Rachmaninoff Complete Editions (3--Melodiya)

With excellent, generally superior competition from Decca and Brilliant Classics, this very expensive Melodiya Rachmaninoff edition is a non-starter. Sure there are some classic performances by legendary Russian artists, but most of those recordings are readily available elsewhere. Hone town team or not, too much of this stuff is just mediocre, and as usual with Melodiya the sonics range from good to atrocious. The packaging pretends to be deluxe, except that the lack of disc contents and track listings in the booklet means that you have to hunt through 33 CDs to find what you want. A "bonus" in the form of an LP of the Second Piano Concerto is simply incomprehensible.