Building a Library - General Discussion

[Thropplenoggin]

I agree. It may become inevitably more selective in terms of a survey of everything that's 'out there' but that doesn't mean it's impossible or pointless. I still learn things from it about the music itself, and hear interpretations I'd missed; plus BAL was a backbone of my musical learning - about both the music and various interpretative approaches - in my 20s. As LMP says, I hope there are others at the outset of their musical appreciation who are gleaning insights and guidance likewise.

Not sure how my original post has been construed to mean it was pointless?!

I merely stated that the task of selecting a single disc, or even several, seems increasingly difficult for any would-be reviewer now that there are so many recordings of, say, Bach's Cello Suites.

Surely JLL's excellent (and possibly patented) idea of 'Interpretations On Record' is now more practicable. Then we could get the value of the historical background and an awareness of different approaches, without what ultimately amounts to an almost arbitrary selection inevitably based on one critic's subjective bias.

[Nick Armstrong]

Not sure how my original post has been construed to mean it was pointless?!

I'd taken the word 'impossible' from the thread heading (forgetting, it's true, the 'almost'!) as suggesting something like that.

[Thropplenoggin]

I'd taken the word 'impossible' from the thread heading (forgetting, it's true, the 'almost'!) as suggesting something like that.

I know. That's why I left it out of my riposte. You said "but that doesn't mean it's impossible or pointless". I merely wondered whether the existing format had become meaningless, not the show itself. i.e. Who's going to listen to 150 recordings of Bach's cello suites?

Your honour, the barrister's putting words in my mouth!

[teamsaint]

I know. That's why I left it out of my riposte. You said "but that doesn't mean it's impossible or pointless". I merely wondered whether the existing format had become meaningless, not the show itself. i.e. Who's going to listen to 150 recordings of Bach's cello suites?

well give the number of folks round here who have 30+ recordings of Mahler symphonies, there should be a few..in a good way , obviously !

[Roehre]

...
Sorry, but in my view the format is as dead as a dodo and needs a rethink of some sort.

I listened quite a lot of the programme in the 1970s and 1980s version (which were longer IIRC, one hour?), an era in which even popular/war horse works were not represented by -say- more than a 20 to 30 recordings in the catalogue and a reasonable choice could be made for the "best" recording.
At the moment I concur with Petrushka, even independent from my own view point that there is not such a thing as a "best" recording, and also independent that IMO BaL contributes to the recording-performance-fetishism defining Klemperer's Xth symphony by Y bettter or preferable to Norrington's, or Karajan's concerto W by Z better than Haitink's....

It seems to escape many people that the composer has got to be served, not the performer(s)'s ego.

[EdgeleyRob]

I think BAL is a bit tired,although I still listen on i player,but it doesn't half produce some wonderful reading on here for us musical numpties.
That's what I enjoy more than the programme itself.

[Nick Armstrong]

I know. That's why I left it out of my riposte. You said "but that doesn't mean it's impossible or pointless". I merely wondered whether the existing format had become meaningless, not the show itself. i.e. Who's going to listen to 150 recordings of Bach's cello suites?

Your honour, the barrister's putting words in my mouth!

PS: Your honour, Monsieur Le Noggin is calling me a barrister, s'not true!!

[Alison]

Aren't we all well disposed to cheerfully nominating our best verions of the great masterpieces ?

Double standards or what ?

[vinteuil]

Liszt's Complete symphonic poems. .

... amazon now have the five CD box with Haselbock - at mid price, I think.

And it's HIPP!

[Sir Velo]

... amazon now have the five CD box with Haselbock - at mid price, I think.

And it's HIPP!

Still have to go a long way to beat Haitink's pioneering survey (or should that be "traversal" ) from the seventies; still sounding remarkably fresh and at a nice price.

[Demetrius]

It's surely always been true that some pieces of music were impractical for BaL - pieces where there are at most 2 or 3 recordings, for example. So now there are some that are impractical due to the sheer amount of versions. So why not focus on those pieces where a BaL can reasonably be made? I really don't see why the whole format is doomed because it wouldn't work for Bach's Cello suites. It wasn't doomed because it didn't work for say a Potter symphony either. People new to classical music and little money will certainly go for bargains with a reasonably good reputation instead of the one great recording ... but they won't stay new to classical music forever (there is also a slight chance that they might have a bit more money at some point).

BaL recommendations (the BaL itself can be interesting whether you are going to buy the recommendation or not) are surely not for the complete novices, nor necessarily for those who already have 30-40 recordings of the piece. It's mostly for those who are looking for their 2nd, 3rd, 4th version, isn't it? I doubt the concept is obsolete except for some "warhorses" - but if you reduce BaL to the warhorses it would be boring anyway.

[hafod]

BaL recommendations (the BaL itself can be interesting whether you are going to buy the recommendation or not) are surely not for the complete novices, nor necessarily for those who already have 30-40 recordings of the piece. It's mostly for those who are looking for their 2nd, 3rd, 4th version, isn't it? I doubt the concept is obsolete except for some "warhorses" - but if you reduce BaL to the warhorses it would be boring anyway.

Fully agree. The operative word is 'building' not 'starting' or 'extending' a library.

[gradus]

Time perhaps for the return of Interpretations on Record at say an hour's length?
Should drive the messaageboards into a frenzy.

[Barbirollians]

Anyhow, never mind all that, wish they would hurry up and do one on Liszt's Complete symphonic poems. I thought this would be a great idea as long ago as this afternoon, and I'm still waiting....

Have to try the board route.......

Recording from the radio on cassette ....happy days....kept Fluff Freeman in a job for years.

Haitink ! for the Liszt poems .

[JFLL]

BaL recommendations (the BaL itself can be interesting whether you are going to buy the recommendation or not) are surely not for the complete novices, nor necessarily for those who already have 30-40 recordings of the piece. It's mostly for those who are looking for their 2nd, 3rd, 4th version, isn't it? .....

I’m not sure that I agree with that. Most people who are ‘building a library’, I would think, would only want one version of a work, just as they would want only one edition of ‘Emma’ or ‘Bleak House’. At least, that’s how I felt when I was ‘building a library’.