Focus on recordings interferes with music appreciation?

[EigenUser]

Well the music might be in the score, but aren't you assuming you can find all aspects of it yourself?

No, of course not, though it'd be nice if I could . That is why I do like listening to music as opposed to only reading scores. Frankly, just the latter would be boring for me. Consider Ligeti's Melodien -- there are so many things that I discovered by reading the score. However, I would probably have only a vague idea of how it sounds just by reading the score.

[Florestan]

there will be a whole range from truly exceptional to truly awful and mostly gradients in-between .. a person who truly appreciates the art will take that into consideration. They will understand not everything is equal or valid.

In theory, I certainly agree. In practice, though, I have neither the time, nor the money needed to hunt down the perfect recording for each and every piece of music I like, or hear. When it comes to buying CDs, I act under severe financial restrictions, so I am oftenly faced with only two options: either to buy a cheap recording featuring music I know for certain it's right up my alley but played by performers I am not familiar with, or not to hear that music at all. More often than not, I take my chances and buy it. If, after listening to it, I feel the performance doesn't do justice to the music, I might consider going for more famous names, if they are available. But in the meantime, I do not deprive myself of the pleasure of listening to music I like just because it is not performed by the greatest of the greatest. As shown in the blind recordings comparisons, even people much more knowledgeable than me vote out famous recordings and performers; and besides, if everybody bought only famous recordings and performers, then the younger generation would have no chance to start themselves a career and make themselves known.

[kishnevi]

In theory, I certainly agree. In practice, though, I have neither the time, nor the money needed to hunt down the perfect recording for each and every piece of music I like, or hear. When it comes to buying CDs, I act under severe financial restrictions, so I am oftenly faced with only two options: either to buy a cheap recording featuring music I know for certain it's right up my alley but played by performers I am not familiar with, or not to hear that music at all. More often than not, I take my chances and buy it. If, after listening to it, I feel the performance doesn't do justice to the music, I might consider going for more famous names, if they are available. But in the meantime, I do not deprive myself of the pleasure of listening to music I like just because it is not performed by the greatest of the greatest. As shown in the blind recordings comparisons, even people much more knowledgeable than me vote out famous recordings and performers; and besides, if everybody bought only famous recordings and performers, then the younger generation would have no chance to start themselves a career and make themselves known.

True to the last point.  If the options are Famous and Old/Dead versus Young and (relatively) Unknown,  I will usually go for Y&U, unless I hear something to the contrary HJ Lim, f.i.) or have tried them before--if only to encourage Y&U's label to record more new stuff.

[Florestan]

Yea .. understood, but one doesn't have to look too far (spend lots of time) these days with the web and all. It is easy to read up on and sample lots for free. And forums like these can be helpful too of course ..

Sure. I make use of all the available tools.

it may be trickier with the older stuff that has been around and has more options. The newer music however, living & breathing in an era of studios & recording .. is often performed by, recorded by or under the composer's supervision all the way so you know you are getting an approved and authoritative account. Thinking of Boulez & Stockhausen right now ..[/font]

True, but unfortunately Boulez and Stockhausen are not my cup of tea so I can't benefit from their imprimatur. 

[Ken B]

In theory, I certainly agree. In practice, though, I have neither the time, nor the money needed to hunt down the perfect recording for each and every piece of music I like, or hear. When it comes to buying CDs, I act under severe financial restrictions, so I am oftenly faced with only two options: either to buy a cheap recording featuring music I know for certain it's right up my alley but played by performers I am not familiar with, or not to hear that music at all. More often than not, I take my chances and buy it. If, after listening to it, I feel the performance doesn't do justice to the music, I might consider going for more famous names, if they are available. But in the meantime, I do not deprive myself of the pleasure of listening to music I like just because it is not performed by the greatest of the greatest. As shown in the blind recordings comparisons, even people much more knowledgeable than me vote out famous recordings and performers; and besides, if everybody bought only famous recordings and performers, then the younger generation would have no chance to start themselves a career and make themselves known.

I spent most of my adult life buying cheap recordings. Still do. There are happily a lot more of them now. Only with HIP or minimalists has this ever been a real problem, and it no longer is with HIP.

[EigenUser]

I spent most of my adult life buying cheap recordings. Still do. There are happily a lot more of them now. Only with HIP or minimalists has this ever been a real problem, and it no longer is with HIP.

Minimalism: You don't get what you pay for

[Ken B]

Minimalism: You don't get what you pay for

There's a quote from one of them along those lines actually. He gets paid for what he leaves out.  forget who though.

[Jay F]

I spent most of my adult life buying cheap recordings.

What did you do when CD became dominant? Nearly everything was expensive then. I would always wait to buy things on Friday, when the label sales would begin, but it was never "cheap."

[Jo498]

I more or less started listening to classical as a teenager when CDs became dominant (about 1987). I could not buy much. I had some records from my father's idiosyncratic collection and bought a few LPs and pre-recorded MCs in the first year or so, before I could persuade my dad to get a CD player for the family. After that I bought mostly mid-priced CDs and got the expensive ones as X-mas or birthday presents. I taped from radio broadcasts or friend's CDs. Took my time to explore and listened to some pieces many times. During the 90ties far more CDs became available at mid- or lower price. I probably bought around 40-50 disc a year during these years, at this pace one can actually keep up with listening! Not when buying several hundred a year...

[Ken B]

What did you do when CD became dominant? Nearly everything was expensive then. I would always wait to buy things on Friday, when the label sales would begin, but it was never "cheap."

Cheap in relative terms. Vox, reissues, Naxos, used, and vinyl. There was a big store in Toronto with half an acre of cut out bins I would raid several times a year for vinyl.
Everything is much cheaper now, even in absolute terms of course.

[kishnevi]

The newer music however, living & breathing in an era of studios & recording .. is often performed by, recorded by or under the composer's supervision all the way so you know you are getting an approved and authoritative account. Thinking of Boulez & Stockhausen right now ..

But then you miss out on the insights to the music which the composer did not have, but which were discovered by the performers.

[Madiel]

What did you do when CD became dominant? Nearly everything was expensive then.

Buy cassettes.

[Ken B]

Buy cassettes.

I was classical music director of two radio stations, so I taped a boatload of stuff.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

My slight return (Voodoo Chile or not) to GMG a few days ago has prompted some reflection on this forum's influence on my listening experience:

After participating here for several years, I became habituated to listening analytically, with the constraining hammer of intellect seeking nails of nuance in interpretation and execution with which to frame a Critical Judgment about the performance at hand in comparison with all other performances, recorded and live, lodged in the murky vaults of memory.

I couldn't listen to a Mahler symphony, for instance, without being interrupted by thoughts like, "That's not how Bernstein did it" or "Bertini was a bit perfunctory here" or "Wish this were Barbirolli" or even, "I wonder what Sarge and Jens would think of this one...."

Yet, happily, after a year's hiatus, I recently found myself trundling along farm roads through the countryside on my homeward commute, listening to Danielle Gatti and the RPO's recording of Mahler's 5th, without once considering whether the scherzo was better served by Gielen, MTT, or Boulez (it's not).  A year ago I loaded Abbey Simon's Ravel into the CD deck of the new car and haven't yet felt the need to swap it out for Bavouzet, Hewitt, or Rogé, despite a 60 mile round trip commute and two road trips with my wife.  And just last week, when a leisurely stroll on a lovely summer morning prompted me to hear Beethoven's 6th on returning home, I just grabbed a box off the shelf and was well into the thunderstorm before wondering why I'd grabbed Immerseel instead of Abbado, Brüggen, or Barenboim.

In short, my focus has returned to the simple joy of immersion in music that moves my soul, without regard to whether some other recording might be more "definitive" or if someone on the internet might take me to task for enjoying it ... or (most of all, perhaps?) without my attention wandering from the music itself to what I might say about it on the forum.

Consequently I have mixed feelings about resuming participation here.  Not only for the foregoing reason, of course, but it's a biggie, fer shure!

I think if we all thought like this music critics would be out of a job. Not the worst thing, I suppose...

But seriously, clunkers do exist, on recordings and in the concert hall. When we went to hear the Four Seasons last season (never heard it live) we were very disappointed in the first half of the piece. Flat, lifeless, & boring. Sometime at about mid-point in the piece I think someone in the (small, HIP influenced) orchestra must've shot a glare at the rest of the band and from then on the piece came alive. This is not illusion (my fiancée had the same reaction completely independent of mine).

Luckily our tickets were free otherwise I wouldn't have been happy about spending money on half a piece. What to do in this case? What to do when something like this spills onto a recording?

No easy answers to these questions but to me there's value in exploring the alternatives. When I first started collecting classical music there weren't nearly as many resources as there are now. The net has opened up a world of opportunity that has saved me a ton of money that might have otherwise been wasted on any number of clunker recordings. And I've had my fill of clunker recordings.

So what to do when I've experienced what I think is a "clunker" recording and someone else is considering it? Do I stay mum and let them find out for themselves? Certainly they may have an experience completely opposite of mine but what happens if they don't? For me I guess it goes back to the wasting money thing - I would feel almost unneighborly if I left someone in the dark as to my experience with a particular recording (personal though it is). And what is GMG if not the ultimate neighborhood? (And welcome back, David!).

   

[Florestan]

I think if we all thought like this music critics would be out of a job. ;DNot the worst thing, I suppose...

I've always wondered, who on earth does pay the Hurwitzer for posting the (mostly) BS he does?  That would be my dream job, as I can certainly be more of a BS-er than he usually is.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

I've always wondered, who on earth does pay the Hurwitzer for posting the (mostly) BS he does?  That would be my dream job, as I can certainly be more of a BS-er than he usually is.

[Ken B]

I've always wondered, who on earth does pay the Hurwitzer for posting the (mostly) BS he does?  That would be my dream job, as I can certainly be more of a BS-er than he usually is.

From the reviews I sometimes wonder if it isn't Naxos.
More likely visitors to the site, from advertising and paid click-throughs etc. you in other words. 
Me too, I do visit. Sometimes the reviews are helpful, mostly the ones by others, and mostly for the sound on older recordings.

[Florestan]

you in other words. 

Me??? If you ask me, you'll get a "fuck'em all and give me what I like!" type of answer....

[Madiel]

I was classical music director of two radio stations, so I taped a boatload of stuff.

Well let me emphasise the word 'buy', then.

[Jay F]

If it weren't for recordings, I would not have had music to appreciate.