Unplayed composers

[Barbirollians]

I was wondering whether forumites have many records by composers yet they do not play them often. I do not mean for example buying a CD listening to it and then not playing it again or seldom but those whose works one has collected yet does not play .

For me the most striking example must be Shostakovich . I have amassed quite a lot of recordings that I admire but I very seldom play Shostakovich . Too much effort after a long day at work , too gloomy . I don't know but it is very rare that I play his music .

Any composer fall into that bracket for you ?

[Petrushka]

Sibelius probably falls into this category for me. I love his music and have lots of CDs but it needs a special 'pull' of some sort to make me reach for a Sibelius CD. Don't ask me why this is, I don't know.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Bruckner (though I keep trying and I'm buying more)
Berlioz (though I enjoy his memoirs)

That's it for now, but I'll look at my CD wall and report back if there's more

[richardfinegold]

I go through spells where I just don't want to hear the music of a favorite composer for a few weeks or months, and then usually snap out of it and immerse myself in that composer. Curiously, every composer mentioned previously here fits that description for me--Bruckner, Sibelius, Shostakovich, and Berlioz--along with Mahler, Debussy and Ravel, Richard Strauss, Tchaikovsky. It doesn't seem to happen with Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert.

[doversoul1]

Bach. To say that I love Bach’s music is a plain understatement but possibly because of this, I can rarely bring myself to put on a CD. Somehow I don’t feel ‘ready’. Yet I am very happy to hear his music played on the radio. It’s all terribly irrational.

[ed.] on second thought, it may not be such a serious state of mind that stops me from playing Bach's CDs. It maybe that I think can listen to Bach anytime but now I prefer to listen to the composers who are new to me.

[Ferretfancy]

Reger immediately comes to mind for me, as does Holmboe. I would rarely wish to come home and say to myself " I think I'll have a nice bit of Holmboe"

It's certainly true for me that in my late seventies I do tend to seek the tried and true, at least on CD. It isn't entirely a wish to avoid exploration, but there are too many composers who work in a rather grey and dull style, and I avoid them because life is short.

[HighlandDougie]

Bach. To say that I love Bach’s music is a plain understatement but possibly because of this, I can rarely bring myself to put on a CD. Somehow I don’t feel ‘ready’. Yet I am very happy to hear his music played on the radio.

Same here - I always feel inadequate confronted with, say, the B Minor Mass and find my hand straying towards Handel, for instance, with whom I have no such inhibitions.

[aeolium]

Same here - I always feel inadequate confronted with, say, the B Minor Mass and find my hand straying towards Handel, for instance, with whom I have no such inhibitions.

And I - I never tire of Handel, but I rarely listen to Bach other than his keyboard works these days.

It is also ages since I played any Beethoven symphonies or concertos (though I still play discs of his piano sonatas and chamber music) or Mahler symphonies as they are broadcast comparatively frequently.

I'm just more interested in listening to chamber/keyboard/lieder these days than orchestral works, I suppose.

[Nick Armstrong]

I would rarely wish to come home and say to myself " I think I'll have a nice bit of Holmboe"

I read that in my head as 'I think I'll have a nice bit of home-brew'... Perhaps more likely to be said to oneself on returning home!

[kea]

Reger immediately comes to mind for me, as does Holmboe. I would rarely wish to come home and say to myself " I think I'll have a nice bit of Holmboe"

I did that the other day! Nothing wrong with me! On the other hand, I don't think I've listened to anything older than the 11th symphony for a while...

Don't find myself listening to Bach's keyboard works too often, apart from the ones that are too difficult for me to bash through. Playing them feels like the best way to experience them, even though Bach can be merciless with fitting the hand to his counterpoint.

Also any number of other composers I went through "phases" of collecting—Dutilleux, Ligeti, Carter, Shostakovich, Stockhausen, Hindemith, Tippett etc. There are still individual works I listen to regularly (Dutilleux Symphony 2, Ligeti Melodien, etc) but most of the recordings on the virtual shelf are rarely ever touched. Occasionally I'll go back, revisit and mildly obsess over one particular composer (as with Shostakovich right now) but outside those periods they remain neglected.

[Ferretfancy]

I read that in my head as 'I think I'll have a nice bit of home-brew'... Perhaps more likely to be said to oneself on returning home!

I home bake, but I'm afraid I don't home brew ! Re the composer, I have some storage albums from Arrowfile holding "The Reserve Collection", just to stop me from feeling guilty at the idea of getting rid of them. I'm going to have a purge sometime, but then I think I might re-assess some of them and regain a halo!

[EdgeleyRob]

Sibelius,I have the Symphonies and other stuff,completely baffled as to why this music doesn't work for me.
Wagner,I have the complete Ring cycle (Bohm),just seems too vast,on my list for when I retire.

[Ferretfancy]

Sibelius,I have the Symphonies and other stuff,completely baffled as to why this music doesn't work for me.
Wagner,I have the complete Ring cycle (Bohm),just seems too vast,on my list for when I retire.

I used to have a fantasy of finding myself a comfortable armchair in my retirement and reading all those great classics that were waiting for me. This mental image suggested the old advert with the guy smoking his pipe and saying "Fine sets, these Fergusons ! "

Sorry Rob, but it doesn't happen, so I advise -listen to the Ring now!

[EdgeleyRob]

I used to have a fantasy of finding myself a comfortable armchair in my retirement and reading all those great classics that were waiting for me. This mental image suggested the old advert with the guy smoking his pipe and saying "Fine sets, these Fergusons ! "

Sorry Rob, but it doesn't happen, so I advise -listen to the Ring now!

Doh! There isn't time !

[verismissimo]

... but I very seldom play Shostakovich . Too much effort after a long day at work , too gloomy . I don't know but it is very rare that I play his music...

I'm with you Barbie. I have a wide-ranging collection of his music, mostly assembled three or four decades ago, but it rarely gets an outing these days.