Those of us who collect sets of things are a curious bunch. Whether it be 1957 baseball cards, souvenir spoons or theater programs, there is a compulsion for completeness.

If, like me, you collect recordings, it's a lifelong obsession packed with plenty of frustration. Just when you think you have every Maria Callas disc, EMI digs up another never-released concert recording.

But if your goal is to own every piece by a certain composer - Bach or Mozart, say - that's within reach. For starters, the process is finite, since those guys have stopped composing (no jokes about decomposing, please).

And now, the task of acquiring their complete output has become much easier. Affordable, even.

Thanks to the issue of two sets on the Brilliant label, you can instantly complete your Bach or Mozart collection - even if you haven't started. How about every piece of music both composers wrote, for a little more than $200? Total.

That's 325 CDs (155 for Bach, 170 for Mozart, though the latter lived 30 fewer years).

Visit www.amazon.com/Bach-Complete-Works-155-Box/dp/B000HRME5U and you can buy one or the other or both for less than a buck per CD. By comparison, there's a nice 25-disc sampler from Philips' glorious Mozart Edition priced on Amazon at $329.

OK, you ask, what's the catch? The artists are hardly household names (compared with Philips' all-star roster), but the Bach set offers some terrific performances, recorded in decent sound. Each of the discs is in a cardboard sleeve, easily accessed through a color-coded scheme that organizes the music by category, from chamber and orchestral to sacred and organ works.

My main gripe is that liner notes and texts can only be accessed through a single CD-ROM, which offers acceptable program notes (poorly translated into English) and German texts - but, alas, no translations for the cantatas.

I haven't sampled the Mozart set, but buyers' comments posted on Amazon suggest that the performances are acceptable. Hey, for $218.94 (Amazon's current price for both boxes), you can't complain.

By the way, if you're planning on listening to every minute of every CD, here's the breakdown:

• Bach Set - 155 CDs, averaging 70 minutes each, works out to just short of 181 hours, or 7 1/2 days of continuous Baroque masterpieces.

• Mozart Set - 170 CDs, at 70 minutes per, equates to 198 hours, or 8 1/4 days of uninterrupted heaven.

So, which of these men would I take on a lengthy desert-island visit? I love them both, but I would choose the music of another master: Beethoven.

Specifically, the 32 piano sonatas. Each one is different from the others, though each is unmistakably Beethoven. They cover a wide range of human emotions with a spirituality that is eternal, emerging with renewed freshness on every listening.

They are irreplaceable.

Which leads me to another complete set - the Beethoven 32, in a six-DVD box from EMI Classics.

It's called Barenboim on Beethoven, and it is remarkable.

For a taste, tune in to KRMA Channel 6 at 11 a.m. on Sunday for a Great Performances two-hour version of the EMI set.

Daniel Barenboim may not offer definitive readings every time (there are too many past keyboard giants to ignore). But his performances - captured in a series of eight recitals in Berlin - are astonishing for their vitality, musicality and depth.

The camerawork, directed by Allan Miller, is breathtaking, as we watch the sweat drip from the pianist's intently concentrated face, follow his fingers caressing or attacking the keys, or hover overhead as if we were Beethoven gazing down.

Best of all, this set (priced at $112 on Amazon.com) includes two bonus CDs, capturing six hour-long master classes hosted by Barenboim and taped in a studio at Chicago's Symphony Center. These sessions will enlighten any music lover, from casual fan to serious professional.

Not only does Barenboim explore the magic and mystery of the sonatas, but he shares his wisdom with six extraordinary pianists, including Lang Lang and Jonathan Biss. These accomplished musicians listen intently as Barenboim offers sage, often fatherly, advice .

"You don't have to manipulate the music," he tells Lang Lang, "but you should not be manipulated by the music."

After each session, Barenboim fields questions from auditors in the studio. The questions are good (the bad ones were probably edited out), and his answers prove revelatory.

"Music is not about pointing out different elements," Barenboim tells a questioner. "Music is about integrating all the elements."

Breaking down the chord progression at the start of the Waldstein Sonata, Barenboim tells Saleem Abboud Ashkar (a talented pianist from Nazareth), "This is the skeleton, and you must be able to hear that." Later, he reminds him, "The thumb is much heavier than the fourth finger."

These classes help to underscore the subtlety of these extraordinary works that redefined piano music and, for that matter, all music.

Barenboim's recitals reveal the timeless beauty of these sonatas. Watch as he leaves it all on the floor (to use a basketball analogy) in the spectacular Appassionata, included in the Sunday telecast. But pay attention to every phrase of even the most obscure piece.

There is spiritual truth in the 32. I can't imagine living without them.

But then, I would never part with my half-dozen complete sets of Beethoven symphonies, my complete Shostakovich string quartets (by the Emerson), my complete Chopin nocturnes (by Maria João Pires), my complete - well, don't get me started.

Barenboim on Beethoven

• When: 11 a.m. Sunday

• Where: KRMA- Channel 6

In addition to excerpts from his master classes, the telecast features Daniel Barenboim playing these Beethoven sonatas:

• No. 5 in C minor, Opus 10, No. 1.

• No. 11 in B-flat, Opus 22.

• No. 19 in G minor, Opus 49, No. 1.

• No. 20 in G, Opus 40, No. 2.

• No. 23 (Appassionata) in F minor, Opus 57.

Marc Shulgold is the music and dance writer. Shulgoldm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5296

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