Unplayed CDs - confess your guilt!

[vinteuil]

I have also bought a lot of boxes but unheard box items are surely a separate case and not a cause for "guilt". / ... / Boxes by their nature contain recordings that you have not specifically chosen but which are there if needed. / ... / . Boxes like the complete Hyperion Complete Schubert Songs or the Brilliant Haydn Symphonies are a library resource. I do own the Complete Works of Shakespeare but haven't read all the plays.

... yes, exactly - some purchases are to construct "a library resource". Not just Shakespeare: I have a complete Johnson, Walpole, Swift etc. I don't feel any guilt that I have not read every word: they are there as a resource, into which I dip or to which I need to refer de temps à autre. And the same goes for the Schubert songs etc...

But I do listen to all the Scarlatti sonatas and Haydn symphonies. A lot, and often...

[MickyD]

I'm still struggling with the Scarlatti set, plus I managed to get Scott Ross's set about the same time for a similar price! I've avoided the big Haydn set complete with the Baryton music, as I've still not got through my set of Haydn symphonies conducted by Adam Fischer.

I'm relieved to hear I am not alone, Dave. On the other hand, I work my way regularly through the Haydn symphonies, they have become constant companions and bring me much joy. (I wish I could muster the same enthusiasm for the Scarlatti, Vinteuil).

[Dave2002]

No unplayed CDs as far as I'm aware, but one unplayed LP - Tippett's 4th Symphony - Decca/Solti, and and an unplayed Beatles 45 rpm single.

Could you make your fortune selling that unplayed Beatles single? Indeed I wonder if there is a market for unplayed vinyl, which would include the Solti/Tippett. You could the use any funds generated to buy a CD version. Unless you are a vinyl fanatic, of course!

[salymap]

This will shock some but I don't really enjoy Bruckner. I bought a cheap box of all the symphonies, with performances by Carl Schuricht, Karl Bohm, Swarowsky, Furtwangler, Knappertsbusch.etc. Ancient but remastered and only £10 years' ago.

I think I listened to no.0 once, but that's it.

[Dave2002]

Ah Saly, you don't want to start with 0 (or even 00), but head straight to 4,7 or 8. 9 is also good. Maybe you have got further, but I think if you do this you'll have a better time. 4 and 7 were what I started with. You also need time to listen, and the stop start nature of some performances may drive you crazy - that's partly the music, but performances can make it worse. Perhaps also hearing the scherzo of 7 as music for a radio 4 programme many years ago helped. The same process also introduced me to Dvorak's 7 - then numbered differently.

[salymap]

Ah Saly, you don't want to start with 0 (or even 00), but head straight to 4,7 or 8. 9 is also good. Maybe you have got further, but I think if you do this you'll have a better time. 4 and 7 were what I started with. You also need time to listen, and the stop start nature of some performances may drive you crazy - that's partly the music, but performances can make it worse. Perhaps also hearing the scherzo of 7 as music for a radio 4 programme many years ago helped. The same process also introduced me to Dvorak's 7 - then numbered differently.

This will shock you too. I think it is the scherzo of no 0 that is very like the music for the film 'North by North West' by Bernard Herrmann. Someone here with some standing [!} listened and agreed with me.

I have tinnitus and it is the usually the thick texture that puts me off. Dave.

I've never has any problems with any Dvorak symphonies, especially the D minor, once no 2, now no 7.

[Belgrove]

I have an Erato set of Fauré’s Penélopé that I’ve had since the 1980s yet haven’t listened to at all. I feel ashamed of this, since I like Fauré. I can’t even explain why there’s been this protracted lapse, except perhaps that it was more difficult to find time to listen to an opera before I retired.

Snap! In fact I listened to (part of) the first disc before giving up. It's a frightful bore despite being graced with Jessye Norman in the title role.

Having seen Matthias Goerne in a shattering performance of Wozzeck, I bought his disc of Die schone Mullerin about a decade ago, which still awaits a spin. The connection between Berg and Schubert is entirely lost on me.

[Dave2002]

I have tinnitus and it is the usually the thick texture that puts me off. Dave.

That is sad, though don't you get the same problem with Dvorak, Beethoven and others?

I did think about starting a thread on this after talking to a friend on the phone recenty. He's older than both of us, and enjoyed music all his life until recently. He is also a rather good pianist, and accompanies singers and I think still gives lessons, though these may now be more like play through sessions.

A few years ago he admitted to finding things harder, due to increasing deafness. Last year he reported that the top notes on his piano sounded flatter, though he was sure they weren't. He has a very good piano - a Steinway bought many years ago. Then he reported that chords didn't sound right, so he'd been forced to give up listening - not only to his playing, but also to recorded music. The latest update suggests that now the top end of the piano is inaudible to him. He still plays a bit, but has to imagine what's going on in the upper reaches.

i suggested score reading - not an option to everyone - as I think he could imagine the sound in his head, since he's had so many years of music and has a large collection of piano scores.

Another possibility is to find interesting pieces which don't go so far up in range, both to play, and to listen to.

Sad. Is this what we've all got coming to us? However, it might be preferable to "the alternative".

[salymap]

More sad for your friend than for me Dave as it's years since I played the piano. It's the middle of the register that is missing in my mix of hearing and it gets worse as the day progresses, which means that the proms are better listened to earlier on a recording. It's not so bad for chamber music, and Dvorak,Beethoven etc are better than Bruckner because I can fill in any gaps from my memory bank. And anything is better than the alternative - still -

[mathias broucek]

Mostly opera for me. I get excited about the possibility but the time investment required and the alternative listening opportunities mean I don't get round to them. For example, the Bohm Tristan

[jayne lee wilson]

I never play any of my VW discs and I'm sure I have many other CD's I never play.

In fact at the moment I'm so fed up with music that I hardly listen to anything, R3 or CD's and I've given up going to concerts.

Did I say something about enthusiasm?

I know that ashes-in-the-mouth feeling... but it hasn't affected music for me yet...
Can you immerse yourself in birdsong, greenery, lakes and rivers, the natural world...? Works for me, a bit...

[Dave2002]

More sad for your friend than for me Dave as it's years since I played the piano. It's the middle of the register that is missing in my mix of hearing and it gets worse as the day progresses, which means that the proms are better listened to earlier on a recording. It's not so bad for chamber music, and Dvorak,Beethoven etc are better than Bruckner because I can fill in any gaps from my memory bank. And anything is better than the alternative - still -

I think it's sad that he doesn't like listening to music anymore. I had thought of sending him some CDs, but now that doesn't seem such a good idea.

Hearing loss later in life seems to affect people in different ways.

[Howdenite]

I was catching up, but I've been listening to the Proms on the iPlayer, and also listening to some Ring cycles that have been waiting. It's the Bargains thread that does it! The stack of CDs I've been meaning to get to include a Mackerras Vixen, Ades Tempest, Heggie's Dead Man Walking, the La Salle Zemlinsky and a few others. Then there's the Karajan Ring (on LP, so need time to listen downstairs where there's a turntable), and the Furtwangler Rome Ring (just finished listening to/viewing Boulez - wonderful!). And come October when I've finished with Ring cycles, there's Bernstein's Mahler and the rest of the Bernstein box (from M onwards), the Walter Mahler that was just discussed on the Bargains thread and Bertini. I know I need quite a bit of time for a Ring cycle, but I cause my own problems with all the Mahler because I want to listen to each symphony by a new-to-me conductor along with some old favourites, so one 1 (+ or -) hour symphony becomes a several hour/day exploration. I really do mean to listen to these first, but things come up at prices that seem too good to miss...

[Ariosto]

This will shock you too. I think it is the scherzo of no 0 that is very like the music for the film 'North by North West' by Bernard Herrmann. Someone here with some standing [!} listened and agreed with me.

Couldn't have been me then ...

[Ariosto]

Did I say something about enthusiasm?

I know that ashes-in-the-mouth feeling... but it hasn't affected music for me yet...
Can you immerse yourself in birdsong, greenery, lakes and rivers, the natural world...? Works for me, a bit...

Must be the wine and the cannabis. The birds I know can't sing to save their lives ... I think their high heels put them off balance.