I got a catalog from BMG music service in the mail today, including a small booklet of boxed sets of recordings. I was interested in a few of the 2- and 3-disc sets. But there were two items that, while i'm glad they're available, i don't ever expect to see either one in my lifetime.

The first was a set of J. S. Bach's complete works: 172 CDs for $1535 (I'll save you the math--that's $8.92 a disc before shipping charges). Secondly, The complete recording of Arthur Rubinstein: 94 CDs, 307 works in 706 recordings (all remastered, since they start back in 1929, when recording wasn't quite digital yet), for $1400 (that's 14.89 a CD). Wow. If every CD (266 total) is 45 minutes long, that'd be just under 200 hours of listening for under $3700 (assuming shipping wouldn't be more than $3 per disc).

But here's where John Cage, ripped from the hands of his silly over-educated fans and their organ poor old organ [see link from above post], rears his genius head. Keep in mind that he composed some pieces for ensembles of radios, all tuned to random frequencies. Cage could listen to it all (the complete Bach and Rubinstein) in 45 minutes. He'd gather 266 CD players, get enough people to hit play at the same time, and sell tickets. It would take place before a concert hall full of people who should know better, and everyone would leave satisfied (though i'd probably be one of the dorks outside, trying to run down a scalper because i couldn't get a ticket on my own).

Mi "And, in case you were wondering, THAT's why noone has ever tried to give us music people rule of the world" ke