Downsizing to the Essentials

[Florestan]

I had a very interesting exchange with the new erato in another thread. This is what he wrote:

A far more interesting question is "what collection of classical music (I disregard other genres here) would you be happy with?".

For me; if I had a couple of Ockeghem masses, a couple of Handel operas, a small collection of Bach cantatas, 2 opuses of Haydn quartets, a couple of Mozart piano concertos, the late Beethoven quartets, some Brahms chamber music, some Schubertl lieder, a couple of Shostakovich concertos, one symphony each by Nielsen, Sibelius and Pettersson, a couple of discs each with select works of Debussy and Ravel, I think I would have a varied collection that would satisfy me.

Everything else would be strictly superfluous. Perhaps less interesting, but I could live happily without the rest of it. The money and time saved could buy me quite a lot of happiness in other areas of life,

I think the idea is interesting and worthy of its own thread. It might be a stimulating discussion even.

Have you ever considered downsizing your library only to the stuff you consider essential (from your on point of view, of course) and get rid of, or at least never or very rarely listen to, anything else? Do you agree in principle with the concept? If yes, what would that stuff be? If no, why?

[Mirror Image]

I had a very interesting exchange with the new erato in another thread. This is what he wrote:

I think the idea is interesting and worthy of its own thread. It might be a stimulating discussion even.

Have you ever considered downsizing your library only to the stuff you consider essential (from your on point of view, of course) and get rid of, or at least never or very rarely listen to, anything else? Do you agree in principle with the concept? If yes, what would that stuff be? If no, why?

I've thought about it, but then always back out at the last minute. I could definitely do some culling, though, but I'm just not sure what at the moment.

[Brahmsian]

I feel like at some point I would to get down to a collection of < 200 discs, but not sure exactly how I would get there. I have so much music that I no longer listen to and really only listen to about 5% of my collection on a recurring basis.

The thing that keeps me from culling too much of my collection is the fact that things change over time (as they have) and likely may change again in the future.

[Jo498]

If I was guaranteed on average 5 EUR/disc (which is about 5 times as much as realistic nowadays) without any work (like taking pictures and offering on Ebay or so) I might consider getting rid of a thousand discs because I have certainly more than I need. Both in duplication of repertoire and in discs I bought for a passing interest, for completeness or for having something like Ockeghem masses despite never listening to them (until now). This all was before youtube and streaming, so quite a bit is like having a copy of an encyclopedia of complete works of Shakespear or Goethe on the shelves, just in case you want to look up something.

But in the big picture, 1000 less would still be a large collection of several thousand discs with the necessary shelf space. Heck, even going down to what I'd find essential I'd have to keep around 1000 discs which is more than I had 20 years ago after 14 years of collecting.
As it is with used CDs being a hard sell even at giveaway prices, I only cull a little to stay within the space confines I have.

[Mirror Image]

I feel like at some point I would to get down to a collection of < 200 discs, but not sure exactly how I would get there. I have so much music that I no longer listen to and really only listen to about 5% of my collection on a recurring basis.

The thing that keeps me from culling too much of my collection is the fact that things change over time (as they have) and likely may change again in the future.

The problem with this is that even with music I haven't listened to in quite some time, I might at some point circle back around to it and want to listen to it. This is one of the main advantages of having a large collection.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Absolutely I have thought about this, and should. For one thing, I am running out of shelf space, and for another, every time someone like our friend Hurwitz goes into one of his "However!" moments, the first thing I do is check YouTube to see if I can't download the "However!" (Often I can.) I think I have about 2500 CDs now, and I suspect I would be perfectly content with about 1000 or so. Do I really need a dozen versions of the Eroica? Do I really need my two CDs of Arnold Bax? A question not to be answered.

[Brahmsian]

The problem with this is that even with music I haven't listened to in quite some time, I might at some point circle back around to it and want to listen to it. This is one of the main advantages of having a large collection.

Oh absolutely!

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

I'm pretty good at downsizing. Over the years I've gotten rid of hundreds of CDs, and I've only missed about 5 of them. However, this is an important point:

The problem with this is that even with music I haven't listened to in quite some time, I might at some point circle back around to it and want to listen to it. This is one of the main advantages of having a large collection.

It's fun to put on a disc I haven't listened to in 15 years. It's like hearing it for the first time, but with the advantage of already having the road map in my mind, i.e. knowing the basic things about it.

It also has the aspect of a nostalgia trip, plus I get to see if my attitude to the music has changed in the meantime.

[Spotted Horses]

There was a temptation to downsize when I had shelves groaning with CDs, boxes of CDs in the basement. Sometimes I regretted getting rid of something. Now I have a hard drive with between 2 and 3 TB of FLAC files (mostly rips from CDs, recently I have been adding lossless downloads). Of course I have multiple backups. Maybe I have some files I'll never get around to listening to again. So what? Hard disc space is cheap.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Now I have a hard drive with between 2 and 3 TB of FLAC files (mostly rips from CDs, recently I have been adding lossless downloads). If course I have multiple backups. Maybe I have some files I'll never get around to listening to again. So what? Hard disc space is cheap.

Did you get rid of all your CDs?

[Jo498]

I'm pretty good at downsizing. Over the years I've gotten rid of hundreds of CDs, and I've only missed about 5 of them. However, this is an important point:

I also got rid of a few hundred CDs over the years, however the majority of them were recordings I replaced via boxes, different couplings or new remasterings.

I also bought a few CDs twice... and might get rid of them another time. My strategy now is to buy far less than in earlier times but sometimes the temptation is irresistible...

[Mirror Image]

I'm pretty good at downsizing. Over the years I've gotten rid of hundreds of CDs, and I've only missed about 5 of them. However, this is an important point:

It's fun to put on a disc I haven't listened to in 15 years. It's like hearing it for the first time, but with the advantage of already having the road map in my mind, i.e. knowing the basic things about it.

It also has the aspect of a nostalgia trip, plus I get to see if my attitude to the music has changed in the meantime.

Yes, it is quite amusing how tastes change and develop. Sometimes I can't even keep track of what I like liked vs. disliked.

[Spotted Horses]

Did you get rid of all your CDs?

I have gotten rid of the majority of them. I still have various deluxe box sets that have booklets which are too hard to scan, or to pretty to throw away. The others that I retain hard copy of have been removed from their jewel cases and stored just with the booklets as ultimate backup, but I've largely gotten rid of those. Keeping them became untenable when I had to relocate several times. I think I have thrown at least 2,000 classical CDs into dumpsters over the years.

[Mirror Image]

I think I have thrown at least 2,000 classical CDs into dumpsters over the years.

I don't think I've ever willingly thrown a CD away unless, of course, it was defective.

[71 dB]

The irony of life is you have to live to learn how you should have lived, but maybe life would become pointless if we knew how to do the correct choices? So, we need to buy 1000 CDs to know which 100 would have been enough.

I am really bad at getting rid of stuff, because the stuff I own, no matter how useless, feels part of me. I need to convince myself to throw away stuff I know I will never need again need in my life. I have thought about downsizing my music collection, but I don't know how I can do such a thing. For example I have 5 CDs of Weiss' lute music on Naxos. I almost never listen to those CDs. Whenever I do, I am surprised how little I care about the music. I much rather listen to J. S. Bach's works transcribed to guitar than this "king of lute". I could get rid of them and keeping just one disc would definitely be enough!

The cold fact is I would have enough superb classical music for the rest of my life getting rid of everything else than my Elgar and J. S. Bach collections, but it has been necessary to listen to tons of composers and works to know these two composers are my absolute favourites.

I think I have thrown at least 2,000 classical CDs into dumpsters over the years.

Wouldn't it be more ecological and sensible to donate the CDs to libraries for free?

[The new erato]

Correct. In order to find the minimum you can live with, you need to listen to and discard tons of stuff. Ironucal.

[Jo498]

But one does not have to confine oneself to the minimum, one can just keep the stuff
At least if it had not gone totally out of hand and one remains, as most classical listeners, able to afford enough living space for a few thousand CDs or records or books or whatever.

[amw]

It's never been necessary for me to downsize, since I rarely buy CDs or physical media at all. As such I've never given much thought to the "essentials"; even the music I put on my phone for mobile listening (which means almost no really quiet music, and no duplications) comes to approximately 2900 hours. I end up taking the view that either all of it is essential, even the Wagner Ring Cycle I listened to once in ~2015 and never again, or none of it is, and technically I could just live with the silence, it just wouldn't be as fun.

[Spotted Horses]

Wouldn't it be more ecological and sensible to donate the CDs to libraries for free?

So they could throw them in the garbage for me?

[aukhawk]

Wouldn't it be more ecological and sensible to donate the CDs to libraries for free?

Once CDs have been ripped, there are only two ethical alternatives - keep them, or destroy them.  Donating them is just piracy - and to make matters worse you involve the recipient too.