Have You Listened to All the Recordings You Have?

[Roasted Swan]

Oh, FYI, once I listen to the Skrowacezwski set I just bought off of Qobuz, my answer will change from no to yes.  I buy music that I have already listened to and liked... except I picked up the Skrowacezwski set for part of it, but at $10, I might as well get the whole thing.

That set is a very good example - along the way, who knows when, I bet you dip into a disc that was not part of the reason you bought that set and will enjoy it for the repertoire or the interpretation.  Unexpected delights are better (for me) than those planned or presumed.

[Karl Henning]

A topic worthy, I think, of discussion.  My Granny would say this is a case of having bigger eyes than a stomach, and often it doesn't present that great a problem, but I have read of alleged classical music fans who might be better described as hoarders.  I'm thinking of one in particular who filled up his house and his two-car garage (!) with CDs, still shrink-wrapped classical CDs! 

I feel better about my modest music library already!

[Karl Henning]

I feel better about my modest music library already!

Incidentally, This week I am catching up at last with this tasty 14-disc box.

[Mister Sharpe]

I feel better about my modest music library already!

These days, to be viewed as hoarding - in part because of the house-clearing movement, in part because of shows like Hoarders - is to be subject to the social stigma of insanity or of actually having committed a crime. 'Collecting' is seen at best as a peculiarity if not an outright aberation. 

[Karl Henning]

These days, to be viewed as hoarding - in part because of the house-clearing movement, in part because of shows like Hoarders - is to be subject to the social stigma of insanity or of actually having committed a crime. 'Collecting' is seen at best as a peculiarity if not an outright aberation. 

We do seem to have hoarding "in the family," so A. I see it as a behavior to resist, and B. I prefer to regard it not as outright Insanity, but as choices which might be improved upon. 😉

[Mister Sharpe]

We do seem to have hoarding "in the family," so A. I see it as a behavior to resist, and B. I prefer to regard it not as outright Insanity, but as choices which might be improved upon. 😉

It's in my genetic makeup too. My (paternal) grandfather had it and so did papa (though theirs - like mine - was more or less limited to 'collecting' specific things). My mother was an actual hoarder, saved everything inc. junk mail, etc. It's an addiction and like other addictions, difficult to treat. I've a neighbor who's a bona fide hoarder, all kinds of (mostly) junk. He should be on TV.  So out of control is he that stuff (boxes, clothing, food, equipment, utensils, etc.) is spilling out of his house onto his porch and steps.  In case of fire, no one could exit out the front door, which is blocked inside and out. He actually broke a window in one room because it was so stuffed with furniture, equipment, and paraphernalia, that when he tried to stuff more in some piece of furniture smashed through a window! He has a derelict car he cannot part with in his driveway covered in mold.  He's been subpoenaed by the town several times but never shows up!  Unsure how this will end... But I do think about it with every new CD I buy. 

[hopefullytrusting]

I mean it does help that the majority of my hoard is invisible (except for movies, my dvds are all physical, but that is only because of the size of their files for downloading - movies are gigantic, in fact, they seem too gigantic, as most videogames, which are more sophisticated than most movies, are way smaller in size, at least when it comes to how much space they take up on my drive - not all videogames, of course, some video games stomp movies until the ground when it comes to storage space - looking at you Uncharted 4, somehow bigger than all 3 Mass Effect Legendary downloads).

[prémont]

Quite so. The fact that a CD has found its way onto our shelf for reasons that only appear to be within our control does not mean it holds any sway over us, or that we are duty-bound to play it. Perhaps its moment has simply not arrived. I often felt that way in those years when I was still buying LPs and later CDs. Sometimes many years, even decades, would pass before the right moment came, when I was finally ready to hear a particular piece of music.

This is sometimes the case, but not always. Some of my CDs wait for a suitable time to be listened to. But the main reason why I have a number of unlistened-to CDs is that I have purchased more than I have had the time to listen to.

[Florestan]

the main reason why I have a number of unlistened-to CDs is that I have purchased more than I have had the time to listen to.

Exactly. What I should do is not get any new (to me) recording until I will have listened to all the ones I already have and never listened to, but this implies an iron will and a self-discipline which I conspicuously lack.

[hopefullytrusting]

I just recall the primary reason that I will never even come close to listening to all my recordings: the grand majority of the music I want to listen to is contemporary (living composers), and most of that is only available to me on YouTube (or the music is so "out there" that it was only made available once in a recording, then never again, and the cost of that is exorbitant, and, before, I had to live without, but - no longer do I have to go hungry, so I eat).

[prémont]

Exactly. What I should do is not get any new (to me) recording until I will have listened to all the ones I already have and never listened to, but this implies an iron will and a self-discipline which I conspicuously lack.

Just look at post 38 in this thread again. The problem is that once you've listened to all the CDs you own, a number of other CDs you wanted to hear - but didn't purchase in the first hand - are out of print and most often unavailable.

[Florestan]

Just look at post 38 in this thread again. The problem is that once you've listened to all the CDs you own, a number of other CDs you wanted to hear - but didn't purchase in the first hand - are out of print and most often unavailable.

That's true, but in order to know that I want a recording I must first be aware of its existence. If I gave up visiting specialized websites I'd be able to restrain myself. That would be feasible. The big problem is GMG --- and it's quite unsolvable.

[prémont]

That's true, but in order to know that I want a recording I must first be aware of its existence. If I gave up visiting specialized websites I'd be able to restrain myself. That would be feasible. The big problem is GMG --- and it's quite unsolvable.

It's true that dedicated GMG members often spot new and to me interesting CDs before I do - and sometimes makes me aware of CDs I would have missed, but the lions share of the CDs I acquire is spotted by myself.

[Florestan]

It's true that dedicated GMG members often spot new and to me interesting CDs before I do - and sometimes makes me aware of CDs I would have missed, but the lions share of the CDs I acquire is spotted by myself.

Yes, same here. I guess the most important step to downgrading would be to cross a few items off my bookmarks.   

[Karl Henning]

The big problem is GMG --- and it's quite unsolvable.

There is that. QED

[prémont]

Yes, same here. I guess the most important step to downgrading would be to cross a few items off my bookmarks.   

So you want to downgrade, that's of course OK.

But I have actually no intention of downgrading.

I save money elsewhere, for instance I don't have a car - not even a drivers licence, because I already as a youngster found out that I don't have the temper for it, and I don't travel much. 

[Florestan]

So you want to downgrade, that's of course OK.

But I have actually no intention of downgrading.

I save money elsewhere, for instance I don't have a car - not even a drivers licence, because I already as a youngster found out that I don't have the temper for it, and I don't travel much. 

It's not necessarily an issue of money but of, I don't know, normalcy? What use is acquiring recordings upon recordings that I'm not even sure when or indeed if I'll ever listen to, while having lots of recordings that I haven't listened to yet and which, given my current listening habits, will take me a few years to go through all of them. So much music, so little time. Concentrating on recordings I already have instead of perpetually acquiring new ones seems to me logical and desirable. YMMV, of course.

[prémont]

It's not necessarily an issue of money but of, I don't know, normalcy?

A dangerous word to use here. A certain GMGer would maybe report you to the moderators for writing so, if the GMGer in question gets offended on my behalf.

If I'm currently very occupied by LvB's piano sonatas it's of no use that I have 25 recordings of the St.Matthew passion having heard only 75 percent of these. Listening to the remaining 25 percent is in this context of no use. But if new and supposedly interesting recordings of the piano sonatas are released of course I acquire these.

On the other hand recordings are regularly released which are "must have"s. Frisch's Bach partitas, Gester's Leipzig chorales e.g.

[Florestan]

A dangerous word to use here. A certain GMGer would maybe report you to the moderators for writing so, if the GMGer in question gets offended on my behalf.

If I'm currently very occupied by LvB's piano sonatas it's of no use that I have 25 recordings of the St.Matthew passion having heard only 75 percent of these. Listening to the remaining 25 percent is in this context of no use. But if new and supposedly interesting recordings of the piano sonatas are released of course I acquire these.

On the other hand recordings are regularly released which are "must have"s. Frisch's Bach partitas, Gester's Leipzig chorales e.g.

You and I obviously see the matter in very different lights, but such differences of opinion belong to normalcy. 

[prémont]

You and I obviously see the matter in very different lights, but such differences of opinion belong to normalcy. 

I think it's about that we have different tastes and "use" music differently. You prefer to listen to much different music, I want to get to know the music I love thoroughly. So we are at opposite ends of a spectrum which is probably entirely normal.