# I Can't Choose Favorites In Classical Music



## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

All these classical music forums have threads about"What's your favorite this or that" or "What are the top ten this or that". Ditto,"who are your favorite conductors,violinists,etc"
But I just can't choose favorites in classical music, or in general. There are so many works
I love by so many different composers I can't pick a favorite of anything. 
Of course I like some composers and some works more than others, but asking me to pick my favorite is like asking a mother who has 12 children which is her favorite.
And I can't make lists of who are the ten greatest composers etc. How can you arbitrarily limit yourself to ten? 
I don't even have favorite recordings of any work. There are so many that are outstanding. 
Often ,one's favorite recording of a work is the first one you hear and get accustomed to. 
This has happened to me in the past sometimes, but when I hear multiple recordings of something I still can't choose a favorite now.
This is true of my other tastes in books,magazines,poetry, films,television, etc
I just can't choose favorites. And I could never understand how people can have a favorite color. I like all colors.


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

I tend to believe that you're not alone on this, superhorn. In my music profession as a classical organist, there are so many great composers - just too many to define into a short list. 

I do have a favorite color though - green - and since the US currency is also green, I love lots of that, too.


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## Andy Loochazee (Aug 2, 2007)

Reminds me of the famous story about "Buridan's ***", in which an *** (in the horsey sense, what else) placed precisely midway between a stack of hay and a pail of water will die of both hunger and thirst since it cannot make any rational decision to choose one over the other.


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

> I Can't Choose Favorites In Classical Music


Then don't do it. Why have a little list of favorites when you can enjoy hundreds of years worth of music, and from more than one culture?


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

It takes time sometimes to see a piece as being particularly a favourite. I've listened to quite alot of modern classical music but I haven't been familiar with it long enough to really pick out favourites. Favourites to me are those that you play the most, pieces that you have come back the most to over a long period.


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

I do agree with you but after a while you do realise which recordings/pieces/recordings you keep coming back to and then you can see which have had the greatest effect on you.


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## Boccherini (Mar 29, 2010)

emiellucifuge said:


> I do agree with you but after a while you do realise which recordings/pieces/recordings you keep coming back to and then you can see which have had the greatest effect on you.


I doubt that. Excluding Hewitt, I liked nearly all versions of Goldberg Variations even though they are so different. However, In Paganini's 24 Capricci I seem to keep coming back mostly to Mintz which I find the greatest.


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

Well there doesn't have to be a single particular recording, but often it's the recording that someone first gets to like a piece by that people have the most attachment to. A really good piece of music doesn't necessarily have a perfect recording or just one interpretation anyway, but any piece of music can be compromised by a bad performance/interpretation.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I think the list behavior attempts to fulfill a need in many of us. I don't really have favorites either, but I enjoy participating in those lists. It is a way of comparing your tastes with others. "Yeah, okay. Whew! I'm normal." or "Hey -- I'm way out there on a limb. I must be pretty cool!" It can be heartbreaking too. "What kind of Neanderthal wouldn't mention Mozart?" 

It's a social activity a way of seeing our similarities and especially our differences. Or to quote a progressive rock lyric, "The spaces in between leave room for you and I to grow."


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