universal Music’s Australian operation overseen by producer Cyrus Meher-Homji.

Warner is still reissuing their EMI catalogue in big box sets, but the third major source, Sony, sacked Robert Russ, the specialist in charge of their reissue program for the Columbia, CBS and RCA catalogues. So, if you want to get hold of the big Stravinsky, Perahia, Reiner, Munch, Michael Tilson Thomas, or Bernstein’s New York Mahler boxes, better do it now! Not every release has a famous name attached, and many contain material of historical interest only. More often than not, though, you’ll find hidden gems: obscure works and/or performances of special merit. That’s the case in both sets under review here.

Stein: the epitome of a neglected master

Horst Stein (1928-2008) was a short man with a bulbous forehead. Unlike Karajan, he simply did not look...