How does one have time to explore?

[71 dB]

One thing that I have always been surprised at is how much some people are able to spend on listening to classical music. Have I just misunderstood something? How does one have time to listen to 10 cycles of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas? By listening to Beethoven only, ignoring Dittersdorf completely? Do people who listen to Ligeti and Boulez ignore the music of 17th century? How much can you spend on classical music? Do you ignore other genres of music?

I wish I had more time for classical music so I could explore all those so many composers I haven't explored yet. But, life is not only classical music. There's OTHER music too. There's TV. There's hobbies. Recently a large part of my free time has gone to watching the extra's of Breaking Bad on Blu-ray. It takes so many hours to listen to all those comment tracks (almost every episode has one!), webisodes, gag reels, Gale's Karaoke video, Saul Goodman's adds, etc... Often I want to listen to other kind of music than classical, for example King Crimson or perhaps some oldskool piano rave music from the early 90's. So, in the end I have a few hours a week to "spend" on classical music and concentrate on it.

So, am I just as everyone else and my lack of knowledge of Ligeti's and Boulez's music is simply because I chose to use my "classical music time" on Kuhnau, Graupner, Fasch, Bruhns and Schieferdecker instead?

I have been trying to listen to some Ligeti yesterday and today (weekend gives more free time) on Spotify. I have the free account with adds and listening to classical music is difficult because classical music is so dynamic. When the adds come, they are LOUD! Charlie XCX's "Boom Clap" is really BOOM CLAP!! Then Ligeti continues and I hardly hear anything. 

Naxos is a nice label to explore composers, but unfortunately Naxos' Ligeti offering is pathetic (2 CDs).

Other composers I have been exploring (but only cratched the surfice), Liszt, Janacek and Hindemith, will of course suffer if I start exploring Ligeti... ...should I even worry about these thing or just listen to watever I want?

[EigenUser]

One thing that I have always been surprised at is how much some people are able to spend on listening to classical music. Have I just misunderstood something? How does one have time to listen to 10 cycles of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas? By listening to Beethoven only, ignoring Dittersdorf completely? Do people who listen to Ligeti and Boulez ignore the music of 17th century? How much can you spend on classical music? Do you ignore other genres of music?

I wish I had more time for classical music so I could explore all those so many composers I haven't explored yet. But, life is not only classical music. There's OTHER music too. There's TV. There's hobbies. Recently a large part of my free time has gone to watching the extra's of Breaking Bad on Blu-ray. It takes so many hours to listen to all those comment tracks (almost every episode has one!), webisodes, gag reels, Gale's Karaoke video, Saul Goodman's adds, etc... Often I want to listen to other kind of music than classical, for example King Crimson or perhaps some oldskool piano rave music from the early 90's. So, in the end I have a few hours a week to "spend" on classical music and concentrate on it.

So, am I just as everyone else and my lack of knowledge of Ligeti's and Boulez's music is simply because I chose to use my "classical music time" on Kuhnau, Graupner, Fasch, Bruhns and Schieferdecker instead?

I have been trying to listen to some Ligeti yesterday and today (weekend gives more free time) on Spotify. I have the free account with adds and listening to classical music is difficult because classical music is so dynamic. When the adds come, they are LOUD! Charlie XCX's "Boom Clap" is really BOOM CLAP!! Then Ligeti continues and I hardly hear anything. 

Naxos is a nice label to explore composers, but unfortunately Naxos' Ligeti offering is pathetic (2 CDs).

Other composers I have been exploring (but only cratched the surfice), Liszt, Janacek and Hindemith, will of course suffer if I start exploring Ligeti... ...should I even worry about these thing or just listen to watever I want?

The Ligeti Project on Teldec is invaluable for exploring Ligeti (though not on Spotify, at least not in the US). It's nicely priced and it has great recordings of pretty much all except the VC, where I strongly prefer the DG set with Gawriloff (when I say strongly I really mean that I probably wouldn't like the piece if it weren't for that rendition).
[asin]B0016A8E1K[/asin]

As for the etudes, make sure to get Aimard on Sony (disc three of the Ligeti Edition).

One thing that I have always been surprised at is how much some people are able to spend on listening to classical music. Have I just misunderstood something? How does one have time to listen to 10 cycles of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas? By listening to Beethoven only, ignoring Dittersdorf completely? Do people who listen to Ligeti and Boulez ignore the music of 17th century?

I'll get to it. I haven't done much with Baroque (though I love it), but I've been very interested in the Renaissance and Classical eras recently. It is possible to like Haydn and Ligeti equally. But, that would be for different reasons.

By the way, as far as Boulez is concerned, don't start with the piano works. For the love of God, don't. Start with something like Derive I, explosante-fixe, or Repons. Derive I is only about 7 minutes long so it is a good introduction.

As for other genres of music, I really enjoy jazz even though I know nothing about it.

I agree, though. It is intimidating how much people seem to know about everything here!

[71 dB]

The Ligeti Project on Teldec is invaluable for exploring Ligeti (though not on Spotify, at least not in the US). It's nicely priced and it has great recordings of pretty much all except the VC, where I strongly prefer the DG set with Gawriloff (when I say strongly I really mean that I probably wouldn't like the piece if it weren't for that rendition).

As for the etudes, make sure to get Aimard on Sony (disc three of the Ligeti Edition).
I'll get to it. I haven't done much with Baroque (though I love it), but I've been very interested in the Renaissance and Classical eras recently. It is possible to like Haydn and Ligeti equally. But, that would be for different reasons.

By the way, as far as Boulez is concerned, don't start with the piano works. For the love of God, don't. Start with something like Derive I, explosante-fixe, or Repons. Derive I is only about 7 minutes long so it is a good introduction.

As for other genres of music, I really enjoy jazz even though I know nothing about it.

I agree, though. It is intimidating how much people seem to know about everything here!

Thanks for the recommendations, but I'm afraid I'm not exploring Ligeti and Boulez that hard in the near future for said reasons. Just listened to Villa-Lobos' Piano Concertos 1 & 2, works I haven't revisited for over a decade!  Judging from the Ligeti I listened to on Spotify, there is something interesting in his music. I have so little post war classical music! 

I have noticed I can learn to like almost any genre. I takes open mind and time invested but it's possible. After Villa-Lobos' Piano Concertos I am listening to Katy Perry's Prism album, an artist I didn't believe to ever like just 4-5 years ago! Katy Perry's pop music is just so damn good pop music (same with Kesha). I wish people could accept it's possible to enjoy very different kind of music genres. Unfortunately people usually have very narrow musical taste, 2 or 3 genres and that's it. Everything else they say compelete crap. Crazy.

[Gurn Blanston]

My personal opinion, and I offer it as that only, is that you should find something you like and explore the hell out of it, and damn what anyone else does or has or likes or hates! Also, you should consider some things when you are comparing yourself to others: I don't know how old you are, but I would bet I'm older. I'm 62, I saw the Beatles LIVE on Ed Sullivan in 1964 (I was 13). I was at Woodstock. I was in San Francisco in the late 1970's and saw all sorts of live jazz, I saw Pink Floyd touring when they were releasing their albums, not rehashing them, and my father introduced me to classical on 78's on a turntable and amp he built himself; in short, you can't compare your experiences with mine and you shouldn't do either.

You always seem dissatisfied with what you are doing. Why? No one can do everything, and shouldn't even if it's possible. Way better to choose what you want and go with it, and damn the other stuff. Let someone else do it, meanwhile, you become the most knowledgeable at what YOU do. Don't waste your time worrying. Just since I've known you, I have gone from knowing the Op 76 quartets and some symphonies to knowing nearly as much about Haydn as anyone in the world. Life is short, don't waste it. 

[some guy]

I don't think it's a matter of time. I think it's a matter of passion.

There is always time for the things one if passionate about.

Several of my friends are passionate golfers. I have never had the time to join them. (Usually I need to wash my hair or something.)

Listening to new music, though? I've always got time to do that.

[Brian]

I listen to whatever I want.

Time is a major factor. I work a quiet office job, and the coworker who shares my office suite is an irritating conversationalist, so I spend about 5 hours a workday listening to Naxos Music Library on headphones.

Unfortunately, at home in free time, there's not much time to listen. You're right! I like to spend time with friends, leave the house, watch movies and TV, cook meals, etc. etc. And I have to write reviews of CDs for MusicWeb. So my pleasure CD listening at home is down to 3-4 albums a week, but this has the effect of focusing me. I explore new music that I'm really, really interested in hearing, and I relisten to old beloved favorites. In addition to those things, MusicWeb feeds me a diet of new recordings, and makes me work for them.

I have no time to arbitrarily listen to something because everyone else likes it, and no time to feel guilt for doing my own thing, but sometimes at work I will sample something on NML if GMG really, really loves it.

[Karl Henning]

. . . and no time to feel guilt for doing my own thing . . . .

Per Gurn above, that is certainly (or ought to be) a guilt-free zone.

[Sergeant Rock]

How does one have time to listen to 10 cycles of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas? By listening to Beethoven only, ignoring Dittersdorf completely?

I've heard nine Beethoven Sonata cycles, plus a bit of Ditters (and about 400 other composers and countless "pop/rock/jazz records) so yeah, it's possible. My secret? I've lived 65 years and retired at age 42. Early retirement freed up a lot of time for listening.

Sarge

[amw]

It does sometimes occur to me that, apart from classical music, I have no real interests or personality, and if I did not have some (superficial) knowledge of classical music there would be nothing to recommend me as a person to anybody.

But putting on some Bach or Enescu or Holliger or whatever is usually sufficient to push these thoughts away

[Brahmsian]

Life is short.  Even if you lived 10, or even 50 lifetimes, you could not possibly explore everything by every classical music composer, ever composed.

Just listen and explore day by day.  Explore new works and composers you'd like, and re-listen to all your favourites too! 

[Mirror Image]

I don't put limits on myself when listening to music, but I listen to what catches my ear and, most importantly, my heart. As for exploring new music, I'm pretty convinced that I've managed to find 99% of the music that speaks to me. Of course, there's that 1% that I actually find a new favorite composer/band/musician. Anyway, I don't have time for everything and I don't waste my time with music that does absolutely does nothing for me. It's that simple really. My newest musical obsession is the German prog band Eloy, which I've known about for probably 15 years or maybe even more, but have just over the past month decided to try them out. Again, I don't have time for everything. No one does. Pursue music at your own leisure and find music that speaks to you.

[71 dB]

I've heard nine Beethoven Sonata cycles, plus a bit of Ditters (and about 400 other composers and countless "pop/rock/jazz records) so yeah, it's possible. My secret? I've lived 65 years and retired at age 42. Early retirement freed up a lot of time for listening.

Sarge

Retired at age 42...??   ...I have no words!!  

[Brian]

It does sometimes occur to me that, apart from classical music, I have no real interests or personality, and if I did not have some (superficial) knowledge of classical music there would be nothing to recommend me as a person to anybody.

But putting on some Bach or Enescu or Holliger or whatever is usually sufficient to push these thoughts away

Awww  but you're an eloquent writer! And you have good taste in online friends!

Are you in music conservatory of some kind? I knew lots of kids in music school when I was at Rice, and they all kind of felt that way: especially because they were not taking many non-music classes, and didn't have many non-music areas of nerdiness. One bassoonist told me "The way our classes are set up, except for music, I'm kind of an idiot." Anyway, they were still awesome people and I hung out with them, but it is one of those professions like athletics or ballet where your education is so specialized that it just sets you up that way. Overall, very mixed feelings about that.

[NJ Joe]

One thing that I have always been surprised at is how much some people are able to spend on listening to classical music. Have I just misunderstood something? How does one have time to listen to 10 cycles of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas? By listening to Beethoven only, ignoring Dittersdorf completely? Do people who listen to Ligeti and Boulez ignore the music of 17th century? How much can you spend on classical music? Do you ignore other genres of music?

I wish I had more time for classical music so I could explore all those so many composers I haven't explored yet. But, life is not only classical music. There's OTHER music too. There's TV. There's hobbies. Recently a large part of my free time has gone to watching the extra's of Breaking Bad on Blu-ray. It takes so many hours to listen to all those comment tracks (almost every episode has one!), webisodes, gag reels, Gale's Karaoke video, Saul Goodman's adds, etc... Often I want to listen to other kind of music than classical, for example King Crimson or perhaps some oldskool piano rave music from the early 90's. So, in the end I have a few hours a week to "spend" on classical music and concentrate on it.

So, am I just as everyone else and my lack of knowledge of Ligeti's and Boulez's music is simply because I chose to use my "classical music time" on Kuhnau, Graupner, Fasch, Bruhns and Schieferdecker instead?

I have been trying to listen to some Ligeti yesterday and today (weekend gives more free time) on Spotify. I have the free account with adds and listening to classical music is difficult because classical music is so dynamic. When the adds come, they are LOUD! Charlie XCX's "Boom Clap" is really BOOM CLAP!! Then Ligeti continues and I hardly hear anything. 

Naxos is a nice label to explore composers, but unfortunately Naxos' Ligeti offering is pathetic (2 CDs).

Other composers I have been exploring (but only cratched the surfice), Liszt, Janacek and Hindemith, will of course suffer if I start exploring Ligeti... ...should I even worry about these thing or just listen to watever I want?

My interpretation of this is that you have limited free time to do the things you enjoy.  I can empathize with you on this.  Most weeks I work 6 days and have a very busy family life (4 kids).  Right now, for example, I'm in student loan hell with my two college age sons.  Summers seem to be extra busy and I barely even have time to check in here. Or to write this post!

But anyway as far as music listening goes, I've given up on trying to be organized about it in any way.  What works best for me is to not follow any plan at all; I simply go whichever way my interest takes me at the time.  Sometimes it changes on a dime.  Frequently, it's because of a post I read on this forum! Most of the time I can't control it, but rather just roll with it.  As far as classical goes, lately I've been listening to nothing but Haydn. I don't know why and I don't know when it will end.

For some reason I listen to less classical during the summer months.  This summer I've spent a lot of time revisiting the catalogs of Mahavishnu Orchestra and Steely Dan.  I've listened to all their albums multiple times. I know the classical music will be there when I'm done.

I try listening as much as I can on my drive to and from work.  I have limited listening time while actually at work; Brian I am jealous. At home, I try and get some listening in during the late evening before I pass out.

But as others have stated, use the time you have for the things you're passionate about at the moment. That's all one can do.

PS - I did the entire Breaking Bad series over the course of a few months last fall and winter.

[NJ Joe]

I don't put limits on myself when listening to music, but I listen to what catches my ear and, most importantly, my heart. As for exploring new music, I'm pretty convinced that I've managed to find 99% of the music that speaks to me. Of course, there's that 1% that I actually find a new favorite composer/band/musician. Anyway, I don't have time for everything and I don't waste my time with music that does absolutely does nothing for me. It's that simple really. My newest musical obsession is the German prog band Eloy, which I've known about for probably 15 years or maybe even more, but have just over the past month decided to try them out. Again, I don't have time for everything. No one does. Pursue music at your own leisure and find music that speaks to you.

Good words!

[Brahmsian]

PS - I did the entire Breaking Bad series over the course of a few months last fall and winter.

So did I, Joe! Once I started, I couldn't stop myself! 

[NJ Joe]

So did I, Joe! Once I started, I couldn't stop myself! 

Me neither! I was obsessed!

[Brahmsian]

Me neither! I was obsessed!

Yup, I hear ya! 

[ibanezmonster]

I don't think it's a matter of time. I think it's a matter of passion.

Lol. Tell that to the people that have to work 80 hours a week to get by.

[some guy]

Lol yourself, Greg.

Dunno about that 80 number. How many people here work 80 hours a week?

But I spent many years working around 60 hours a week. Married. Three kids. Several different jobs running simultaneously. Much hanging out with friends. Many non-work (non remunerative work) projects. Couple of divorces, too. Distracting things, divorces. Therapy. Custody battles.

And I always found time for the things I loved.

It ain't rocket science. You can always find time for the things you love. If you don't really love them--only sort of like them--then maybe not. And, of course, you will always want to have more time than you do. Goes without saying really. Kind of embarrassing to have said it.