Inessential classics - who owns lots of them

[Barbirollians]

Not inessential. But I hardly know any work worth having more than 2 performances on one's shelf

Pastoralguy would certainly disagree with you where the Beethoven Violin Concerto is concerned and as for an Alpine Symphony ...

[Roehre]

Pastoralguy would certainly disagree with you where the Beethoven Violin Concerto is concerned and as for an Alpine Symphony ...

to mention but two

[Parry1912]

I would also disagree with you and find it hard to believe that you are entirely serious.

[teamsaint]

Not inessential. But I hardly know any work worth having more than 2 performances on one's shelf

As I struggle to get 1 version of lots of things, I'm with you ,Roehre.

In any case, time doesn't seem to allow for listening to all those versions ! Not fo me, anyway.....too much to get through.

[Tony Halstead]

Oh dear, this is embarrassing, but
I don't know what I would do without my ELEVEN different CD recordings of Delius' 'Brigg Fair'... ( plus a few more on LP currently stored in the garage).
However, I still maintain that the finest one I ever heard - surpassing even Beecham, Barbirolli, Handley, Mackerras, et al, was that by David Atherton with the BBCNOW in the proms a few years ago.

[Suffolkcoastal]

I'm entirely with Roehre, I dislike duplicating works as I'd rather continue to explore repertoire that is unfamiliar to me. Having said that across the media of LP/Cassette/CD/Dowload, I do have some works in more than one recording. I have 5 recordings of Harris's 3rd Symphony, hardly an inessential classic though and oddly 4 recordings (2 of them off-air) of Harris's 9th Symphony. Plus a number of works with 3 recordings, some of which you would class as 'inessential'.

[Roehre]

.... I have 5 recordings of Harris's 3rd Symphony, hardly an inessential classic though .....

I've got three of them, two deliberately, as one was coupled with Copland's 3rd (CBS-LP), another with Schuman's 3rd (DGG-CD, and both conducted by Bernstein). A third recording fell into my mailbox as part of a BBCMM CD. Most of my duplicates are to be found on these CDs, btw.

[Suffolkcoastal]

I've just realised I've got 6 Harris 3rds (I forgot about the Toscanini). Also 4 Ascending Larks and 4 Mendelssohn E minor Violin Concertos, 4 William Tell Overtures, 4 Common Man Fanfares, plus 4 Appalachian Springs but two are of the Suite, one the Ballet in its original chamber scoring and one of the Ballet complete for orchestra so that probably doesn't count, and 4 Tchaikovsky Romeo & Juliet's though one of them is of the original version of the score.

[Ferretfancy]

I'm very embarrassed to admit this, but I have 42 recordings of La Mer --it's the couplings, you see!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Pastoralguy would certainly disagree with you where the Beethoven Violin Concerto is concerned and as for an Alpine Symphony ...

I do have quite a few Enigma Variations, Mozart 40s, and seemingly bucket loads of Don Juans.

[visualnickmos]

I'm very embarrassed to admit this, but I have 42 recordings of La Mer --it's the couplings, you see!

Yes, of course; we all believe you!

[Mary Chambers]

I still find the idea that music is an object that one can own quite.....odd? Funny?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I still find the idea that music is an object that one can own quite.....odd? Funny?

Capitalist?

Strictly speaking, the Thread Title apart, we've mostly been talking about recordings of said elusive Art.

[Mary Chambers]

Capitalist?

Strictly speaking, the Thread Title apart, we've mostly been talking about recordings of said elusive Art.

Yes, I know - and that's what music means to many.

[Barbirollians]

Returning to this thread and Mary's last response as far as inessential classics are concerned one of the main reasons I find I duplicate recordings of them in a way I might not of other pieces ( for example in Richard Strauss's symphonic poems I only have Kempe's box , Haitink's Alpine and the du Pre/Boult Don Quixote released as a tribute to her ) is because one simply never hears them in the concert hall or even on the radio .

Goldmark's Rustic wedding Symphony being a case in point . It is a truly lovely work full of good tunes that kept its place in the repertoire until the 1950s bt all accounts but has disappeared without trace. Extraordinarily it appears that it was never performed at the Proms .

Just listening to the splendid Previn account now .