The insanity of abundance!

[71 dB]

Recently I have been more into classical music. You may have noticed my activity on this forum. Now I am AGAIN facing the insanity of classical music in the form of abundance. I'm constantly on Amazon browsing CDs to buy! Damn! I'm listening to Spotify like there was no tomorrow! Damn. Classical music takes my life, my time, my money! It's insane!

Non-classical music is so easy in comparison. It is so "limited". Most of my favorite non-classical artists have released only a couple of albums or singles. Tangerine Dream is extremely prolific (100+ albums) among my other favorites and even it is somewhat manageable compared to classical music. Yes, there is A LOT of non-classical music, but what helps a lot is the fact that I find 99 % of it totally uninteresting. Classical music is another story. So much of it (perhaps 30 %) IS interesting.

All the talk about composers I haven't explored much makes me feel I should explore them, but exploring just one of them takes a lot of time and money. It's exhausting, but there's dozens and dozens of these composers! The list of obscure Russian composers alone has dozens of names! What about Poland? Turkey? Romania? Italy? Belgium? Chile? Canada? South-Africa? The list of obscure names contains hundreds if not thousands of names! Who can explore such abundance? You need to limit yourself radically to do any kind of exploration, but is the exploration even meaningful if it's done under radical limitation? Are we fans of classical music totally insane? I don't know.

How do you fans of classical music deal with the insane cornucopia that is classical music? Sometimes I am so scared of it! 

[Ken B]

Recently I have been more into classical music. You may have noticed my activity on this forum. Now I am AGAIN facing the insanity of classical music in the form of abundance. I'm constantly on Amazon browsing CDs to buy! Damn! I'm listening to Spotify like there was no tomorrow! Damn. Classical music takes my life, my time, my money! It's insane!

Non-classical music is so easy in comparison. It is so "limited". Most of my favorite non-classical artists have released only a couple of albums or singles. Tangerine Dream is extremely prolific (100+ albums) among my other favorites and even it is somewhat manageable compared to classical music. Yes, there is A LOT of non-classical music, but what helps a lot is the fact that I find 99 % of it totally uninteresting. Classical music is another story. So much of it (perhaps 30 %) IS interesting.

All the talk about composers I haven't explored much makes me feel I should explore them, but exploring just one of them takes a lot of time and money. It's exhausting, but there's dozens and dozens of these composers! The list of obscure Russian composers alone has dozens of names! What about Poland? Turkey? Romania? Italy? Belgium? Chile? Canada? South-Africa? The list of obscure names contains hundreds if not thousands of names! Who can explore such abundance? You need to limit yourself radically to do any kind of exploration, but is the exploration even meaningful if it's done under radical limitation? Are we fans of classical music totally insane? I don't know.

How do you fans of classical music deal with the insane cornucopia that is classical music? Sometimes I am so scared of it! 

I am not sure we do! I recognize the feelings you describe. I have hundreds of unheard discs still. So after 40 years I am still in that boat at least some of the time.

[71 dB]

I am not sure we do! I recognize the feelings you describe. I have hundreds of unheard discs still. So after 40 years I am still in that boat at least some of the time.

I don't have much problems with unheard discs. I hardly ever have more than a few unheard discs waiting for my attention. For me it's about considering buying and exploring this and that...

[Mahlerian]

Just think about how "bad" it would be for you if you loved music of the present day!  The abundance would never run out.

[Ken B]

I don't have much problems with unheard discs. I hardly ever have more than a few unheard discs waiting for my attention. For me it's about considering buying and exploring this and that...

Then I better not mention the complete Bach cantatas by Suzuki, or the Angeles Quartet complete Haydn cycle! 

[listener]

My computer just went down and I lost all my installed apps and the databases from an earlier office program.  The large collection of cds and lps will get played again, some for the first time in many years as I try to re-create my files.    + and - for the situation.

[greg]

When you have hundreds of recordings of the same works, it tends to get that way. 

[71 dB]

Just think about how "bad" it would be for you if you loved music of the present day!  The abundance would never run out.

Well, I love about 1 % of non-classical present day music.  If I loved the rest 99 % I would propably not be into classical music.

Then I better not mention the complete Bach cantatas by Suzuki, or the Angeles Quartet complete Haydn cycle! 

Well, I call tell you I have the Bach cantatas by Suzuki minus volumes 51-54. 
(just waiting for the moment to get them as cheap as possible).

When you have hundreds of recordings of the same works, it tends to get that way. 

"Affirmative" would K9 say... 

[Mahlerian]

Well, I love about 1 % of non-classical present day music.  If I loved the rest 99 % I would propably not be into classical music.

Well, I meant contemporary classical music.  Plenty of us are still composing, you know?

[71 dB]

Well, I meant contemporary classical music.  Plenty of us are still composing, you know?

I like contemporary classical music too. I have been exploring it recently.

[arpeggio]

This is the beauty of classical.  It is probably the most diverse musical genre.  It is immense and it is impossible to know everything there is know about classical music.

There are over 200 CD's on my wish list and as a result of the more informative threads that list is growing.  I am seventy years old and I am always discovering something new even if is an unfamiliar work of the one of the great masters.  I recently discovered the Etudes symphoniques of Robert Schumann.

It is a journey that will engross you for the rest of your life. 

[Ken B]

This is the beauty of classical.  It is probably the most diverse musical genre.  It is immense and it is impossible to know everything there is know about classical music.

There are over 200 CD's on my wish list and as a result of the more informative threads that list is growing.  I am seventy years old and I am always discovering something new even if is an unfamiliar work of the one of the great masters.  I recently discovered the Etudes symphoniques of Robert Schumann.

It is a journey that will engross you for the rest of your life. 

Yes. People have been writing music for centuries. All the old stuff that survived is called classical. That's a huge, ever growing, amount of music!

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

There is a lot of stuff out there. I like to explore it a bit at a time, focussing on a particular genre or composer or few years at a time so I can get to know stuff well. There was a month I almost exclusively listened to orchestral music from the 1760s and 1770s excluding Haydn and Mozart. And there was also a period of time I listened to barely anything except for Michael Nyman. Sometimes I spend a week or two just listening to secular medieval music. I never feel like I 'should' explore anything, I just listen because I want to. If I discover something I particularly like then I'd go and buy it.

[71 dB]

I never feel like I 'should' explore anything, I just listen because I want to. If I discover something I particularly like then I'd go and buy it.

I wish it was that clear for me. Maybe it's an illusion that everyone here knows almost everything about classical music. Someone is perhaps an expert on Haydn, but has maybe hardly heard anything by Walton. I have listened to classical music for 20 years, but there have been many years when most of my listening have been non-classical. When I really discovered classical music in 1997, it was the most exciting thing in the world! The excitement has faded away since, and I never get the kind of kicks anymore I did back then. I have to say the most interesting area of classical music for me recently has been contemporary music. From James Aikman to Ellen Taaffe Zwilich I have found this stuff interesting to explore and it has been a revelation to me. I had always assumed that after Schoenberg 90 % of all classical music has been very dissonant, but it's almost the opposite. New classical music is often less dissonant than Wagner! I also like how colourful, fresh and dynamic this stuff is. Makes older classical music sound... ...well... old. 

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I wish it was that clear for me. Maybe it's an illusion that everyone here knows almost everything about classical music. Someone is perhaps an expert on Haydn, but has maybe hardly heard anything by Walton. I have listened to classical music for 20 years, but there have been many years when most of my listening have been non-classical. When I really discovered classical music in 1997, it was the most exciting thing in the world! The excitement has faded away since, and I never get the kind of kicks anymore I did back then. I have to say the most interesting area of classical music for me recently has been contemporary music. From James Aikman to Ellen Taaffe Zwilich I have found this stuff interesting to explore and it has been a revelation to me. I had always assumed that after Schoenberg 90 % of all classical music has been very dissonant, but it's almost the opposite. New classical music is often less dissonant than Wagner! I also like how colourful, fresh and dynamic this stuff is. Makes older classical music sound... ...well... old. 

I think you're right, there is some kind of illusion I get about many of us knowing almost everything about classical music.  I actually tend to just assume people know things rather than type any response I have to people making the assumption that they don't know certain repertoire i might be mentioning....

But then again, I know that I have spent very very little time with classical music compared to most people here and I've spent a lot of my own time learning about some repertoire in particular and not at other repertoire.....it wasn't until last year that I listened to every Brahms symphony, for example, but I had heard every Ferneyhough string quartet and the fifth and sixth books of Gesualdo madrigals before then.

I guess it's just being able to take things in in my own time that I truly enjoy discovering classical music.

And it's always interesting to read about other people's explorations too.  I'd like to hear from you where I could start with Zwilich becuase i haven't heard much.....

[DaveF]

it wasn't until last year that I listened to every Brahms symphony, for example, but I had heard every Ferneyhough string quartet and the fifth and sixth books of Gesualdo madrigals before then.

Ha! That sounds familiar to me - the first time I heard Messiah, I recognised the Comfort ye aria from its mangled and parodied quotation in Davies's Eight songs for a Mad King.

[71 dB]

I think you're right, there is some kind of illusion I get about many of us knowing almost everything about classical music.  I actually tend to just assume people know things rather than type any response I have to people making the assumption that they don't know certain repertoire i might be mentioning....

It's good to remind ourself that someone who knows everything about Beethoven's Piano Sonatas might have never heard music by Vanhal.

But then again, I know that I have spent very very little time with classical music compared to most people here and I've spent a lot of my own time learning about some repertoire in particular and not at other repertoire.....it wasn't until last year that I listened to every Brahms symphony, for example, but I had heard every Ferneyhough string quartet and the fifth and sixth books of Gesualdo madrigals before then.

Well, think for long I had more music by Johann Rosenmüller than Brahms.  I think I still have more music by Rosenmüller than Mahler or Bruckner and my Mahler and Bruckner collections together struggle to compete with my Fasch -collection. My Dvorak-collection can barely beat my Schieferdecker -collection despite of the fact the number of Schieferdecker-recordings is extremely low.

I guess it's just being able to take things in in my own time that I truly enjoy discovering classical music.

Yes, I enjoy exploring things on my own terms.

And it's always interesting to read about other people's explorations too.  I'd like to hear from you where I could start with Zwilich becuase i haven't heard much.....

I am a total Zwilich-newbie and I have two Naxos discs of her music. I bought them at low price last year. Hard to say which one is the "better starting point". My problem is that I am parsimonious and it's difficult for me to pay much for CDs. So, it's possible most Zwilich-recordings are forever out of my price range...

...talking about female composers Margaret Brouwer had even greater impact on me. She is perhaps my favorite female composer. Again, the two Naxos discs are what I have.  0:)

Anyway, don't force yourself to explore stuff because people tell you to do so. Nobody has never recommended Margaret Brouwer, Rendine, Di Vittorio, Aikman, Bryars, Schwantner (Karl Henning's teacher!) and many more to me. I discovered these composers with my own "earwork". Ferneyhough has been recommended to me, but I'm not so sure he is my cup of tea (sorry about that). We have different tastes and it's ok. We may learn to like stuff we didn't like before, but it takes a lot of time.

[Florestan]

The classical music is such a vast field that even if one limits itself to only one era, or to a handful of favorite composers, there is still plenty of music to keep one busy for the whole lifetime. There is nothing wrong with this approach, just as there is nothing wrong with trying to explore and absorb as much music as one can.

That being said, I could use a severe limitation myself. There are lots of things by my favorite composers to which I haven't yet given a complete and proper listening. 

[Parsifal]

Then I better not mention the complete Bach cantatas by Suzuki, or the Angeles Quartet complete Haydn cycle! 

I have two Haydn Quartet cycles (almost entirely) unheard (skulks away in shame).

Festetics, Aeolian

[71 dB]

I have two Haydn Quartet cycles (almost entirely) unheard (skulks away in shame).

Festetics, Aeolian

The only Haydn String Quartets I have are:

Op. 64 (Kodály Quartet/Naxos)
Op. 76 (Quatuor Mosaïques/Astrée)

I don't think I need more. I enjoy the String Quartets of Beethoven and Mozart more. Even Dittersdorf's String Quartets seem more compatible with my taste.