Post by deckerm September 20, 2013 (1 of 23)
|
|
Anyone have good recommendation for classical music store to visit while I am there?
|
|
|
|
|
|
deckerm said:
Anyone have good recommendation for classical music store to visit while I am there?
I will be traveling there next summer and would also be interested in visiting this type of shop.
By the way I see you reside in Dallas, and I am also in the metro area (Denton). Perhaps we can share music or hi-fi systems some time. Email me if you're interested.
David
|
|
|
Post by Tourboots September 20, 2013 (3 of 23)
|
|
deckerm said:
Anyone have good recommendation for classical music store to visit while I am there?
I would try the large HMV in Oxford Street and nearby Harold Moore's Recods Great Marlborough Street, they have a range of new and secondhand discs.
|
|
|
Post by Chris September 21, 2013 (4 of 23)
|
|
deckerm said:
Anyone have good recommendation for classical music store to visit while I am there?
+1 as far as Harold Moores is concerned. Still going strong after all these years.
I was there in the late 60s the first time and bought an LP signed by Leopold Stokowski."The lover of the Russian Queen" No sorry, meant to say,Greta Garbo.
Last time I was there they had the full boxed Solti Ring for 200 quid on display.They still have a good selection of classical from LPs to rbcd and some SACDs both new and second hand. It might also be worth visiting Foyles off Tottenham Court Road. It is actually a large bookshop. One of many in that area. But on one of the upper floors they have a good Music Department with both books and sheet music and full scores and cds and SACDs.
There is also a small second hand section there too,just like at Harold Moore's.
Another place worth a visit is Notting Hill Gate Record Exchange. At HMV Oxford Street you will probably only find rbcds.
|
|
|
Post by Tourboots September 21, 2013 (5 of 23)
|
|
Chris said:
Another place worth a visit is Notting Hill Gate Record Exchange. At HMV Oxford Street you will probably only find rbcds.
Agree about Notting Hill record exchange. At HMV Oxford Street, I would think there are likely to be however a good number of hybrid Classical SACDs throughout the classical section which is usually quite well stocked.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tourboots said:
Agree about Notting Hill record exchange. At HMV Oxford Street, I would think there are likely to be however a good number of hybrid Classical SACDs throughout the classical section which is usually quite well stocked.
Regarding HMV Oxford Street, I spent many happy hours there in the 1990s and early 2000s, but their stock / stocking policy seems to have deteriorated in the last few years and I've only bought new releases or LSO Live hybrid SACDs on special offer. The classical department had been looking understocked for several years and recently moved into a smaller space that used to house the jazz department. The whole store will soon be moving from 150 Oxford Street (60,000 square feet) to 363 Oxford Street (around 20,000 square feet).
For second hand I can recommend Gramex in Lower Marsh (a few minutes' walk from Waterloo Station) where all 'new' CDs are stacked unsorted on tables in the middle of the shop so an hour or so is required for a good browse. Pricing structure is relatively 'flat' and the proprietor takes no particular interest in SACD, so the occasional bargain is possible...
|
|
|
Post by operamuso September 22, 2013 (7 of 23)
|
|
I can only underline the recommendation for Gramex. It is now just about the only bricks-and-mortar record shop I bother with - it is far superior to the Notting Hill one, and much better than Harold Moores too for second-hand.
Whether you find anything you want is of course a matter of luck (and of how big your collection is already!) If you're very lucky and coincide with a new batch of purchases hitting the tables you may well emerge with some real treasure trove, including SACDs, though they tend to be few.
It has a very quirky atmosphere - more like a club for record buffs than a real shop.
Lower Marsh has a couple of other useful stores - a pair of hardware shops, and a very high quality food mini-market, Greensmiths, with meat from The Ginger Pig. All well worth a two-minute walk from Waterloo Sation - and you could go on to a matinee at the Old Vic.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Berwick Street, off Oxford Street, in Soho used to be my favourite street (however dirty) because of the vast number of specialty record shops. I can't recall any classical record shop there though (but I was much less interested in the genre when I lived there) and it's gone down a lot in the past decade.
The 'Music & Video Exchange' as I know it (now 'Music & Goods Exchange but formERly known as 'Records & Tape Exchange' apparently) has numerous outlets throughout London. Just google them. The ones I used to frequent were the ones in Camden Town, Notting Hill and, later, Berwick St.
Also see this thread: /showthread/57249/57262
|
|
|
Post by fredblue October 1, 2013 (9 of 23)
|
|
The Seventh Taylor said:
Berwick Street, off Oxford Street, in Soho used to be my favourite street (however dirty) because of the vast number of specialty record shops. I can't recall any classical record shop there though (but I was much less interested in the genre when I lived there) and it's gone down a lot in the past decade.
The 'Music & Video Exchange' as I know it (now 'Music & Goods Exchange but formERly known as 'Records & Tape Exchange' apparently) has numerous outlets throughout London. Just google them. The ones I used to frequent were the ones in Camden Town, Notting Hill and, later, Berwick St.
Also see this thread: /showthread/57249/57262
the Camden Exchange has closed. the whole business has been in a serious state of flux the last few years and gone thru major restructuring (the Bank would no longer deal with the old man who owned the business, so his daughter stepped in & a new broom has swept clean, a lot of "old" people there went too together with several of their shops including Camden & the N.Hill Soul & Dance, Stage & Screen & Classical shops - the latter two of which have turned into a beauty salon and a hairdresser respectively.. the Soul shop is now upstairs from the main rock & pop shop, classical has its own small shop again where video games and then DVD movies used to be and DVDs have been lumped in the basement of the bookstore on Pembridge Rd.) yet despite (or maybe thanks to!?) all the recent upheaval, the "Exchange" business has survived where just about all of its competition have gone under.
Berwick St from a record buying p.o.v. is a depressing experience now, almost everything has gone. I have only ever found two DVD-A's and no SACDs in the "Exchange" shop there anyway it's always been the runt of their litter for me with things often being in poor condition if they are interesting.. though bizarrely it survives! Reckless Records used to be great but the last time I went in it was a total mess and could only find one SACD which was common anyway - they tend to put their best stuff up on eBay/Amazon nowadays, which from a Hi-Rez/surround perspective generally is sadly where the action all happens.. though you do have the occasional charity shop find and I've got good things from record shops scattered around the country in the past, not so much lately though it has to be said.
|
|
|
Post by fredblue October 1, 2013 (10 of 23)
|
|
as regards HMV Oxford Street, the basement level has gone thru huge changes lately, the beautiful big Classical department has closed and been majorly downsized and moved into the space that used to house the old Jazz department. I could have wept the last time I went in there and saw what they had done to the place.
|
|
