# Why are classical albums mixed?



## Stereo Skunk (Nov 20, 2020)

An album may have a song from this composer, a song from that concerto.

Why? 

I'm not saying all, but just today I saw an album with just one movement from an obscure piece. 12 minutes.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I know. It is generally very annoying. I prefer entire works, so buy sets. Only time I get something with a mish mash of works is if there is a particular singer I want to hear. Problem is those disks end up on the shelf collecting dust. Then there are the infamous highlights disks, best of disks, etc. There is a lot of junk out there.


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

Stereo Skunk said:


> An album may have a song from this composer, a song from that concerto.
> 
> Why?
> 
> I'm not saying all, but just today I saw an album with just one movement from an obscure piece. 12 minutes.


For some musicians an 'album' might be a compendium of different works, the likes of which would be played in a concert setting. In those cases we purchase the 'album' because of the soloist or performer.


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## caracalla (Feb 19, 2020)

Usually it's a marketing ploy. Compilations often sample the work of particular ensembles or soloists, or else are put together to illustrate a theme. As Krummhorn says, they mimic concerts and recitals. I often find them very useful for picking up odd pieces by obscure composers, though I would very rarely buy a complete album's worth. Then again, nearly all my music is now downloaded, so I tend to think in post-album terms anyway. Afaiac these things are just depositaries.

And listeners have very different requirements, of course. I'm the complete opposite of SixFootScowl. While I'm often delighted by Baroque opera, there's no way I'm going to sit through two hours of boring and often absurd crud just for the sake of one or two arias to die for. I find that appropriate recital records by my favourite singers are a godsend in this respect; at any event they can save an awful lot of time trawling through complete sets.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Sometimes the whole suite isn't as good, or as famous, as the more-frequently-performed excerpts.

I recently bought The Complete Gayne Ballet Suite, and the complete Red Poppy ballet. They're okay.


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## Plague (Apr 4, 2020)

In recent years, there is a trend of putting together short pieces by a dozen of composers in a soloist album, under a leading concept, making it somewhat like a pop album. The pieces themselves, however, may not be musically congruous. This is a latest example of this quite ridiculous trend:


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

I think a lot of highlights albums might be geared towards people that don't listen to a ton of classical music. I generally don't like highlights albums, but I love opera recital albums if the singer is one I really like.


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

There are compilations and then there are compilations. 

Surely, if a vocalist, an instrumentalist or a conductor creates an album of various unrelated pieces I see nothing wrong with that. Either what they recorded interests you or it doesn't. 

However, when a recording company chooses to create a mishmash compilation of single movements or assorted artists well those I don't care for.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Vasks said:


> There are compilations and then there are compilations.
> 
> Surely, if a vocalist, an instrumentalist or a conductor creates an album of various unrelated pieces I see nothing wrong with that. Either what they recorded interests you or it doesn't.


Yes.



> However, when a recording company chooses to create a mishmash compilation of single movements or assorted artists well those I don't care for.


Agreed. Those are usually more like advertisements, imo.


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## perempe (Feb 27, 2014)

Listened to Márquez' El Danzón Según Márqueza couple hours ago. Not enough material for a CD, most of the tracks are similar.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Some compilations make sense, others not so much.


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