Sometimes dreams do come true

For years I’ve been waiting for Sony to reissues the Budapest String Quartet’s mono Beethoven string quartet cycle from 1951-1952. It hasn’t happened. It still hasn’t. But a new company called United Archives has reissued it! Apparently started this past March by a former honcho at Sony France, this young entity has few titles to its name, including only three classical titles, but I decided to take the plunge and order the LvB set and the Haydn Op 76 quartets, also from the Budapest, for the princely sum of $46. (There was no shipping.) The discs are also available at other non-US outlets (HMV Japan later this month, FNAC now), but I opted to order straight from the source since it’s a few Euro cheaper. One quirk: they don’t accept credit cards directly, though they do accept PayPal. Maybe US distribution will come, maybe not – I’m betting copyright law is a stumbling block – but I figured I’d pass along the info. Now I just hope the transfers are good.

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