Have You Listened to All the Recordings You Have?

[brewski]

I once bought the same CD (Fiorentino playing Bach English Suites) 4 times. So I decided to give the extras away to friends. I accidentally gave ALL FOUR away...

    

And my reply to the original query: no, maybe 80%?

[Mister Sharpe]

I am proud (or am I embarrassed?) to avow that I have listened to all my CDs and LPs at least once, excepting recently purchased ones within the last month or two (only a dozen or so).  That's slightly over 6,000 CDs and approx. 700 LPs. The "at least once" makes me chuckle, as I suspect the percentage of my re-listens is regrettably small; perhaps on the order of 15-20%.  Some "notable accomplishments" include the two Richter box sets, the Wagner Great Recordings JBS has yet to surmount along with the famous "Potted Wagner," and several sets of the Beethoven Piano Sonatas. Sadly, though I covet them, I haven't many label-, performer-, or orchestra-specific box sets. And of course, "listening" is subject to definition; I was fortunate in my worklife in being able to play many of my CDs whilst on the job, but that could not be described by any means as "active listening."

[Daverz]

There's no entry for "Hell, no, not even if I had another 100 years."

At least I have very few items still in the shrink wrap.

[hopefullytrusting]

No, in fact I have purchased recordings multiple times that I forgot I already had (luckily, I know lots of people who I can gift them to).

I've also resigned myself to the fate that I likely will never listen to it all (example - I own all of Haydn's symphonies - there is no way I will make it through all of them - I've only done the first 10, and, pretty much, all 10 put me to sleep, lol).

[Jo498]

Parsimonious by genetics and nurtured on Uncle Scrooge McDuck comic book adventures during childhood 70+ years ago, I do not buy anything, which I have not tested first! 

Nurtured on Wagner I follow the Fafnerian maxim "Ich lieg' und besitz'"

(kidding, even I read Duck comics before I listened to any Wagner, except maybe some famous choruses from the Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser pilgrims or Lohengrin bridesmaids)

[AnotherSpin]

The more we possess, the more we are possessed. Yet there is consolation. As Osho observed: 'To be free from a thing, one must first have it. Only then can one truly be free from it.'

[Jo498]

No.
I recall that in the old usenet rec.music.classical recordings someone admitted in the late 90s or early 2000s that he had had an LP shrinkwrapped on the shelves for over 20 years, but next weekend he would surely get it out and listen to it...

I am pretty sure that when I read this 25 or more years ago and laughed increduously I had listened to all or almost all of my recordings as large boxes were still quite rare, so even a typical box or "haul" or single discs would be 5-10 discs that could be listened to within a week or even a weekend.

But ca. 2003-13 I bought too many CDs to keep up, although this was mostly before the age of the really big and cheap boxes and I don't even have so many of the latter. It was also a time before any streaming so I sometimes bought stuff like one might buy a complete works of Goethe to have them on the shelves for later reference.

Hoever, I think in the last 10 years I listened to almost all new acquisitions as I bought hardly any boxes and fewer discs, so I usually can listen through them fairly quickly. But I have not and might never listen to all the stuff I have.

[Jo498]

The more we possess, the more we are possessed. Yet there is consolation. As Osho observed: 'To be free from a thing, one must first have it. Only then can one truly be free from it.'

As Aristippos of Kyrene remarked: Echo, ouk echomai. I have but I am not possessed.

[71 dB]

I have listened to X % of my recordings more than once.
I have listened to almost (100-X) % of my recordings only once.
I have I think 4 CDs I haven't listened to at all.

What is X? Difficult to say, but maybe about 70?

[Cato]

Nurtured on Wagner I follow the Fafnerian maxim "Ich lieg' und besitz'"

(kidding, even I read Duck comics before I listened to any Wagner, except maybe some famous choruses from the Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser pilgrims or Lohengrin bridesmaids)

In my German classes, I sometimes used the translations by Professorin Erika Fuchs of the Donald Duck/Uncle Scrooge stories and then had my students look at the original American versions by Carl Barks, and how the good professor had elevated the original English of Barks or handled something culturally untranslatable (e.g. a baseball reference).

Anyway, I was recalling one of my earliest purchases, a Nonesuch record of Mozart's Concerto for Two Pianos and Concerto for Three Pianos, which I listened to fairly often for a while!

The Lamoureux Orchestra, Dmitri Chorofas, Soloists: Pierre Sancan, Jean Bernard Pommier, and Catherine Silie

[Papy Oli]

Non!

 


(but yes, about 75% maybe )

[Karl Henning]

"Yes, except for" --- that is, No. 

But, A: with your knowledge of all our fellows, what had you expected?
And B: therefore, won't the "aberrant" side-discussions be part of the interest in the thread?

[(poco) Sforzando]

To the original question:
No! and I wouldn't dream of such a thing.

[DavidW]

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.

[Wanderer]

Yes, I have, from the very beginning - and continue to do so. There are a lot, but I also listen to music a lot. New purchases do not go in their permanent places without being played at least three to five times. Nowadays with streaming, I also listen to them before buying them, so I'm way ahead of the curve. 😎

[lordlance]

Are you a real music lover if you don't have tons of unlistened music CDs/files? 

[Wanderer]

Are you a real music lover if you don't have tons of unlistened music CDs/files? 

Well, having tons of unlistened music CDs doesn't make you a music lover. Listening to them does. 🙃

[Mister Sharpe]

Well, having tons of unlistened music CDs doesn't make you a music lover. Listening to them does. 🙃

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! 

[prémont]

I live by the mantra:

Purchase when you have the chance.
Listen when you have the time.

[AnotherSpin]

I live by the mantra:

Purchase when you have the chance.
Listen when you have the time.

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.