Collections and Sub-Collections

[Bogey]

My sub-collections have turned to the vinyl:

Any Six Eye Columbia mono recordings of classical (which can have black and white and red and white labels as well).






Any Mercury Living Presence especially the ones that have HI-FI Stereo across the top. (I have the below lp, but the image is not mine.)



I was also on a Living Stereo run, but I found that they were not worth the price for my system, so I have cooled on those.

Outside of classical on vinyl: Jazz and Western Soundtracks/Gunfighter lps along with hot rod album covers.  I am not a gear head, but love 'em, so I collect them.







As far as composers and performers, I change like the wind.

[mc ukrneal]

Interesting. The Fifth is one Tchaikovsky symphony I've not found an ideal, or near ideal recording of. With the Fourth there is Szell/LSO; with the Sixth Lenny DG and Franck. I have Mravinsky but even he doesn't satisfy completely.

Sarge

I've done a preliminary listening of some of them already and I was surprised by how much I was enjoying many of them (and good news, I like the first two you named - I don't have the Franck).

[Sergeant Rock]

Ahem... and Ring Cycles and Mahler Symphonies..... 

Oh yeah....I have a few of those    14 Rings. And I do love me some symphony cycles. 16 Mahler (359 Mahler recordings altogether); 19 Sibelius (348 Sibelius recordings altogether); 10 Nielsen; 8 Vaughan Williams; 14 Brahms; 9 Elgar; 12 Beethoven (574 Beethoven recordings in total); Prokofiev 8; Shostakovich 7; Dvorak 6. I collect most everything of Franz Schmidt and Albéric Magnard. Haydn symphonies and quartets have become an obession of late.


Sarge

[Bogey]

Dang!

I do have seven Dvorak Cello Concertos...but you folks are wiping me out.

Might be fun to pick a piece and see how many I could put together.  But what piece?

[Sergeant Rock]

Dang!

I do have seven Dvorak Cello Concertos...but you folks are wiping me out.

Might be fun to pick a piece and see how many I could put together.  But what piece?

Among the composers I don't obsess over, I do have a few pieces I collect. For example, Debussy La Mer, 19 and counting.

Sarge

[Bogey]

Among the composers I don't obsess over, I do have a few pieces I collect. For example, Debussy La Mer, 19 and counting.

Sarge

My favorite all time piece is LvB's Op.80, but the Harnoncourt is so stinikin' good (plus I have a couple more), that I do not really care to pursue more discs.  As for a piece, I may have nailed it down to three, all Beethoven Winds:

Octet for Winds in E flat major, Op. 103
Sextet for 2 Clarinets, 2 Horns and 2 Bassoons in E flat major, Op. 71
Variations for 2 Oboes and English Horn in C major on "La ci darem", WoO 28

or just go crazy for the winds in general.

[Brian]

I was thinking of creating a Thaikovsky 5 thread just so that I could listen to various alternatives and comment on them. It is one of those rare pieces that I seem never to tire of.  I find it an odd symphony (in terms of collecting). Most people focus in on a few like Mravinsky, Bernstein, Gatti, etc. But it is actually hard to find someone who has heard more than a dozen say (maybe you'll come out now!?!),

*comes out*

I own Tchaikovsky 5 by Bernstein, Gatti, Jansons, V. Jurowski, Matacic, Mravinsky (DG), Mravinsky (live on Brilliant), Muti, Ormandy, Pappano, and Solti.

Don't count a blind listening game out. There's serious potential for upsets, as we've seen with Lenny in the Berlioz game, everyone who wasn't Jansons in the Mahler game, and any actual French ensembles in the Debussy game. I'd peg V. Jurowski as a surprise candidate, and folks who were raised on the broader pace of Ormandy or Muti might find themselves inadvertently voting for Antoni Wit.

[mc ukrneal]

*comes out*

I own Tchaikovsky 5 by Bernstein, Gatti, Jansons, V. Jurowski, Matacic, Mravinsky (DG), Mravinsky (live on Brilliant), Muti, Ormandy, Pappano, and Solti.

Don't count a blind listening game out. There's serious potential for upsets, as we've seen with Lenny in the Berlioz game, everyone who wasn't Jansons in the Mahler game, and any actual French ensembles in the Debussy game. I'd peg V. Jurowski as a surprise candidate, and folks who were raised on the broader pace of Ormandy or Muti might find themselves inadvertently voting for Antoni Wit.

That's 11 - you need one more!

I understand, and the question would be how early the last movement comes into play, because anyone who has the set will probably recognize his last movement. The other problem is narrowing it down to just 20-30 candidates. And then there is the issue of participation. It seems to me that people maybe are a little tired of it for the moment. Only the Mahler seems to really drum up business. Maybe I'll ask in a poll (though I still would prefer to do Alexander Nevsky first even if there were interest). 

[SonicMan46]

Well, my classical music collection is eclectic w/ an emphasis on the 18th century into the early 19th century; just completed looking through my database and selecting specific works in which I had 3 or more recordings, shown in the image below.  Now, I do have a lot of duplicates - I guess that if there is a reason to collect multiple copies for me, one important one (when applicable) is owning both a modern & period instrument performance(s) (many are in the listing) - another example of duplicates not listed would be Clementi's Piano Sonatas w/ Shelley vs. Mastroprimiano or having piano & harpsichord versions of the same work (most evident in my Bach collection).

I don't really have a sub-collection based on performer, conductor, orchestra, or label, although I do have some favorite labels (e.g. CPO, MDG, and others) - I also tend to collect more recent recordings, and probably have little before the 1950-60s.  Dave

[kishnevi]

Oh yeah....I have a few of those    14 Rings. And I do love me some symphony cycles. 16 Mahler (359 Mahler recordings altogether); 19 Sibelius (348 Sibelius recordings altogether); 10 Nielsen; 8 Vaughan Williams; 14 Brahms; 9 Elgar; 12 Beethoven (574 Beethoven recordings in total); Prokofiev 8; Shostakovich 7; Dvorak 6. I collect most everything of Franz Schmidt and Albéric Magnard. Haydn symphonies and quartets have become an obession of late,

Sarge

So there's actually one composer of whom I have more symphony cycles (albeit not more total recordings) than Sarge.  (I have 17 LvB cycles.) 

I feel like I've achieved something.

The composers who bulk largest in my collection are Bach, Mahler and Beethoven.  Bach was number one even before I got those two complete works sets (the Hanssler and Teldec);  Ludwig and Gustav were duking it out for number two the last time I counted, which was about two years ago. although my Mahler buying has slowed down somewhat, but not my Ludwig buying, so it's probably the latter in the number 2 spot now.

[Papy Oli]

not much besides a section with 216 versions of the Mahler symphonies/lieder... 

Other than that, the multiples are very seldom in my collection - mostly 2 to 4 symphonies cycles via Conductors boxsets for LvB, Schubert, Sibelius, Bruckner... and to my surprise actually, 5 cycles of Brahms as well...  0:)

[Sergeant Rock]

So there's actually one composer of whom I have more symphony cycles (albeit not more total recordings) than Sarge.  (I have 17 LvB cycles.)

In the words of Barney (How I Met Your Mother Barney): Challenge accepted! I will now have to buy another six cycles 

Sarge

[mc ukrneal]

In the words of Barney (How I Met Your Mother Barney): Challenge accepted! I will now have to buy another six cycles 

Sarge

How many Tchaikovsky 5's do you have? I want to make sure I have a good lead before I post anything!!!!   

[Gurn Blanston]

Well, apparently we've all got someone we love.  

I just wanted to drop a reminder here that we can also talk about a genre or label or specific work or series of works (by different composers) as well as just single works we have a lot of. My curiosity has the better of me here since I am always interested in expanding my collection AND my knowledge base and I like to do something different sometimes.. 

[Sergeant Rock]

How many Tchaikovsky 5's do you have? I want to make sure I have a good lead before I post anything!!!!   

Here's what I have on CD (not sure of the LP Fifths):

BERNSTEIN DG   NEW YORK PHIL
PREVIN RPO
MRAVINSKY LENNINGRAD PHIL
SZELL CLEVELAND
KOUSSEVITZKY    BOSTON
CELIBIDACHE MUNICH PHIL
MARKEVITCH LSO


Sarge

[mc ukrneal]

Here's what I have on CD (not sure of the LP Fifths):

BERNSTEIN DG   NEW YORK PHIL
PREVIN RPO
MRAVINSKY LENNINGRAD PHIL
SZELL CLEVELAND
KOUSSEVITZKY    BOSTON
CELIBIDACHE MUNICH PHIL
MARKEVITCH LSO


Sarge

Oh - interesting. I guess it would be safe to say I have more than 50 or so then (with a few more on the way).  I'm actually enjoying the process of listening to so many, but I can't imagine doing this with other works - I think I'd get bored of the pieces.

Well, apparently we've all got someone we love.  

I just wanted to drop a reminder here that we can also talk about a genre or label or specific work or series of works (by different composers) as well as just single works we have a lot of. My curiosity has the better of me here since I am always interested in expanding my collection AND my knowledge base and I like to do something different sometimes.. 

When you mentioned a series of works, it reminded me that I collect most of the Romantic Piano Concerto Series on Hyperion. For someone who loves piano concertos most of all and the romantic period most of all, well, it's a marriage made in heaven. And there is a new fix every 3-4 months.

[Mandryka]

I have tried to collect every record which Concert Artists published as a Joyce Hatto perfromance. I'm trying to do the same for Harnoncourt, Leonhardt, Walcha, Rubsam, Sergei Vartolo and Skip Sempe.

I have all the recordings, or nearly all, made by Bruno Maderna, Jon Vickers, Loraine Hunt Lieberson, Cortot, Moiseiwitsch and Sofronitsky, Mengelberg, the Juilliard Quartet, Glen Gould, Maria Yudina, Elly Ney, Alexis Weissenberg, Michelangeli and Arrau, Pletnev, Pogorelich, Schnabel and Moravec (solo music for the pianists).

I have a pretty large collection of Sv Richter and Grinburg  records.

I collect video recordings of productions by Ponelle and Calixto Bieito, Tristan,Parsifal, the Mozart/Da Ponte operas and Monteverdi operas.

I've collected all the live recordings by Pollini that I could find. And same for Sokolov, Kocsis, Ranki and Roger Muraro.

I have pretty large collections for certain pieces -- Gran Partita, Jupiter Symphony, Kreisleriana, Davidsbundlertanze, F Couperin's Lecons de Tenebre, Beethoven PC 4, Mozart PC 24. I'm building up collections for Art of Fugue, Bach chorales znd Buxtehude's organ pieces, Sweelinck and F Couperin.

There are a whole bunch of young musicians who I collect -- Ebene Quartet for example, Pavel Haas Quartet, Casals Quartet.

I have a pretty large collections of recordings from Van Beinum, Hans Rosbaud and Giulini, but with symphonic music I tend to limit myself to a few composers -- Brahms, Mahler, Haydn, Mozart.

[Sergeant Rock]

Oh - interesting. I guess it would be safe to say I have more than 50 or so then (with a few more on the way). 

I don't have anything approaching the 50 mark. The most of anything I have is 36 versions of Mahler 1. See, I'm one of the few sane ones here 

Sarge

[Marc]

[....] I have a pretty large collections of recordings from Van Beinum, Hans Rosbaud and Giulini, but with symphonic music I tend to limit myself to a few composers -- Brahms, Mahler, Haydn, Mozart.

Van Beinum: nice! Underrated IMHO, even though I do not even have that much of him myself (Beethoven 3, Brahms 1-4, Mahler 7 a.o.). They say his niche was the French Romantics, but I'm not really a francophile.

I have more-or-less (rather incomplete) subcollections of Lucia Popp and Gustav Leonhardt, and, compositions considered, of Bach's Passions and of his organ works, and also of Mozart's opera's (mainly the Da Pontes) and Mahler symphonies. My passion for Passions, Popp, Wolfie's dramas and Gustav's outbursts started already some 25 years ago, and after my conversion to harpsichord and organ, Leonhardt eventually joined in. I'm still happy with all of them!

[SonicMan46]

Do you really not have any recordings of the Haydn symphonies?

Please tell me it is an oversight ....

Hi SanAntonio - of course, I have Papa Joe's Symphonies, but not 3 or more complete sets, which was my criterion for putting together the list from my database - at the moment, just Fischer for all of them; 2 sets of the Paris Symphonies & 3 sets of the London ones.  Dave