What do you listen to when you don't know what you want to listen to?

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Like many of you, I have thousands of recordings on CD, LP, and on my hard drive (flac files of CDs and LPs-- I own only a handful of MP3s), and often I sit down in the evening for a nice long listen (possible because my wife and I are happily child free). But I often have a lot of trouble deciding what to listen to. Most of my listening these days is piano, harpsichord, organ, and various lieder and art song.

Sometimes I'll sit there for ten minutes or so pondering my decision. Does this ever happen to you?

When this goes on for too long (more than ten minutes), I almost always reach for the Well Tempered Clavier (of which I own eight different recordings), or sometimes Bach's organ works (Walcha, Heiller, Richter, etc.). I nearly always find that these suit whatever mood I'm in, and I have a hard time tearing myself away from them.

What do reach for when faced with such indecision?

[Sammy]

I also reach for the WTC in recent years; you can't improve on your favorite composer and musical work. 

However, I usually make my selections from a pile of around 100 that are in the top pile for one reason or another.  That's hard enough for me.

[Mirror Image]

What do reach for when faced with such indecision?

Usually the tv remote because I'm not going to listen to anything unless I have a clear idea of what I want to listen to first. Simple as that.

[George]

Something I haven't heard in awhile, or something new that I haven't heard at all. Or, I'll reach for pop, like I did last night (Everything But the Girl, Walking Wounded.)

[George]

Nothing.

Silence.

the sound of one hand pounding an invisible table.  0:)

[Todd]

This rarely happens, but when it does, I almost always reach for either LvB piano sonatas or Debussy's piano music.  If the latter, something from Michel Beroff's Denon set usually gets a spin.  (Must be location - top row, middle rack, immediately to my right in my listening room.  Well, that and the fact that it's my favorite Debussy.)

[HIPster]

Rarely happens to me as well and as some have already mentioned, when it does happen, I opt for silence.

When I was in college, my housemates and I had a standing rule around just this question: when in doubt, play Jimi!  This still holds up remarkably well for me today (Band of Gypsys in those halcyon days; today, it's Axis: Bold As Love).

Over the last several years I regularly reach for Bach - the Brandenburg Concertos foremost, usually this one:

[asin]B0031B7ES6[/asin]

[springrite]

Easy. Usually:

Goldberg Variations
Bach Partitas
Feldman For Piano and String Quartet

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Silence is another good one. I especially like hearing the wind through the trees and wind chimes in my backyard. One of my ocean CDs gets fairly regular play as well.

[Parsifal]

Silence. 

(If I don't know what I want to listen to, I take that as a sign that my brain does not want music at that moment.)

[ibanezmonster]

If I want to listen to music and am not sure what to listen to, it's because I just want to make working on stuff a bit less... dry...
Lately, it's been random, near-obscure composers on youtube, but I've just decided that I should start focusing on one composer at a time. Right now: going back to listening to my complete Beethoven.

[Brahmsian]

I'll read a book, or watch a movie.

Or listen to solo instrumental works or works for two or so instruments.

[Hattoff]

Anything by Stravinsky; I find his inventiveness refreshing. Occasionally instrumental Bach for the same reason.

[Coopmv]

Like many of you, I have thousands of recordings on CD, LP, and on my hard drive (flac files of CDs and LPs-- I own only a handful of MP3s), and often I sit down in the evening for a nice long listen (possible because my wife and I are happily child free). But I often have a lot of trouble deciding what to listen to. Most of my listening these days is piano, harpsichord, organ, and various lieder and art song.

Sometimes I'll sit there for ten minutes or so pondering my decision. Does this ever happen to you?

When this goes on for too long (more than ten minutes), I almost always reach for the Well Tempered Clavier (of which I own eight different recordings), or sometimes Bach's organ works (Walcha, Heiller, Richter, etc.). I nearly always find that these suit whatever mood I'm in, and I have a hard time tearing myself away from them.

What do reach for when faced with such indecision?

Excellent choice!

Do you reach for the WTC performance on piano or harpsichord?  I must have close to 20 versions of WTC, 60 to 40 split between piano performance and harpsichord performance.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Excellent choice!

Do you reach for the WTC performance on piano or harpsichord?  I must have close to 20 versions of WTC, 60 to 40 split between piano performance and harpsichord performance.

Both harpsichord and piano--and clavichord as well (Kirkpatrick). Right now I'm listening mostly to Richter and Feinberg.

[DavidRoss]

That's when visit the What's that crap you're playing "What are you listening to?" thread at GMG, where I'm usually reminded of something good that I haven't heard lately. 

[TheGSMoeller]

Hit random on my iTunes library and let it fly!

Or, random on my Haydn playlist, which currently holds over 8 days worth of music (and could have more but I have so much in my iTunes library I get lost sometimes  )

[Johnll]

That's when visit the What's that crap you're playing "What are you listening to?" thread at GMG, where I'm usually reminded of something good that I haven't heard lately.

That is a part of why I look in and it works for me too.

[bhodges]

Silence. 

(If I don't know what I want to listen to, I take that as a sign that my brain does not want music at that moment.)

100% agree with this. Though I love music, not hearing now and then makes me appreciate it even more when it appears.

--Bruce

[vandermolen]

Sibelius is the only composer whose music I can listen to regardless of what mood I am in - so I tend to gravitate to Sibelius on those occasions.