Collections and Sub-Collections

[San Antone]

Man, I need to hook you up with Eric (Pinky). P & M was his absolute thing!   

I know.  There is an odd sub-culture of fans of this work.  But I try to stay far away from that crowd.

[North Star]

I haven't bought many duplicates on purpose, these are the only works I have more than two versions of (two recordings of Dutilleux CC, among others - Slava & Baudo, Queyras & Graf)

Beethoven late sonatas: Pollini (28-32), Peter Serkin (27-32), Crawford (30-32), and FF Guy (in the complete set)
Janáček Sinfonietta: Mackerras (Decca), Mackerras (EMI), Neumann & CzPO
Janáček Violin Sonata: Faust & Kupiec (HM), F-P Zimmermann & Lonquich (EMI), Sillito & Crossley (Decca), Korcia & Pludermacher (RCA)
Varèse: Amériques, Arcana, Deserts: Boulez (DG & Sony), Chailly
Mahler 5th: Rattle & BPO, Tennstedt & LPO (live), Chailly & RCO

[Florestan]

Eric (Pinky). P & M was his absolute thing!   

IIRC, he had yet another absolute thing, namely sniffing pant... but I'd better keep my mouth shut. 

[Gurn Blanston]

IIRC, he had yet another absolute thing, namely sniffing pant... but I'd better keep my mouth shut. 

Yes, I didn't want to put the full range of his 'things' on display, but he was the most rabid P & M fan I've run across.

[Pat B]

I have about 30 Beethoven 9's...

I just took inventory and actually I only had 22 on CD. Today it became 23: I received Tennstedt 1985 via his 4-CD BBC Legends set.

[Old Listener]

I just discovered this thread and the discovery comes at an appropriate time.  The Sandor Vegh / Camerata Academia Salzberg recordings I bought in  the last week almost complete my collection of Vegh's Mozart and Haydn CDs.

For many years, I acquired a recording of works by composers that matter to me.  Then I acquired other recordings of the works that really mattered to me.  First I searched for the perfect performance.  Then I searched for a variety of interesting performances.

In recent years, I've tried to acquire more recordings by musicians whose performances of some works I have loved.  Szell was the first  conductor whose recordings I collected.  I've been through several other conductors since including Walter, Klemper, Monteux and Vegh.  I'm still working on Wand.

I've had the feeling that many classical recordings might disappear from the market in a few years.  Building a collection ensures that I can listen to a variety of recordings even if they are no longer available for purchase.

I have only 16 Beethoven Symphony No. 9 performances.  I have 27 performances of the Mozart Symphony No. 40 and 24 performances of the Haydn Symphony No. 104.

[knight66]

I don't know how I have overlooked this thread, so interesting to read people's obsessions. My sub collections/obsessions are, as those who know me would assume, vocal.

I have almost all possible recordings of Janet Baker and of Gundula Janowitz. Two contrasting singers there. The former obsesses me for her colouring of the words and the way she conveys a piece as would a great actor. She tells me about life through art. But I can't claim the same for Janowitz. She is not bland, though is occasionally guilty of it, but I am fixated on the sound of her voice.

Individually, these two have worked with many other great musicians and their discs pull in large swathes of repertoire.

Apart from those two there are a very few pieces I keep getting more versions of, even though I don't actively look for them any more, apart from:

Missa Solemnis: I have a Szell version that is probably as good as it gets, but I want better sound.I have around 15 versions the new Gardiner being the latest and a disappointment. So that holy grail quest goes on.

The other two pieces I will mention, I have versions of that entirely satisfy me, but a new singer comes along and I flex the debit card. Les Nuits d'ete, about 17 versions and Das Lied von der Erde. Probably about 15 there and open to any tempting well received new performances, the Sarah Connelly being the newest and one that sits towards the top of the pile.

I have many multiple versions of favourite pieces, six of Cosi, eight Fidelios....and so on. The advent of Spotify has substantially reduced my buying, probably by about 75%. It has not just saved me money, but saved me making a lot of mistaken purchases.

I don't only have vocal music: I have most of the standard repertoire pretty much across the board and some of that in duplicate or triplicate. It has been a long and rich journey of about 50 years, so far.

Mike

[Papy Oli]

not much besides a section with 216 versions of the Mahler symphonies/lieder... 

Other than that, the multiples are very seldom in my collection - mostly 2 to 4 symphonies cycles via Conductors boxsets for LvB, Schubert, Sibelius, Bruckner... and to my surprise actually, 5 cycles of Brahms as well...  0:)

I mostly aimed for breadth in the collection over 2012-2013, so not much change in a year, only a few additions ... Main sub collections remain :

- 15 Mahler cycles
- 5 Bruckner cycles
- 6 LvB symphonies cycles
- 5 LvB sonatas cycles (an increasing interest)

and my Amazon basket is made nearly exclusively of more of those as well. Guess my breadth phase is over for now.

and unintentionally, through the various symphony editions, now up to 8 Brahms cycles.... although I still have my first purchase bias for this (Eschenbach Houston).

[Gurn Blanston]

I don't know how I have overlooked this thread, so interesting to read people's obsessions.

Exactly why I started this, and I am so pleased the little nap it took is over with.   Although the nap made time for Papy to provide a little update, for example. And Knight and Old L. to discover it as for the first time.

This all helps me to cope with my own little obsessions so much better. And also to give me new ideas for expanding the ones I have. 



PS: Typed while listening to Cleveland Orchestra / Dohnányi playing Beethoven's 9th - DIsk 24 of 110...  0:)

[Bogey]

PS: Typed while listening to Cleveland Orchestra / Dohnányi playing Beethoven's 9th - DIsk 24 of 110...  0:)

My favorite of all 9ths!

[Gurn Blanston]

My favorite of all 9ths!

I knew that. I was honoring you for signing up to my blog.   0:)

[Moonfish]

Exactly why I started this, and I am so pleased the little nap it took is over with.   Although the nap made time for Papy to provide a little update, for example. And Knight and Old L. to discover it as for the first time.

This all helps me to cope with my own little obsessions so much better. And also to give me new ideas for expanding the ones I have. 



PS: Typed while listening to Cleveland Orchestra / Dohnányi playing Beethoven's 9th - DIsk 24 of 110...  0:)

Good thing that newbies dig through the old GMG threads, eh?   
It is hard to believe that this central theme of collecting music was ignored for more than a year. Interesting posts indeed!
Now we just need a psychologist to read the thread to confirm the cdcdcd diagnosis.      
Regardless, it is fascinating to read your entries in terms of how you shape your collections.

[Gurn Blanston]

Good thing that newbies dig through the old GMG threads, eh?   
It is hard to believe that this central theme of collecting music was ignored for more than a year. Interesting posts indeed!
Now we just need a psychologist to read the thread to confirm the cdcdcd diagnosis.      
Regardless, it is fascinating to read your entries in terms of how you shape your collections.

Yes indeed. After a while, even I had forgotten about it!

We have a shrink here (Springrite), but I'm afraid he has the disease as badly as any of us, so his decisions are suspect.

I take it you mean that generally. I agree with you, people have entirely different ideas, something we can all learn from in order to get worse before we get better.

[Moonfish]

Yes indeed. After a while, even I had forgotten about it!

We have a shrink here (Springrite), but I'm afraid he has the disease as badly as any of us, so his decisions are suspect.

I take it you mean that generally. I agree with you, people have entirely different ideas, something we can all learn from in order to get worse before we get better.

True, we shape them in very different ways. I tend to have these waves of being obsessed with an era, a composer or an artist that then moves over into a different one. It is peculiar. Do we all have that type of tidal "wave" affecting the differential growth of our collections?

[Gurn Blanston]

True, we shape them in very different ways. I tend to have these waves of being obsessed with an era, a composer or an artist that then moves over into a different one. It is peculiar. Do we all have that type of tidal "wave" affecting the differential growth of our collections?

Oh, I would think so. I have several waves in mine. The trick is to be able to run several concurrent waves without going bankrupt. Plus the smaller ripple waves (PI Haydn keyboard trios within PI Haydn generally, for example) which can take you over if you aren't careful. This is thin ice we are treading here, amigo. Disaster looms at every turn!   



PS - and for us especially benighted souls, the corollary books to go with the recordings.

[knight66]

Years ago on our old forum we had a collector, I think he was from the far east, who had many thousands of discs what were never unwrapped. He seemed to be a completist and whatever the focus of his collection was, he had to own all possible versions. Ownership was sufficient, he did not seem to listen to much at all. More akin to collecting say beer bottles and not drinking the beer.

Mike

[Gurn Blanston]

Years ago on our old forum we had a collector, I think he was from the far east, who had many thousands of discs what were never unwrapped. He seemed to be a completist and whatever the focus of his collection was, he had to own all possible versions. Ownership was sufficient, he did not seem to listen to much at all. More akin to collecting say beer bottles and not drinking the beer.

Mike

Yes, the multi-talented Kwoon, IIRC. He did listen to some disks though, I bought a small boxful from him. They were in very good condition! I don't know that I understand that particular variant of The Obsession. The only Haydn disks I have still sealed are ones that I bought as downloads first and then bought the disk later. No point unwrapping those. Is there?

[knight66]

I suppose mere ownership can be fufilling in a way. I look through discs and seeing them brings to mind very vividly elements or moments of the performances. It is different from listening to them obviously, but I know those discs sufficienly to be able to hear bits of them in my inner ear just by seeing the packaging. I don't look through them with this end in mind, I am looking for something that I then play. But it is almost comforting to encounter the well loved performances and know they will be there for another day.

Mike

[Moonfish]

*bump*

Any news about the piles and piles of cds accumulating in your collection..?   

[G. String]

My collection begins with early music (not as many as I want) and ends with romantic style. As far as sub-collections are concerned, my priority is Beethoven. Mainly, I prefer collecting his piano concertos and sonatas, then the rest. I guess I have 132 complete piano concertos and 76 complete piano sonatas as of March of this year. I have many individual albums of them, too but lost track of them way long ago. Then comes his symphonies and violin concerto, then Bach, etc. Next to those, I happen to accumulate a few individual works, such as Allegri's Miserere and Vivaldi's Four Seasons, for no apparent reason because there are so many of them that I don't even unwrap. I don't distinguish between period or modern for the rest of my collection but I try to eliminate (burn/smash/waterboard) below par recordings as if it was an eternal duty for me.