A delightful dilemma!

[Serial_Apologist]

Having a recorded collection that consists roughly in equally jazz/jazz-related and classical/classical related musics, I like to programme "listening exhibitions", themed to subjects of interest to me. I then get out the recordings, be they LPs, cassettes, CDs, DVDs, lay them out in chronological order, and listen to each recording or piece as were it a picture in a picture gallery or exhibition. For instance, in the past year I have listened to all my American jazz recordings, from the earliest (ODJB, 1919) to the more recent. At the present time, I have themed my classical listening to alternating between revolutionary and reactionary works and composers who were working contemporaneously - say Varese opposite Richard Strauss - all the time re-assessing what the terms revolutionary and reactionary mean to me. Right now I have been listening to integral serial music of the early 1950s, tomorrow it will be John Cage, Morton Feldman and early works by Reich, among others loosely associated in my mind with American experimentalism. I can't wait to get onto Japanese music! From a purely musical evolutionary pov I can never tire of going through all the works of, eg, Bartok, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Messiaen, each in turn, chronologically. Then in the jazz field I might pick a theme such as Free jazz, European jazz, or the evolution of jazz-rock fusion, by way of British blues and rock in the 1960s. I like to imagine I am getting some "feel" for the era under review through its music: the Paris of Cesanne and Picasso, Weimar Germany, for instance. For this purpose it's important to have recorded music catalogued - classical by composer; jazz/jazz-related by band, soloist or band leader - which I have done on reference cards.

[jayne lee wilson]

Never fret about so-called "background listening".....

The Human Brain is very good at assimilating information laterally or subconsciously (or even, famously, while asleep). So as long at it feels pleasurable to listen this way, it can be a very good approach to getting to know the obscure or unfamiliar. This is how I came to love composers like Gesualdo or Josquin, "floating through the house"... Often I put some Telemann or Bach on, very softly early on.... I love wind in the trees or birdsong or the sound of distant docklands, the sound of cities or nature filling the threatening vacuum, but the need for actual music, the company it offers, can be greater....

Some music - especially very elaborated and highly developed symphonic styles, but not only those - does demand close attention.... but so long as you feel no stress in the apprehension, try those Beethoven Quartets just gently filtering through to your ear.... then you may find returning to them in a more focussed way far more rewarding....

But even if you didn't, you are closer to something important than you were....

[Edgy 2]

I've resigned myself to the fact that I have more CDs than I can ever hope to listen to, and more books than I can ever hope to read. I try to be fairly relaxed about the listening balance between familiar and unfamiliar music, but I know that I can't multi-task and listening has to be active rather than passive, so there is a limit to how much time I can spend with music. Only yesterday I attempted writing my Christmas cards with something seasonal playing in the background but couldn't tell you what I heard (and suspect that some cards are now filled with nonsense too). As I mentioned on the 'what music to start your day' thread, I can't really listen to music first thing either. (The exception to the multi-tasking rule is that somehow I can drive and listen although I'm fairly selective about what I have on in the car.) It amazes me how much music people on here seem to be able to consume - are you all able to settle to listen with undivided attention for hours on end every day, or is it background listening?

About a year ago I started a little project whereby I intend listening to every recording I own before returning to any one of them.
I estimated it would take 6 years at an average of 3 cd's worth of listening per day,I'm well behind schedule because I haven't stuck to my rules though but have made significant headway.
The thing is there is a lot of stuff I have to keep returning to,for example if I don't listen to some Vaughan Williams for more than 2 days I get withdrawal symptoms (seriously,actual physical effects) and I'm still adding to my collection of cds and downloads
I do listen to music in the car and when out walking the dog but I can't listen to music while reading,doing stuff around the house,browsing the web or indeed forumising.
I too am amazed how much music some forumites manage to listen to and they also seem to be watching lots of tv and doing plenty of reading and posting on the forum,don't think some people on here must eat or sleep

[Petrushka]

About a year ago I started a little project whereby I intend listening to every recording I own before returning to any one of them.

The problem with doing this is that it will swiftly become a chore. For instance, the music next on your list doesn't match your mood or you feel a burning wish to
play something again that you enjoyed last week.

What I do sometimes is to have a much smaller project eg the complete Beethoven symphonies with the same conductor or interesting couplings of different works to make a satisfying CD 'concert'. Under this method you can utilise some CDs that you haven't played for a long period of time.

[Leinster Lass]

About a year ago I started a little project whereby I intend listening to every recording I own before returning to any one of them.
I estimated it would take 6 years at an average of 3 cd's worth of listening per day,I'm well behind schedule because I haven't stuck to my rules though but have made significant headway.
The thing is there is a lot of stuff I have to keep returning to,for example if I don't listen to some Vaughan Williams for more than 2 days I get withdrawal symptoms (seriously,actual physical effects) and I'm still adding to my collection of cds and downloads
I do listen to music in the car and when out walking the dog but I can't listen to music while reading,doing stuff around the house,browsing the web or indeed forumising.
I too am amazed how much music some forumites manage to listen to and they also seem to be watching lots of tv and doing plenty of reading and posting on the forum,don't think some people on here must eat or sleep

Perhaps they've been on some kind of Speed Listening Course!
Like you, I find that I have to return frequently to certain composers and/or works - a Mozart-free day is a real rarity!

[Edgy 2]

The problem with doing this is that it will swiftly become a chore. For instance, the music next on your list doesn't match your mood or you feel a burning wish to
play something again that you enjoyed last week.

What I do sometimes is to have a much smaller project eg the complete Beethoven symphonies with the same conductor or interesting couplings of different works to make a satisfying CD 'concert'. Under this method you can utilise some CDs that you haven't played for a long period of time.

You're right pet,it's not as straightforward as I thought it would be

[Serial_Apologist]

The problem with doing this is that it will swiftly become a chore. For instance, the music next on your list doesn't match your mood or you feel a burning wish to play something again that you enjoyed last week.

Whereas for me, it is the next item on my list that forms my mood!

[Roslynmuse]

I can relate both to Edgy's plan to work through the collection, and his 'diversions'; and recognise too Petrushka's reservations about mood etc. When lockdown started (actually it was just before lockdown, but being in so much accelerated the process) I 'followed' the R3 listings on genome for a particular week, the week when a kind schoolteacher gave me my first radio, some 45 years ago now, and I discovered Radio 3. I appreciated the range of music I listened to earlier this year, including many pieces I would not have even thought about listening, but every so often I would hit a barrier - "do I really want to listen to X at this particular moment?" So, I started a parallel project, working through recordings from a particular issue of Gramophone, the first one I ever bought (Feb 1978). It's amazing how many of those recordings have either found their way into my collection, or are available via Naxos Music Library (accessible to me via work) or on YouTube. They both brought me in contact with music that I would not have listened to in the normal way of things. I also have phases of working through certain composers, and try hard to keep on top of my purchases and even interesting rep on R3 that is not otherwise available! But I really can't do the having music on in the background thing; partly out of perhaps excessive respect for the composer and performer, but even more from a sense that there is 'interference', sometimes of a really unpleasant, even distressing, sort, between the listening and the other activity. For example, I found myself trying to get my reading and listening in phase with each other in the days when I used to attempt both simultaneously and now much prefer silence as the accompaniment to anything else I'm doing.

[jayne lee wilson]

Is it really silence though, Ros? Isn't it more of a soft, gentle counterpoint of human and natural sounds, maybe urban, suburban, rural; quotidian, crepuscular or nocturnal; sometimes louder and more interruptive, but all filling the vacuum with various kinds of meaning, near and far in your local aural environment........

That is its own music, and yours too.... and often mine. And nearly always consoling....

[BBMmk2]

The point about our large collections, is that what happens to them when we are not here?

[Ein Heldenleben]

The point about our large collections, is that what happens to them when we are not here?

Are you asking whether they exist outside our perception of them ( like the cows in the quad if you’ve read The Longest Journey) or whether they live on after us? I’ve still got some of my grandad’s LP’s !

[cloughie]

The problem with doing this is that it will swiftly become a chore. For instance, the music next on your list doesn't match your mood or you feel a burning wish to
play something again that you enjoyed last week.

What I do sometimes is to have a much smaller project eg the complete Beethoven symphonies with the same conductor or interesting couplings of different works to make a satisfying CD 'concert'. Under this method you can utilise some CDs that you haven't played for a long period of time.

I’ve notice your concert format and seems a good one - a possible downside is that you come to the second half and when you’d got your seat and programme you suddenly think - I don’t fancy that now - well the positive side is you can change it - which of course you can’t do in the concert hall!

[cloughie]

The point about our large collections, is that what happens to them when we are not here?

Yes a problem - Mrs C encourages me not to keep acquiring more as if I go first she has the major task of dispersal and disposal.

[richardfinegold]

There is no way that I could listen to my collection in entirety even if I had the time. I am still working and lately it’s a struggle to stay awake when I listen or work nights due to exhaustion. I was recently between jobs for several weeks and found that after a few hours of listening to get up, move around...I also like to listen to music while reading and yes, one activity does detract from the other, but that’s life in the big city.
One joy of having a big collection is reaching on the shelves and dusting off a disc that hasn’t been played for years. It could be a Composer that one was briefly interested in a decade ago (I recently played my Alan Rawsthorne discs, probably untouched since the 1990s), or a version of a well known work that was previously undervalued (the Perahia/Haitink Beethoven Concertos , for example)

[Pulcinella]

I posted elsewhere (perhaps Joseph's earlier thread) that I am quite happy to have music as background, though I've curiously not been doing that so as much since March, partly because my partner has been working at home more, and I don't like using headphones (expect when travelling). But I can't do with anything vocal/choral, as I do find that distracting (as is inane chat on some radio stations, so I choose carefully). For me, I find that it's a good way of assimilating (subliminally?) unfamiliar music, so when I come to listen more seriously to a piece I can get more out of it. Of course, maybe the 'surprise' element is then taken away.

This morning I had some editing to do for a friend: an article on technical measurements of earth movements for a journal splendidly named Landslides. I was tempted to post this message earlier, and ask for appropriate music to have on while I was working!

And I certainly won't get round to listening to all the CDs in my collection (some as yet unplayed) again in my remaining lifetime either.