# Are You Actively Exanding Your Classical Music Collection?



## brotagonist

We all buy a new album (or acquire music in another format) _now and again_, but...

*Are you presently actively expanding your collection? That is, do you have a mental or physical list of things you still want to get?*

Or...

*Has your collecting slowed down to a trickle, because you have already gotten pretty much all you want?*

I looked at my last 20 purchases and noticed that:

5 of them were albums I used to own and wanted to have again (I didn't necessarily choose the same performance)

5 of them were albums by composers I had some of in my collection

6 of them were albums by composers I had little of in my collection

4 of them were albums by composers I had nothing of in my collection


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## JACE

brotagonist said:


> *Are you presently actively expanding your collection? That is, do you have a mental or physical list of things you still want to get?*


Yes, I keep a running list of interesting music. Usually there's about twenty items or so on the list, typically a mix of classical and jazz. I'm continually adding recordings and deleting recordings from the list, so it's always evolving. And sometimes I'll buy stuff on the spur of the moment (for example, when I go to "brick and mortar" stores or when I find an unmissable deal online).

Usually there's a couple music-related books on my list too.

I try to stick to a music-related budget each month. But sometimes (er, often) that gets s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d a bit. 



brotagonist said:


> *Has your collecting slowed down to a trickle, because you have already gotten pretty much all you want?*


Is that even possible?!?!? 

Seriously, the never-ending-ness of finding new music -- or even discovering new interpretations of music that I already know -- is part of the attraction for me.


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## hpowders

I pretty much have all I want, but I'm still an active buyer. I've always been a sucker for finding the perfect performance of something that I will never tire of listening. Still looking. Still buying. A normal person would have been content 1500 CD's ago.


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## bigshot

This week I got the 80 CD Sony Bernstein set and the 50 CD Brilliant Classics Tchaikovsky box... so let me think about it a sec... hmmm... no. no I don't think my collecting has slowed down.


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## senza sordino

Over the past 18 months I've bought over 50 CDs and expanded my collection from about 250 to over 300 CDs. Not nearly as many people here. I have a wish list on amazon.ca and Amazon.com of at least 30 but I haven't bought anything now in four weeks. I just want to savour the CDs I do own for now. I'll buy some more, but I've stopped buying right now.


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## brotagonist

I probably should have one, but I don't have a music budget  I buy the items on my Amazon wish list nearly as fast as I can add them, so there usually isn't much there, except things I'm not quite committed to yet. While I did order 35 albums so far in 2014, my buying has slowed down considerably, since I had a huge 2-year spree in 2012-2013  I, too, am wanting to savour (ie., listen to deeply) what I currently own.

I can't think of anything that I feel is a must-have that I don't already have. I rather like that  Nevertheless, I always manage to surprise myself  And there are the occasional unexpected finds at local 'brick-and-mortar' shops, too. They are often things I wouldn't think to order, so they add variety to my focussed buying campaigns.


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## Headphone Hermit

I'm currently in the process of pruning my collection after reorganising the catalogue - mainly duplicates. I identified just over 100 CDs that I will take up to the second-hand shop in Carlise and swap for a similar number of 'new' second-hand recordings

Even with over 2500 CDs there are still a lot of things that I want to pop onto the shelves that I do not have


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## elgar's ghost

I maintain a lengthy list on Amazon of wants - some of them seem to end up there for years, but it's handy as a reference. There is, however, a Sisyphian element to this system as once I buy three or four discs from it I usually find another three or four to take their place. 

Most of my purchases tend to be gap-plugging of composers who are familiar to me - I really should start investigating new faces instead while I've still got some storage space left!


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## ptr

I still buy a lot of CD's, 10-15 a week depending what new releases there are (I also buy a lot of second hand vinyl), adding to this I have a list of maybe 100CD that I regret never buying in the early day's of CD and that I try to tick of buying second hand.
My longest to-look-for-list is of music that I've never seen on disc, at the moment there's about 500ish works on it.

/ptr


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## Nereffid

Most of my purchases are new releases, and _those_ are certainly showing no sign of slowing down. Mostly that's music I don't know.
There are also still a few gaps in my collection in terms of the mainstream repertoire that I occasionally try to fill.


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## JACE

elgars ghost said:


> I maintain a lengthy list on Amazon of wants - some of them seem to end up there for years, but it's handy as a reference. *There is, however, a Sisyphian element to this system as once I buy three or four discs from it I usually find another three or four to take their place.*


So true!!! 

But I think that's part of the ALLURE of music. There's _always_ something new to discover around the corner...


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## Art Rock

Still filling gaps in an already too large collection. Currently listening to the first two symphonies of Dutch late romantic Zweers for the first time - I have had his third in my collection since the mid 90s.


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## starthrower

Can you buy a house stretcher on Amazon? That's the only way I can keep expanding my library.


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## Jeff W

I try, but alas, my music budget seems to keep shrinking every month...


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## Chordalrock

I've bought ~60 CDs of Renaissance vocal music in the past year or so since I started exploring the genre/period, ~40 of them single CD albums. Baroque, Classical, and Romantic period stuff I can pretty much get from the library - been expanding my collection of Baroque music lately. I also neglected Berlioz for a long time, now remedied. Been collecting modernist and contemporary music a bit. I need to collect contemporary music a bit more and then I think I'm done collecting. The new frontiers must be found in the inner spaces of my taste, as I can't justify expanding my collection when so relatively little currently pleases me deeply.


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## realdealblues

I'm mainly buying the big conductor or performer box sets so I'm actually half replacing/half adding.

I had several Bernstein, Wand, Fricsay, Karajan, Rubinstein, Perahia, Toscanini, etc. CD's. They came out with large box sets that included what I had but added much more. More often than not, I have been able to sell the single CD's or small collections I had to pay for the large box sets. So, I've been trading up mostly.

I do occasionally buy a new artist I've never heard of for the Saturday Symphony and occasionally I fill in gaps in my collection as well. If they keep releasing these complete recordings box sets though I can see my buying slow down. There's still a few conductors and performers I'm hoping will get box sets but I would say I have most of the recordings I really want and at over 20,000 CD's I have more than I will probably ever be able to listen to in my lifetime.


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## Centropolis

I started listening and buying classical music about 15 months ago. I started off buying at a crazy pace, then I've slowed down in the past few months. I think I now own at least one performance of all of the pieces of music that are main repertoire for the "middle periods", or very close it to. I've bought quite a few boxsets so my number of CDs is pretty high for someone who started buying a bit more than a year ago. I also own more than one performance of some more popular pieces.

I don't own a lot of Baroque or early music though. I think going forward, my buying will be more into the more modern classical music.


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## bigshot

Centropolis said:


> I started listening and buying classical music about 15 months ago. I started off buying at a crazy pace, then I've slowed down in the past few months. I think I now own at least one performance of all of the pieces of music that are main repertoire for the "middle periods", or very close it to.


Franck's Symphony? (If not Stokowski or Giulini)


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## Centropolis

bigshot said:


> Franck's Symphony? (If not Stokowski or Giulini)


I have the Karajan version of Franck's symphony. I think I bought it for $3 or $5 at a used CD shop.

I don't have much 1940-2000. Cage, Carter, Boulez, Ligeti, Schnittke etc.


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## hpowders

For Franck: Monteux, Munch and Cantelli.


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## Figleaf

starthrower said:


> Can you buy a house stretcher on Amazon? That's the only way I can keep expanding my library.


My parents just converted their garage and all I can think of is where I would put the gramophones and what sort of record shelves would look good. I wasn't planning to move back 'home' at my age, but a really good music music room could change my mind!


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## hpowders

Figleaf said:


> My parents just converted their garage and all I can think of is where I would put the gramophones and what sort of record shelves would look good. I wasn't planning to move back 'home' at my age, but a really good music music room could change my mind!


From what, Presbyterian to Anglican?


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## bigshot

Centropolis said:


> I have the Karajan version of Franck's symphony.


Offenbach? Suppe? How about Mendelssohn String Symphonies?

Just checking to make sure you've got all the core rep boxes checked.


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## opus55

bigshot said:


> Offenbach? Suppe? How about Mendelssohn String Symphonies?
> 
> Just checking to make sure you've got all the core rep boxes checked.


Five (maybe longer) years ago my goal was to build basic repertoire of classical music. 1200 CD's later I still have gaps. Franck's symphony: no, Mendelssohn string symphonies: none at all, Suppe: no. You see?


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## bigshot

That's why I'm asking! I thought I was there at one point too... then I realized all I had of Holst was The Planets and I had almost no chamber music.

I think someone could go a lifetime just on core repertoire if they were really thorough about it.


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## Centropolis

bigshot said:


> Offenbach? Suppe? How about Mendelssohn String Symphonies?
> 
> Just checking to make sure you've got all the core rep boxes checked.


No Offenbach and Suppe. Does this mean my main repertoire isn't long enough list? I was kind of going by a listing that a particular classical music site had. I forgot which site it was but it's got a website design that was 10 years behind its time.

I should also add that my collection is not geared towards much vocals/operas so I may have to retract my statement the more I think about it. haha


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## bigshot

Core rep is a very broad group. I don't know of any list that is complete.


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## opus55

At one point I felt like I was half way there to "basic collection" if I weren't such a completist. Then I met a genre called 'opera' at around 1000 CD mark. And no, I don't have Fur Elise or Carnival of the Animals.

Back to OP, I probably average 1-2 CD/boxes per week. I'm actively expanding, filling gaps and thickening my 'basic' collection.


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## Itullian

I've been listening for years so i'm not expanding my collection. in fact I'm shrinking it. My local library the beneficiary.
I only buy a few things, here and there now.
Like the recent Klemperer edition that neatens up my shelves.


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## bigshot

opus55 said:


> And no, I don't have Fur Elise or Carnival of the Animals.


I have both of those in a few versions. I don't have a favorite Fur Elise, but I like Dutoit's Carnival of the Animals a great deal. Wonderful music.


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## Albert7

Oh yeah for sure. Purely through iTunes nowadays since I don't have room for CD's anymore.


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## KenOC

If you don't mind Amazon, you can get an excellent Beethoven collection for $1.09. All the symphonies in fantastic performances by Liebowitz and the Londoners, all the piano concertos, and so on and on. This is a really impressive set with a terrible name and a horribly unimpressive graphic on the page. See my review (the second) for the contents.

http://www.amazon.com/Genius-Beetho...416448192&sr=1-1&keywords=genius+of+beethoven


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## Dave Whitmore

brotagonist said:


> We all buy a new album (or acquire music in another format) _now and again_, but...
> 
> *Are you presently actively expanding your collection? That is, do you have a mental or physical list of things you still want to get?*
> 
> Or...
> 
> *Has your collecting slowed down to a trickle, because you have already gotten pretty much all you want?*
> 
> I looked at my last 20 purchases and noticed that:
> 
> 5 of them were albums I used to own and wanted to have again (I didn't necessarily choose the same performance)
> 
> 5 of them were albums by composers I had some of in my collection
> 
> 6 of them were albums by composers I had little of in my collection
> 
> 4 of them were albums by composers I had nothing of in my collection


I've only been listening to classical for about ten months so my collection has only started really. I have, maybe, thirty cds at present. I'm planning to add to that big time though.


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## Albert7

Dave Whitmore said:


> I've only been listening to classical for about ten months so my collection has only started really. I have, maybe, thirty cds at present. I'm planning to add to that big time though.


Is it better to be all-inclusive of every recording out there or to be highly selective?


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## Albert7

Dave Whitmore said:


> I've only been listening to classical for about ten months so my collection has only started really. I have, maybe, thirty cds at present. I'm planning to add to that big time though.


Is it better to be all-inclusive of every recording out there or to be highly selective?


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## Woodduck

I collected LPs originally but got rid of all of them decades ago. Ten years ago I decided to build a fairly comprehensive classical library, and I went about it relentlessly. I've done it, nearly all second-hand from wherever, and passed 4000 CDs a few months ago. There are still significant gaps, mostly pre-Baroque and after about 1920, but YouTube is saving me from profligate experimentation and profound regret. Now I'm facing an impoverished old age if I don't watch my step (and maybe if I do). But by George, the music is there whenever I want it.


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## arpeggio

*2400 and counting*

2400 CD's and counting. I have no idea how many LP's I have. A few hundred there. I still have the first LP's I purchased when I was fourteen way back in... I am always looking for something different. I avoid dups unless there is something really special about the recording.

Right now I am going through a batch of six Chandos recordings I have picked up on sale. Most of the music is new for me. The only duplications in the CD's are:

Gerald Finzi: _Clarinet Concerto_
Michael Tilson Thomas: _Street Song_
Miklos Rozsa: _Ben-Hur Suite_

I already have four copies of the complete symphonies of Beethoven. Why four? Because three was not enough and five are too many.


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## TurnaboutVox

My rather haphazard database tells me that I have around 175 classical LP's which would have been built up between my early 20's return to classical music (from about 1983 onwards) and the start of the CD era - I think my last LP was the double Mahler #2 by Rattle and the CBSO in 1989 or thereabouts. There are also a dozen or so recordings on high quality(!) music cassettes.

Then from 1989 onwards I have amassed around 460 CDs and perhaps another 50 albums or so as FLAC (and occasionally mp3) downloads. For a long time when the children were young and my career was very demanding I didn't buy very much (and all the shops went out of business anyway). Then came Amazon and Presto.

I realise that I've averaged only 30 recordings a year over my adult lifetime, which isn't all that much. I guess I don't really collect, I just listen. Spotify has really helped me not to buy too much over the last 5 or so years, I listen to a lot and go on to buy about a tenth of what I've heard, maybe less.

I try to keep to a plan of one purchase from Presto every month, 4 items at most, the odd box set when it is on special offer. I tend to miss a month when other people have bought me CDs as presents. I don't have many duplicates, except for Beethoven, Schubert Schumann and Liszt solo piano, Beethoven, Webern and Bridge chamber music and Mahler symphonies.

I have a kind of wish list but don't really stick to it, and I try to buy a mix of composers and musical genres each time - mostly filling gaps in known composers' oeuvres, but adding new ones here and there. I always want to hear new things, but I want to listen enough to each work to become familiar with it. I find that one completely new disc a week is quite enough, and sometimes too much, for this purpose.


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## brotagonist

I am finding myself in an extended period of wanting to really get to know what I have amassed. I recall a thread from about a year or more ago, in which even experienced listeners indicated that they can require a dozen or more listens to know a piece adequately. I'm sure that it would take me longer than that  and I like to hear the favourites more often, too. A crude estimate suggests that I would need 2 years to hear everything I have, so I would be in my late 80s before I know everything relatively well.

My collecting has gotten to the point where I am starting to need to look into the nooks and crannies to find new things. Sure, every few weeks I come up with a little burst of items I want, but there is a sustained slowing down trend. While there is great music still to be discovered, I am less confident with the longevity of the music of the nooks and crannies and am more inclined to give it a cursory listen on a streaming service than to make a purchase. Also, I repeatedly ask myself how much more expansion I can truly absorb, given life's limits.


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## Dave Whitmore

albertfallickwang said:


> Is it better to be all-inclusive of every recording out there or to be highly selective?


At the moment money's pretty tight so I have no choice other than to be selective. So I research, look for several recordings of the same piece of music and go for the best one I can afford. Sorry I took so long replying but I only just saw this question.


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## brotagonist

Dave Whitmore said:


> At the moment money's pretty tight so I have no choice other than to be selective. So I research, look for several recordings of the same piece of music and go for the best one I can afford. Sorry I took so long replying but I only just saw this question.


I think this is the best way to collect. With some thought, research, test listening, comparison listening, time to ponder, etc. you will end up with a more compact, less costly, but more rewarding and long-lasting collection... and you can always expand it! You don't want to end up with a lot of albums you will likely never like or that you grow tired of soon. Still, I think it is pretty difficult to go astray with classical and you can be sure that it will never go out of style. If your interest endures, then so will the worth of your collection.


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## bigshot

I think researching and making an informed choice is great. But if I never cast my net wider than the "usual suspects" that get recommended over and over, I would never have found many of my favorite recordings. I can think of one really big example... One of my favorite works since I was little is Rimsky's Schehehrezade. I followed the instructions of the Penguin guide dutifully and got Mackerras's recording on Telarc. Nice, but difficult for me to listen to more than once or twice. Then I moved on. Later I found a copy of Previn's in a used bin. Picked it up. FANTASTIC! Exactly what I was looking for. I went to Penguin and they had given it a polite nod and nothing more.

I've come to the conclusion that there are very few classical music critics worth listening to. I think most of them are forced to ingest so much music that they don't bother really listening. They just give it cursory listen, check a few things off a list and write a review with a whole lot of boilerplate about the work cribbed from liner notes. On the internet, it's even worse, because know nothing people on newsgroups are paraphrasing what they read from articles by know nothing critics who didn't take the time to listen and absorb. Blind leading the blind.

I think for a beginning collector in classical music it is MUCH better to just let the price dictate. Get the cheapest recordings you can and get as many of them as you can. Never listen to the same work in the same performance twice. In the age of dollar a disk CD box sets and $3 mega MP3 collections at Amazon, that is a perfectly good way to go about it. Most classical recordings are of a reasonably high quality, regardless of price. The odds of finding a treasure for a dollar in a mega box is just as likely as finding one at full price from a rosette in the Penguin Guide... probably even better


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

I don't actively buy music with the intent to expand my collection because really I'm just happy with what I do have at the moment. Only if I'm _really really really_ bent on getting something will I go out of my way to buy it, otherwise I might just pick something that looks nice if I'm in the mood for getting another CD or LP and I have a bit of money on my when out of the house, which is rare.


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## starthrower

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Only if I'm _really really really_ bent on getting something will I go out of my way to buy it


With the internet, going out of the way to buy something isn't necessary. As a result, I've bought a boatload of stuff lately. Sometimes I long for the old days of having to drive to record stores and search around for stuff. And I never run into any of the characters/music junkies I used to see.


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## JACE

starthrower said:


> With the internet, going out of the way to buy something isn't necessary. As a result, I've bought a boatload of stuff lately. Sometimes I long for the old days of having to drive to record stores and search around for stuff. And I never run into any of the characters/music junkies I used to see.


Yeah, I agree. Music-buying online is great because nearly everything is available somewhere. And that's wonderful.

But we've definitely lost out on the social aspects of buying music. Fortunately for me, there are still a few shops left here in Atlanta where I'll occasionally run into old music buddies. But it's nothing like it used to be.

EDIT:
Jeez, I sound like an old fart!


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## hpowders

JACE said:


> Yeah, I agree. Music-buying online is great because nearly everything is available somewhere. And that's wonderful.
> 
> But we've definitely lost out on the social aspects of buying music. Fortunately for me, there are still a few shops left here in Atlanta where I'll occasionally run into old music buddies. But it's nothing like it used to be.
> 
> EDIT:
> Jeez, I sound like an old fart!


That's okay. As long as you don't look like one. Just for Men Mustache and Beards.


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## hpowders

I try not to because I really have an extremely comprehensive collection, but I'm always reading professional reviews that let me know the truly definitive performance of "whatever" has finally arrived. So I buy it and discover, NOT!!!!


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## Haydn man

My collection stands at about 250 CD's only so I have much to go at.
I am using Spotify to explore and preview new stuff and trying things from the current listening thread.
My purchasing is a mix of downloads and secondhand discs from Amazon


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## Albert7

Haydn man said:


> My collection stands at about 250 CD's only so I have much to go at.
> I am using Spotify to explore and preview new stuff and trying things from the current listening thread.
> My purchasing is a mix of downloads and secondhand discs from Amazon


That is awesome. A selective collection is a good sign of good taste.


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## Haydn man

albertfallickwang said:


> That is awesome. A selective collection is a good sign of good taste.


Well thank you, it also signifies in my case an old collection as it is only in the last 12 months that I have returned back to serious listening. So I have lots of eighties stuff e.g late Karajan which tho now rather out of fashion I still love.
I think next year I shall have a composer of the month and concentrate listening and purchasing mainly on this.


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## brotagonist

Haydn man said:


> I have lots of eighties stuff e.g late Karajan which tho now rather out of fashion I still love.


I have the impression, from comments here on TC and the general popularity of his recordings, that there has been a turnaround in opinion on Karajan. There are oodles of fine Karajan recordings.


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## Albert7

As of today, I have 201 albums encoded into iTunes. I got a long way to go before finishing up my personal collection.


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## brotagonist

That's a very nice start and will already keep you very busy


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## mtmailey

I am more into the music of Rubinstein i got his piano concerto 3+4 on cd though.I may get the other piano concertos soon.


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## ToneDeaf&Senile

I don't expand my collection very often any more, mostly because my hearing is pretty much shot. That said, just last month a purchased my first ever complete set of Beethoven piano sonatas (Brautigam) and a new set of Beethoven's middle quartets (Takacs). A few months prior to that I bought the Chailly/Leipzig disk of Beethoven's symphonies three and four after hearing the third at YouTube. But that's about it for the year. Oh, I purchased Valentina Lisitsa's London recital DVD.

I expanded my collection in another way by buying two recently published biographies of...you guessed it...Beethoven. (Suchet and Swafford. The latter is especially recommended.)


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## Albert7

I am always getting about 3-5 albums off iTunes whenever I can afford it.
Plus I have so much already to encode into Apple Lossless that it is driving me nuts.


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## Guest

I have all that I _need_ but not all that I _want_! I buy 10 to 15 per month. A few times a year I do some soul-searching and weed out recordings that I don't care for/rarely play, then I sell them on Amazon.


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## Cosmos

I am and it's pretty bad.

I have identified a problem; I might be a bit of a hoarder. One example is with books: I'm always getting books that I don't read, I just like the idea of having them. The same has happened with music. I have over 1000 albums in my iTunes library and there's a good chunk I haven't listened to and is collecting virtual dust. And of course, my wish-list is long


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## Albert7

Cosmos said:


> I am and it's pretty bad.
> 
> I have identified a problem; I might be a bit of a hoarder. One example is with books: I'm always getting books that I don't read, I just like the idea of having them. The same has happened with music. I have over 1000 albums in my iTunes library and there's a good chunk I haven't listened to and is collecting virtual dust. And of course, my wish-list is long


Nice... do you do mostly downloads from iTunes or CD encoding into iTunes?


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## Cosmos

albertfallickwang said:


> Nice... do you do mostly downloads from iTunes or CD encoding into iTunes?


Both, but mainly downloads. My CD collection is pretty small, probably a couple dozen. But I've checked out SO MANY CD's from the library, I wouldn't be surprised if the next time I go there, I'd find a sign with a picture of my face and a huge red X over it.

Which just reminded me that I had lost the library's CD copy of La Boheme. Now I'm gonna hafta pay 33 bucks if I cant find it...ugh


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## brotagonist

I was thinking of what Vaneyes said about culling on the Latest Deletes thread recently. I like to think that I have become exceptionally selective, but I combed my collection and weeded out 4 albums yesterday. I got 2 in return (and paid $3). My collection is intentionally smaller than my old LP collection. Still, I do have those buying binges :lol:


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## starthrower

I've spent more money on classical music in the past two months, than I ever have on any music in that time frame in the past 35 years. I've got boxes of unopened stuff. It's all your fault, people!


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## Vaneyes

I'm at a figure I'm happy with ('tween 1K and 1.5 K), and have been able to maintain for seven or eight years. I've found occasional culling combined with occasional (mostly Modern) adds, enables a workable playlist. Each must find his or her comfort zone. Some may need to build a wing or two on the homestead.:tiphat:


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## brotagonist

Vaneyes said:


> I'm at a figure I'm happy with ('tween 1K and 1.5 K), and have been able to maintain for seven or eight years. I've found occasional culling combined with occasional (mostly Modern) adds, enables a workable playlist. Each must find his or her comfort zone.


I'm still a long way from that magnitude. My comfort zone is not just within the range of what I can feasibly listen to in a year or two, but also within the limitations of my current shelving. I could expand by a good 50% yet, by doubling the rows halfway across to still allow access to the rear row, but my collection is primarily 'core' material, so it doesn't allow for much culling yet. I don't want to reach the practical limitations too soon


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## candi

I'm beginning to rebuild a collection, but I find that I dislike having multiple composers on a disk. I'm sure there are great best-of compilations, but when I want to hear composer A, i only want A. Of course, my multiple artists phobia is moot when the music is encoded and tossed on a ipod.


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## Piwikiwi

Yes I just ordered this:


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## Albert7

albertfallickwang said:


> As of today, I have 201 albums encoded into iTunes. I got a long way to go before finishing up my personal collection.


I am nearing 500 albums pretty soon in lossless in iTunes and so far I have 26 purchased albums on iTunes.


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## candi

albertfallickwang said:


> I am nearing 500 albums pretty soon in lossless in iTunes and so far I have 26 purchased albums on iTunes.


I need to catch up, my sixth CD just came in. Takes me a week to decide which recording I prefer... so agonizing slow my process.


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## mtmailey

I find it hard to find great music so i buy not much anymore i got 2 symphonies that sound lame to me.


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## Figleaf

I just spent my Christmas money from my parents on this box set, 'The Complete Vanni-Marcoux' from Marston:










There are other French singers whose complete or even selected recordings I'd rather have on CD, but when it comes to reissues you have a short and unadventurous menu to order from. This is why I'm tentatively getting into buying 78s again, though I'd better get rid of some of my teenage acquisitions (mostly undistinguished pop from the 20s and 30s) to make some space for the good stuff.


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## bigshot

I'll take your 20s dance band 78s.


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## Figleaf

bigshot said:


> I'll take your 20s dance band 78s.


You would be more than welcome, though the shipping might be prohibitive!


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## Albert7

Figleaf said:


> You would be more than welcome, though the shipping might be prohibitive!


Did you convert those to mp3's?


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## GhenghisKhan

Never bought classical CDs, never will.

Hello Youtube.


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## Figleaf

albertfallickwang said:


> Did you convert those to mp3's?


I'm still trying to figure out whether it's worth doing or not. I did some experimental YouTube uploads using the old cabinet gramophone I left at my parents' house, and though the acoustics in their conservatory are pretty harsh, I was reasonably pleased with the quality of the transfers, given the cheapness of the equipment (both gramophone and tablet computer). Better than the old days of dim, hissy tape dubbings, for sure.


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## Albert7

http://paulstamatiou.com/worlds-largest-itunes-collection/


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## Lord Lance

Yes. I am. YouTube makes life easier. _So _much easier. And conversion services too. 192KB/s or not, it is at least *something.*


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## Albert7

Ludwig van Beethoven said:


> Yes. I am. YouTube makes life easier. _So _much easier. And conversion services too. 192KB/s or not, it is at least *something.*


Do you collect your classical music a lot from YouTube?


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## Lord Lance

albertfallickwang said:


> Do you collect your classical music a lot from YouTube?


The day people realize the strength of and admit their placebo effect is the day TC community will be a better place. You have HUNDREDS of hours of free music. Enjoy it while you can. I have a week or 2 of YouTube videos. Especially older and live recordings. Treasure mine of live recordings.


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