Revisiting your music collection

[DavidW]

Whether you have a physical collection, a flac archive, or just receipts because you only stream you can participate in this.

I was inspired by a tag on booktube... and also from some of the revelations I had looking over old purchases.

1. What is the oldest recording in your collection? i.e. what is your first purchase?
2. What is the newest?
3. What composer or performer do you have the most recordings of that YOU HAVEN'T LISTENED TO!
4. What recording did you buy because it was on a deep sale but regret purchasing?
5. What recording do you most regret buying or were just shocked that you even bought it (why did I buy this??)
6. Is there anything you bought that you completely forgot you owned?

I also challenge you to take at least one of your answers and give it a listen!

I'm running out of time so I'll post my answers later.

[relm1]

1. My first CD which I still have is Richard Strauss Alpine Symphony with Zubin Mehta and the LA Philharmonic.  Fantastic sound considering it was from the 1970's. 
2. Havergal Brian's Faust
3. None, I've listened to them all but maybe some of my pop albums or Philip Glass' Making of the Representative for Planet 8 is one I just don't enjoy so never listen to but his string quartet disc is one of my favorites.
4. None, or I sold ones I don't listen to.
5. I once bought a disc sold by my uber driver of his own music.  I'm pretty sure I don't have it anymore.
6. Yes, I accidently bought the same disc twice forgetting I already owned it if that counts.  I sometimes get suckered in buying a new anniversary edition of a film score which I later realize is inferior to the one I already owned. 

[Florestan]

1. What is the oldest recording in your collection? i.e. what is your first purchase?

On vinyl:

Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No 1 - Richter, Karajan
Schumann - Piano Concerto - Richter, Rowicki
Scarlatti - Sonatas - Ilinca Dumitrescu

(some time about 1985-6, I think)

On CD: I don't remember.

As download: I don't remember.

2. What is the newest?

3. What composer or performer do you have the most recordings of that YOU HAVEN'T LISTENED TO!

Mozart.

4. What recording did you buy because it was on a deep sale but regret purchasing?

Never happened to me.

5. What recording do you most regret buying or were just shocked that you even bought it (why did I buy this??)

I don't have any such regret or shock.

6. Is there anything you bought that you completely forgot you owned?

No.

[Jo498]

1. What is the oldest recording in your collection? i.e. what is your first purchase?

Beethoven, piano concerti 3+4 Ashkenazy/Solti (Decca), bought Nov or Dec 1988.
(I had bought a handful of cassette tapes before that and my father had a few dozen classical LPs I listened to but as it was clear that we would get a CD player soon, I didn't buy much before CDs.)
I also have physically older CDs that I later bought used but I am not sure which one is the oldest

2. What is the newest?

Last week I got a bunch of used discs: Haydn op.55 Meta4, op.33,1/4/6/op.42 Parkanyi Q, Bartok Qts & Schubert d minor Alban Berg Quartet, Bach French Suites Koroliov

3. What composer or performer do you have the most recordings of that YOU HAVEN'T LISTENED TO!

No idea, probably Bach (partial cantatas boxes) or Beethoven. I have several symphony cycles I only dipped into and probably never listened to completely. I also have  operas by Mozart, Handel and others I only listened to the first disc or so.

4. What recording did you buy because it was on a deep sale but regret purchasing?
I slightly regret the big pink Rubinstein box although the sale was irresistible (IIRC 120 EUR or so instead of 200 or more). But it's actually very nice, also in "production value". But I had most of the 20 discs most important to me before that and rarely listen to it nowadays.

5. What recording do you most regret buying or were just shocked that you even bought it (why did I buy this??)
Nothing I remember.

6. Is there anything you bought that you completely forgot you owned?
It happened but rarely that I just in time checked if I had something before I ordered it (again). I bought one recording twice accidentally but to my defense it was an earlier issue on a different label and the reissue I already had was a double disc, so hadn't realized these were the same recordings but I should have known/checked (2 Beethoven quartets with the Artemis).

[DavidW]

1. What is the oldest recording in your collection? i.e. what is your first purchase?

The best of Bach and Beethoven's 1st and 2nd on tape.  On cd I have no idea.  For downloads it was one of the Suzuki Bach cantatas volume that I bought on eclassical.

2. What is the newest?

Previn Rach 2.  If I posted this thread slightly later in the month it would be the Pettersson edition.

3. What composer or performer do you have the most recordings of that YOU HAVEN'T LISTENED TO!

Bach.  At first I thought it was Mozart due to picking up the Mozart edition last year, but then I remembered that I listened to it twice over when I owned it in the past.  But with Bach I'm frequently picking up box sets (cantatas and organ music), and even though I listen to him a lot, I can't keep up!

4. What recording did you buy because it was on a deep sale but regret purchasing?

I have an album of some esoteric Havergal Brian symphonies (i.e. not the Gothic) and I do wonder what I was thinking.  It was an odd impulse buy since I'm not a fan of that composer.

5. What recording do you most regret buying or were just shocked that you even bought it (why did I buy this??)

There is a 9/11 work and I don't remember if it was Adams or Reich where some dull music is overlayed with reading out loud I think the names of those lost but it could have been something else.  It was pretentious, uninteresting and written more cynically than out of any true emotional investment.

6. Is there anything you bought that you completely forgot you owned?

Sadly too many, but I will go with... Szymanowski.  And that is because it is a real whopper of a lost memory.  I had his orchestral music, chamber music, a vocal work... I was really into him at some point 10-15 years ago and I didn't even remember that.  Shockingly poor memory!!

[Todd]

1. What is the oldest recording in your collection? i.e. what is your first purchase?

I purchased a blob of discs to start.  I know Neville Marriner's version of Haydn's Paris Symphonies was in the mix, but I can't remember everything in the purchase.

2. What is the newest?

Monteverdi's complete Madrigals led by Rinaldo Alessandrini and Florian Uhlig's Schumann.

3. What composer or performer do you have the most recordings of that YOU HAVEN'T LISTENED TO!

Monteverdi's complete Madrigals led by Rinaldo Alessandrini and Florian Uhlig's Schumann

4. What recording did you buy because it was on a deep sale but regret purchasing?

The closest is a next to free Xenakis download that almost sent me into a deep, deep depression because it was so awful, but at the same time, it helped set a new benchmark for awfulness against which I can compare all future purchases.

5. What recording do you most regret buying or were just shocked that you even bought it (why did I buy this??)

None

6. Is there anything you bought that you completely forgot you owned?

Um, yes, more and more each year.  Just yesterday, I listened to MTT's SFS Debussy recording which I had forgotten I purchased.  I confess to this being a delightful development.

[Maestro267]

1. What is the oldest recording in your collection? i.e. what is your first purchase?

Beethoven complete symphonies, Philadelphia/Muti

2. What is the newest?

Richard Strauss wind music, Netherlands Wind Ensemble/de Waart

3. What composer or performer do you have the most recordings of that YOU HAVEN'T LISTENED TO!

Ummm...maybe Mozart or Haydn. I've got the London Symphonies but I've only listened to 2 or 3 of them maybe.

4. What recording did you buy because it was on a deep sale but regret purchasing?

None.

5. What recording do you most regret buying or were just shocked that you even bought it (why did I buy this??)

None.

6. Is there anything you bought that you completely forgot you owned?

No.

[71 dB]

Whether you have a physical collection, a flac archive, or just receipts because you only stream you can participate in this.

I was inspired by a tag on booktube... and also from some of the revelations I had looking over old purchases.

1. What is the oldest recording in your collection? i.e. what is your first purchase?
2. What is the newest?
3. What composer or performer do you have the most recordings of that YOU HAVEN'T LISTENED TO!
4. What recording did you buy because it was on a deep sale but regret purchasing?
5. What recording do you most regret buying or were just shocked that you even bought it (why did I buy this??)
6. Is there anything you bought that you completely forgot you owned?

I also challenge you to take at least one of your answers and give it a listen!

I'm running out of time so I'll post my answers later.

1. A very cheap "The Greatest Classical Hits" CD of Mussorgsky's orchestral music played by Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Ivan Marinov. This was mid 90's, a couple of years before I got into classical music more seriously. I understood and knew almost nothing about classical music. I was interested of having at least one CD of classical music and tip my toes to such music.

2. Haydn - Sturm und Drang Symphonies Nos. 44, 45 and 49. Kölner Kammerorchester/Helmut Müller-Brühl/Naxos 8.551072. Price 7.31 € delivered. Used CD, good condition.

3. I don't think I have any classical music I haven't listened to. This is not surprising since I don't buy much classical music these days.

4. Christian Geist - Spirit of Geist - Royal Concertos. Capella Rediviva/Boo Peter Tillberg. Daphne 1020. The recorded sound is bad, amateurish. Otherwise fine.

5. A damn Rossini CD on Naxos. I have dumped that to my sister because she asked me to donate her CDs I want to get rid of.

6. I have dozens of CDs I don't remember owning. Revisiting my collection gives a lot of surprises! That's one reason I don't buy much classical music anymore. Revisiting my collection is exciting and free!

[Spotted Horses]

When I got my first CD player selection of CDs was thin. I think my first batch of (very expensive CDs) include Karajan's Alpine, Yo-Yo Ma's Bach Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, Maazel's Symphonic Domestica with the WPO.

[DaveF]

First purchase - my first CD was Dowland's First Booke of Songes from the Consort of Musicke - I still have this as part of the Complete Works box, although have long parted with the original single disc.

Most recent purchase - Rubbra Viola and Violin Concertos - Little/Golani/Handley (2 days ago).

Most unheard recordings - probably Mozart, thanks to Complete Editions.

Cheap but regretted - possibly EMI's Verdi Great Operas - just don't know when I'll have time or inclination to listen to it.

Why did I buy this?? - Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock - really can't make any sense of these at all.

Bought but forgotten - No idea when or where I acquired Johannes Tinctoris - Secret Consolations performed by Le Miroir de Musique, but it definitely deserves a spin.

[(poco) Sforzando]

1. What is the oldest recording in your collection? i.e. what is your first purchase? First thing I ever bought was an LP of Solti doing Mendelssohn 4/Schubert 5, and shortly after that an LP of Karajan doing Wagner preludes. First CD I think was Solti's Mahler 8.
2. What is the newest? Since it just came today, the Maskuniitty/Oramo CD with the Schumann 4 horns thingie.
3. What composer or performer do you have the most recordings of that YOU HAVEN'T LISTENED TO! Possibly Schnittke, since I have about a dozen but can't stand listening to any of it.
4. What recording did you buy because it was on a deep sale but regret purchasing? no answer
5. What recording do you most regret buying or were just shocked that you even bought it (why did I buy this??) Probably anything by Dittersdorf, with anything by Havergal Brian a close second.
6. Is there anything you bought that you completely forgot you owned? No, because I just finished putting together an inventory of all my CDs.

[Karl Henning]

Fun thread!

1. What is the oldest recording in your collection? i.e. what is your first purchase?

Couldn't say with complete accuracy, but quite possibly the first Naxos release of Sibelius' Kullervo

2. What is the newest?

Digital downloads of the Fritz Reiner and Sony Pierre Boulez boxes at supraphonline.com

3. What composer or performer do you have the most recordings of that YOU HAVEN'T LISTENED TO!

Gonna go with Haydn, since I "inherited" the Brilliant box, but haven't finished making my way through it.

4. What recording did you buy because it was on a deep sale but regret purchasing?

A super-budget box of Bach which just wasn't worth it. Saw it on the shelf at Newbury Comics, I think.

5. What recording do you most regret buying or were just shocked that you even bought it (why did I buy this??)

The most nearly apt reply I can think of is ... the cpo box of the complete Milhaud symphonies. For me it was a profound disappointment.

6. Is there anything you bought that you completely forgot you owned?

I'm sure there are, still, but the recent incident which had me chuckling was: a friend posted that he was listening to Herreweghe's recording of Stravinsky's Threni, and I sought out a discounted copy at BRO, and only then did I think to check my Amazon purchsase history, and of course I already owned it.

[Maestro267]

I want to add a 7th question to the survey, for a more positive spin on things:

7. Are there any recordings/composers/works you went in blind on but now have become firm favourites?

[71 dB]

I want to add a 7th question to the survey, for a more positive spin on things:

7. Are there any recordings/composers/works you went in blind on but now have become firm favourites?

I think Alessandro Scarlatti fits that bill. I bought the Naxos CD "A ROMAN CHRISTMAS" of Italian baroque concertos and cantatas by Stradella, A. Marcello, A. Scarlatti, Albinoni and Corelli. This was some 25 years ago. I may have heard Domenico Scarlatti's music, but not Alessandro Scarlatti who in my opinion is (was?) a very overlooked composer.

[71 dB]

Fun thread!
Couldn't say with complete accuracy, but quite possibly the first Naxos release of Sibelius' Kullervo

A bit surprising to me Karl. I would have guessed you bought your first classical music very young before Naxos even existed, perhaps not even CDs! Sibelius is also surprising for me.

[Florestan]

7. Are there any recordings/composers/works you went in blind on but now have become firm favourites?

When I first got into "classical" music, ALL composers were new to me and for two decades afterwards my musical horizon was limited mostly to the big names of the Baroque, Classicism and Romanticism. Then I stumbled upon GMG and everything changed at fast pace. In a few years I expanded my musical interests to unprecedented breadth and depth and discovered tons of wonderful music --- but I can't really say it was blind shots, because precisely thanks to GMG I knew beforehand that I might like it.

[Karl Henning]

A bit surprising to me Karl. I would have guessed you bought your first classical music very young before Naxos even existed, perhaps not even CDs! Sibelius is also surprising for me.

You're absolutely right, but between various relocations and selling vinyl or CDs over the years, I no longer own any of "my original library," so my replies reflect my library as it presently exists. The first CD I bought was actually the Rykodisc Frank Zappa issue with both Lumpy Gravy and We're Only In It For the Money.

[springrite]

1. What is the oldest recording in your collection? i.e. what is your first purchase?
---Gershwin: An American in Paris for 2 pianos (Lebeque Sisters)

2. What is the newest?
---Reznicek: Der Sieger

3. What composer or performer do you have the most recordings of that YOU HAVEN'T LISTENED TO!
---Well, the Rubenstein Magabox. Of the 142 CDs, I have listened to 2.

4. What recording did you buy because it was on a deep sale but regret purchasing?
---Gunter Raphael (5 CDs)

5. What recording do you most regret buying or were just shocked that you even bought it (why did I buy this??)
---None (other than the Raphael above)

6. Is there anything you bought that you completely forgot you owned?
---None. (But there are ones that I do not own or, more than likely, borrowed by others but never returned, that I thought I have!)

[Irons]

The first classical LP I purchased was Barenboim conducting NYP in Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony on CBS.
For CD Haitink's Decca recording of Shostakovich 5th.

[DavidW]

I want to add a 7th question to the survey, for a more positive spin on things:

7. Are there any recordings/composers/works you went in blind on but now have become firm favourites?

Gorecki!  I bought the cd of the famous Upshaw/Zinman third because I was browsing a music store and I liked the cover and hadn't read any forum posts about that composer before that point.