To commemorate the bicentenary of the death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (December 5, 1791) Philips Classics Records assembled The Complete Mozart Edition comprising 180 compact discs arranged into 45 themed volumes. Each volume in the series is accompanied by a deluxe booklet with detailed information about the works, with many illustrations. Indicating the significance of this particular series, the words of the accompanying Compactotheque state, "...after the complete Shakespeare, the complete Goethe, or the complete Molière in book form, here is the Complete Mozart on discs."
A modified version of The Complete Mozart Edition, the Complete Compact Mozart Edition, was released in 2000. It consists of 17 individual boxed sets. This version also contains stripped down versions of the booklets that accompanied the original series.
The Complete Mozart Edition and The Complete Compact Mozart Edition are both accompanied by a 200-page booklet which presents a condensed biography of Mozart with many photographs, describes in detail all boxes content and contains a complete index of all the musical works following the Köchel catalogue. This set is not to be confused with the similar complete edition on 170 CDs by Brilliant Classics.
In addition, a boxed set entitled The Best of the Complete Mozart Edition was also produced in 1995. This set contains 25 compact discs and represents a condensed version of the 1990–91 or 2000 sets.
There was a custom-made black cabinet supplied by mail order company Britannia Music Company (no longer in business) for those subscribing to the complete edition; the cabinet housed all 45 volumes and the sampler disc. The complete set with cabinet is now a very collectable item; they have sold for around the £1000 mark.
Read more about The Complete Mozart Edition: The Original The Complete Mozart Series, The Complete Compact Mozart Edition
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