Topic: How do get hold of many versions?

[71 dB]

One thing that amazes me is the fact that people have heard so many performances of several works. I have never heard Brahms piano concertos and yet some people are able to tell about the differences of half-dozen recordings! How do people get hold of so many versions? Do you loan them from library? Do you just buy many versions of certain works? I have 2 or 3 versions of some works (duplications) but I can't even dream about having 6 version on Brahms piano concertos. I struggle financially to buy just one version!

There are at least 50-100 interesting composers with several interesting works. Having just one version of each means hundreds or thousands of CDs. Who the hell (except Harry) can afford 6 versions of any work?  Someone had nearly 100 versions of Mass in B minor! Insane!

[Don]

One thing that amazes me is the fact that people have heard so many performances of several works. I have never heard Brahms piano concertos and yet some people are able to tell about the differences of half-dozen recordings! How do people get hold of so many versions? Do you loan them from library? Do you just buy many versions of certain works? I have 2 or 3 versions of some works (duplications) but I can't even dream about having 6 version on Brahms piano concertos. I struggle financially to buy just one version!

There are at least 50-100 interesting composers with several interesting works. Having just one version of each means hundreds or thousands of CDs. Who the hell (except Harry) can afford 6 versions of any work?  Someone had nearly 100 versions of Mass in B minor! Insane!

Well, monetary considerations certainly play a major role as to how many versions of one work can be afforded.  I buy most of the multiple versions I have of particular works.  Out of my over 100 versions of the Goldberg Variations, maybe 10 of them came my way without purchase.

Have to say that six versions of the Brahms piano concertos is a paltry number given that No. 1 has about 80 recordings and No. 2 over 100.  I have more than six of each, and I don't even consider them among my favorite piano concertos.

Is this all insane?  Don't ask me - I'm still in the asylum.

[Don]

To 71dB:

How many versions do you own of the following Elgar works:

Sym. 1
Sym. 2
Violin Concerto
Cello Concerto
Violin Sonata
Enigma Variations

[71 dB]

Well, monetary considerations certainly play a major role as to how many versions of one work can be afforded.  I buy most of the multiple versions I have of particular works.  Out of my over 100 versions of the Goldberg Variations, maybe 10 of them came my way without purchase.

Have to say that six versions of the Brahms piano concertos is a paltry number given that No. 1 has about 80 recordings and No. 2 over 100.  I have more than six of each, and I don't even consider them among my favorite piano concertos.

Is this all insane?  Don't ask me - I'm still in the asylum.

I have zero versions of Goldberg Variations and Bach is #2 composer for me!

To 71dB:

How many versions do you own of the following Elgar works:

Sym. 1
Sym. 2
Violin Concerto
Cello Concerto
Violin Sonata
Enigma Variations

Sym. 1 => 3
Sym. 2 => 2
Violin Concerto => 3
Cello Concerto => 4
Violin Sonata => 2
Enigma Variations => 6 + 2 for piano

I have many Enigmas and Cello Concertos because those works are included in so many Elgar discs!

[from the new world]

One thing that amazes me is the fact that people have heard so many performances of several works .. yet some people are able to tell about the differences of half-dozen recordings!

It is because there are huge differences between two performances that many of us want to hear so many perspectives. To give an example, I have three Gunter Wand Bruckner 5th's. They are the 1989 NDR, 95 Munich and 96 Berlin recordings. If yoy compare the final peroration (last 2 mins) there are many minor details to pick up on. Firstly, the 89 is faster than the other two versions, allied with not as good sound quality or playing means that the horn figure (bar 588-590) is not particularly distinctive (though in fairness it is not meant to be accentuated) and the horns are much weaker in general than the later two versions. In the Munich version, the horns are clearer. Also note that in the coda to the first movement the low brass figures (ie all but the horns in bars 501-507) are done much better, with the different note lengths actually played. Then there is the Berlin version, where the tuba player is more distinctive. Since there are hundreds of such differences in just three performances by the same conductor, it cannot be a surprise to find that some people want to hear these differences and learn more about the work in process. It also helps that all three performances are fantastic and a pleasure to listen to.

[George]

One thing that amazes me is the fact that people have heard so many performances of several works. I have never heard Brahms piano concertos and yet some people are able to tell about the differences of half-dozen recordings! How do people get hold of so many versions? Do you loan them from library? Do you just buy many versions of certain works? I have 2 or 3 versions of some works (duplications) but I can't even dream about having 6 version on Brahms piano concertos. I struggle financially to buy just one version!

There are at least 50-100 interesting composers with several interesting works. Having just one version of each means hundreds or thousands of CDs. Who the hell (except Harry) can afford 6 versions of any work?  Someone had nearly 100 versions of Mass in B minor! Insane!

I actually make certain sacrifices so that I can afford more than one version of works that I love.

I also borrow from the library, but lately that experience has become too stressful, so I will be cutting down on that way.

[Todd]

Do you just buy many versions of certain works?

As Don pointed out, money plays a part, but I just buy everything I want to listen to.  I recently bought four versions of the Emperor at once, and am working my way through three LvB sonata cycles.  'Cause I want to.  If I really like a work, then I want many versions, sometimes at once.  Insane?  Dunno.  Don't care.

[Maciek]

Don't worry, 71 dB! There are many of us who are in a situation similar to yours. Last year was very good for me in terms of money and I could afford to buy many more CDs than usual but I'm back on diet this year, buying almost only used CDs, and that not very often! The good thing about GMG is that you can ask about performances and then you at least know which recordings to avoid!

George,

I also borrow from the library, but lately that experience has become too stressful, so I will be cutting down on that way.

How so?

[George]

How so?

They list stuff that they don't have.

The copies they do have are often damaged.

The organization system they have is poor.

Stuff put on hold takes weeks, even months to get.

The lines are long to check out and return.

[Maciek]

Well, I'm not sure if that will be any consolation but, FWIW... we don't have music lending libraries in Poland!!! At all.

[Solitary Wanderer]

Yeah, I gave up on hiring cds from librarys a while ago too.

It costs a couple of dollars each time you rent one and its due back in one week!

The copies are usually tatty [and smelly like their old books].

They have a limited selection.

I find Amazon the best for me; Great selection, many sellers so good prices.

[mahlertitan]

1) buy
2) borrow
3) download

[vandermolen]

I have over 20 versions of Walton's First Symphony and a similar no for Vaughan Williams Symphony 6. I think it's known as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder 

[Michel]

I still think and have always thought that getting a really large number of versions of the same piece is a bit mad, and frankly a waste of money -- especially since many of those committed to record aren't really worth it. I see a value and an enjoyment in listening to several, but not to hundreds!

This is especially true for as the original poster pointed out, there is a great deal more music out there that is worth exploring that both money, and time, might better spent on, in my view.

[The Mad Hatter]

Harry: at least your library has classical music. I got through the section in my library in under a month.

[Florestan]

I have never heard Brahms piano concertos

You're kidding, aren't you?

[Sergeant Rock]

How do people get hold of so many versions?....I struggle financially to buy just one version!

Well, in my case I have many versions of many works simply because I've lived long enough. I've been collecting recordings seriously for over forty years. If I remember correctly, you've only been into classical music for a few years so far, right? I can afford to really indulge now because I've arrived at a point where I've got a guaranteed income (my army pension), I'm free of debt, the house is paid off, I have no children to support and a wife who supports herself. I can devote my money to pleasure: music, good wine, travel.

The why is easy to answer too: music is an interpretive art and no work has ever been played exactly the same way twice on a recording, not even by the same conductor or soloist. Those differences between performances make repeated listening to the same piece interesting. I'm not talking about just classical music either. In their thirty year career the Grateful Dead never played a song the same way twice. It explains why I've got dozens of versions of their songs, too, and rabidly collect their concert CDs.

Who the hell (except Harry) can afford 6 versions of any work?

Quite a few of us apparently.

Someone had nearly 100 versions of Mass in B minor! Insane!

No comment 

I'll just say my collection of recordings (around 10,000 LPs, CDs, singles and cassettes) has more width than depth. I think the most versions of any single classical work I have is twelve or so. But I have close to 500 composers represented.

Sarge

[BachQ]

It is because there are huge differences between two performances that many of us want to hear so many perspectives.

With concertos, for example, you have differences in soloist, conductor, orchestra, venue,  recording specs, etc. that combine and interact to produce vastly different interpretations.  If you alter just one of these parameters, an entirely new product is achieved . . . . . . Some works are so complex and so nuanced (like the Goldberg variations, Mass in b Minor, Rach 3, Brahms piano concerti, Mahler symphonies) that each version presents a completely different sound world . . . . . .

I would think that the more straight-forward a work is, the less interpretations you need (I don't feel a great need to acquire numerous recordings of Bolero or the 1812 Overture, par example  ).

[Florestan]

(I don't feel a great need to acquire numerous recordings of Bolero or the 1812 Overture, par example  ).

For the Overture, I would need only the one who plays the cannon shot specified in the score. Any recommendation?

[71 dB]

It seems that people with several versions of the same works are interested of only those few works and can buy 10-100 versions of them. I am interested of basically every work ever composed operettas excluded. I prefer exploring hundreds of obscure composers instead of buying the same few well-known Symphomies and Piano Concertos over and over again.

I have only one version on Walton's 1st Symphony but I have also dedicated discs of such "obscure" composers as:

Tarquinio Merula, William Lawes, Caspar Kittel, Johann Adolf Hasse, Johann Friedrich Fasch, Michel-Richard Delalande, Louis-Nicolas Clérambault, Nikolaus Bruhns, John Blow, Alfonso X, Orazio Benevolo, Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, Antonio Caldara, Giacomo Carissimi, Francesco Onofrio Manfredini, Paolo Lorenzani, Leopold Hofmann, Francesco Geminiani, Georg Muffat, Johannes Schenck, Johann Baptist Vanhal, Francesco Maria Veracini, Sylvius Leopold Weiss, Johann Rosenmüller, Antonio Rosetti, Monsieur de Sainte Colombe, Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev, Barbara Strozzi, Harold Truscott, Philipp Wolfrum, Matthias Weckmann, Michael Haydn, Rued Langgaard, Jacques Paisible, Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, Jean-Nicolas Geoffroy, Joseph-Guy Ropartz, Kôscak Yamada, Michael Praetorius, Pierre de La Rue, Frederic Mompou, Christoph Graupner, and of course Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf.

At the same time I don't have a single disc of the following well-known composers:

Bartók, Bruckner, Ives, Janácek, Liszt, Lutoslawski, Mahler, Messiaen, Paganini, Penderecki, Poulenc, Respighi, Schoenberg, Johann Strauss jr & sr, Telemann, Vaughan Williams, Verdi, Weber & Webern.