Inessential classics - who owns lots of them

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

But who is to say what is essential and what isn't?

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

A bit of thread drift - this has turned into lots of recordings of essential classics rather than inessential classics -

Here's a link to a quirky little Spectator article on record collecting turning into obsession:

http://www.spectator.co.uk/arts/music/9115671/twice-as-many-cds-half-as-many-friends/

I particularly enjoyed the Haydn quip:

I have God knows how many dull symphonies by Haydn, for example — Michael Haydn, that is, who was Peter Hitchens to Joseph’s Christopher.

[verismissimo]

A bit of thread drift - this has turned into lots of recordings of essential classics rather than inessential classics -

You're quite right, Barbie. Having 40 Mozart 40s is the result of too much disposable income and an obsessive temperament.

I'd like to hear more confessions from those of, let's call it, the Roehre Persuasion, who collect everything, but only once. There must be regrets!

My small donation as a starter for ten would be Hely-Hutchinson's Carol Symphony. Zzzzzzz...

[Suffolkcoastal]

6 Harris 3rds does seem rather a lot, obviously a work that you love. It's your 4 Mendelssohn's that worry me - I have 37 and they weren't all bought for couplings!

Mike

Four is too many really, like I mentioned at the beginning of the thread, I'd rather explore different repertoire than purchase umpteen recordings of the same piece, life is too short, there just too much to explore. With the Mendelssohn 2 are on LP, 1 on a download, the other on CD, I actually don't think I've listened to the work for three or four years. I always find these warhorses sound so much fresher and are more enjoyable if you play them sparingly, not ram them down the listeners throat every couple of weeks or so a la Radio 3.

All those Mahler 7ths, listening to all of them would be enough to put me into an asylum, (as would listening to many of Mahler's works )

[amateur51]

Here's a link to a quirky little Spectator article on record collecting turning into obsession:

http://www.spectator.co.uk/arts/music/9115671/twice-as-many-cds-half-as-many-friends/

I particularly enjoyed the Haydn quip:I have God knows how many dull symphonies by Haydn, for example — Michael Haydn, that is, who was Peter Hitchens to Joseph’s Christopher.

Harsh ... but fair!

[teamsaint]

You're quite right, Barbie. Having 40 Mozart 40s is the result of too much disposable income and an obsessive temperament.

I'd like to hear more confessions from those of, let's call it, the Roehre Persuasion, who collect everything, but only once. There must be regrets!

My small donation as a starter for ten would be Hely-Hutchinson's Carol Symphony. Zzzzzzz...

I think one problem with being content to have one version of a work, is if the one you have turns out to be a poor or ordinary effort, or to have something unusual that in some way detracts.
Of course , for core repertoire, a reasonable amount of radio listening ought to deal with this .

How people, even retired people, find time for large numbers of the same work, and to do them justice is way beyond my understanding,but each to their own.

But basically I am with Suffy and Roehre....there is so much still to discover.

Works I do seem to have collected quite a few versions of without trying are Elgar's " In the South" and "Introduction and Allegro".

[verismissimo]

Eine Alpensinfonie?

[Richard Tarleton]

Eine Alpensinfonie?

Absolutely essential!

I have 3 sets of the complete lute works of John Dowland, plus lots more recitals, which might be more than most people feel they need. As with any early music, the changing playing styles over the last 60 years, the interpretations, ornamentation, instruments, ambient acoustics etc. on record make these works a constant joy and fascination.

[MickyD]

I have the Paul O'Dette set, Richard...how do you rate it amongst the others?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Eine Alpensinfonie?

Well I do have a duplicate Schuricht to give away plus an extra LP version of the RPO/Kempe. With off-air performance, my total is over 80, but it's still only 75 for "official" versions.

[Richard Tarleton]

I have the Paul O'Dette set, Richard...how do you rate it amongst the others?

That's the one I haven't got! Though I greatly admire his playing, I have several other of his CDs. He was Tess Knighton's choice on the Dowland BAL, a whisker ahead of Nigel North. I have North, Lindberg, and the Consort of Musicke set where the works are spread between several lutenists - (the then much younger) North and Lindberg, plus Anthony Rooley, Anthony Bailes and Christopher Wilson. Recitals - Bream (lots), Ragossnig, Kenney, Smith, Wadsworth, Söllscher....

[MickyD]

I've long been tempted by that bumper Dowland set on L'Oiseau Lyre with all the young lutenists...would you recommend it, Richard?

[Richard Tarleton]

I've long been tempted by that bumper Dowland set on L'Oiseau Lyre with all the young lutenists...would you recommend it, Richard?

Worth it for having all Dowland's works - songs, consort stuff etc. - in one place, definitely, and some glorious singing - inc. La Kirkby, Glenda Simpson, and the incomparable Martyn Hill whose "Now o now" is the gem of the entire set, IMV. As for the lutenists, both the performers and instruments have improved immeasurably over the intervening years, and I wouldn't get the set for them, but the solo lute works are only 4 out of 11 CDs.....If it's just lute you're after I'd spend the money on some recitals, like this, or this or the new Lindberg reviewed on Saturday's CDR.

[MickyD]

Thanks for that...think I will put the box on my shopping list. Martyn Hill was always a favourite of mine, especially in the repertoire he did with Christopher Hogwood - Handel and two very nice discs of Weber and Beethoven songs.

[kea]

I used to be very scrupulous about only ever having one version of something. This was because most of my music was ripped from CDs borrowed from local libraries, and I had very little hard drive space relative to the amount of music I wanted to listen to. It would get to the point where if somehow I ended up with a duplicate recording of the same work I would pick one and permanently delete the other, never to be heard again.

Nowadays I have relented somewhat, due to having a better computer and more legitimate means of acquiring music at my disposal, but still don't go out of my way to look for duplicate versions of things (exceptions being made for, e.g. a certain piece on the harpsichord, piano or fortepiano; those are technically transcriptions and thus not the same piece! ). Due to the state of the Xenakis discography I have managed to acquire 3 Tetrases, 3 Metastaseises, 2 Evryalis, 2 Synaphaïs, 2 Antikhthons, etc, due to these works often being coupled with other Xenakis works not available elsewhere, but I don't mind so much. I have also ended up with 3 Enigma Variationses somehow despite not liking Elgar very much, and 2 Shostakovich 14s which I don't mind because that is a very good piece.

Regrets: Mostly due to the aforementioned hard disk space frugality. Me, age 17; Haydn Complete Symphonies, Antal Dorati; 2 hours in the listening room. "This Haydn guy wrote, like, 100 symphonies. I'll just copy the last few volumes—they can't all be worth listening to." I was wroooong.