# Do you always listen to the entire work?



## opus55 (Nov 9, 2010)

I usually listen to the work from the first movement to the last since that is what the composer intended unless it is simply a collection of individual pieces.

Recently, however, I found that sometimes picking one movement and listening to it helps me enjoy it better. Since my attention span is quite short depending on how tired I am, I pick one movement from a symphony or concerto and concentrate on fully absorbing the details of it. Next time I listen to the entire work, I get better enjoyment out of it.

I'm doing it now with Beethoven's 9th 3rd movement. I always lose focus in the third after the first two intense movements. The adagio seems more appropriate 4am in the morning too :lol:


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

I prefer listening to a whole work as the composer intended (that's why I abhore the UK _Classic fM_ radio station). I do occasionally listen to extracts, but not very often.


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## delallan (Jan 4, 2011)

I prefer to hear the music in its entirety as well, but have found listening to an excerpt (perhaps caught while driving somewhere or in a waiting room) to be a reprieve in a hectic day.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Both. Sometimes, it may be something really long, like a ballet, so the suites are better, and even then, I may only listen to a few movements from a suite. With symphonies, I prefer to hear whole thing unless I can't help it. It takes away the unity of the symphony if I leave something out sometimes.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Almost always. Unless it's new work and after 1st movement I conclude that it sucks and don't want to waste more time for it. 

And I once started to listen to Grande Symphonie Funebre et Triomphale by Berlioz and planned to listen to whole but that day I had terrible diarrhea and at the end of first movement I had to go, you know, then decided that I won't listen to the whole piece if I will have to make unexpected pauses to visit restroom.


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

Aramis said:


> I had terrible diarrhea and at the end of first movement I had to go, you know, then decided that I won't listen to the whole piece if I will have to make unexpected pauses to visit restroom.


What a lovely story, Aramis


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Both. There are different levels of listening.

If I'm listening as background music (or more likely to drown out noisy co-workers), I usually play at random and movements get chopped up and mixed in with jazz and rock even. I don't mind this. But about twice a week I sit down and focus on a lengthy work the same way many will sit down and watch a movie. Then it's start to finish with brief pauses between movements to read annotations about what I'm expected to hear in the upcoming movement.


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

If I want to assess something I don't necessarily listen to a full work (particularly if very long). Too much music to listen to to do that. If I can though I would try to hear something from each movement, enough to get an idea of the ideas, the development and flow of the piece.


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## Serge (Mar 25, 2010)

Aramis, sorry to hear that your Berlioz listening experience turned out to be so ******. Perhaps you should have listened to Bruckner that day instead.

On the subject: listening to the whole work in its entirety with full attentiveness would be a preferred option of course, in reality however I don’t think I do it quite often. Listening to a single movement, sometimes repeatedly, is just fine with me - whatever rocks my boat at the moment.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I'd like to listen to pieces in their entirety all the time, but time usually doesn't permit it, unless it's Erik Satie or Anton Webern.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I always listen to a classical work in full, unless it's an exceptionally long opera when I might then split it over two listening sessions. I have to admit to getting pretty annoyed if I'm interrupted by the phone ringing or a knocking on my door while immersed in a work - even more so when I'm at home rather than at the office.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

It's usually in chunks. I walk & listen to opera on my mp3 player & have to switch off when I get to where I'm going. Then next time I walk, I start where I've left off. 

Sometimes I'll get really obsessed with a particular opera & at the end of it I start it over again.

When I'm at home it's usually the whole opera.


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## opus55 (Nov 9, 2010)

I wish I had 2-3 hours of uninterrupted time to listen to music every night.


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## drth15 (Dec 12, 2007)

Usually prepare myself for the entire work. Sometimes when comparing recordings of a single work will 'skim.' This can be revealing, but also misleading.


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## Jules141 (Nov 20, 2009)

Actually I rarely listen to an entire piece from beginning to end. All my music is in MP3 form on online streaming form so I skip straight to "highlights". Sometimes this works well, sometimes all I need is to dive headfirst into the middle of a piece to provide some distraction from the day.

I've been trying recently to listen to entire works more often but setting aside time when I'm not listen to music whilst doing something else is difficult.

I should point out that I find it much, MUCH easier to listen to entire works when walking or travelling somewhere.


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## opus55 (Nov 9, 2010)

Jules141 said:


> Actually I rarely listen to an entire piece from beginning to end. All my music is in MP3 form on online streaming form so I skip straight to "highlights"...


That's interesting because I skip straight to the least enjoyable/difficult part if I ever do decide not to hear entire work.

What happens more often though is that I have the intention to listen to entirety but I get interrupted


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## andrea (Jan 6, 2011)

I have a number of playlists of varying tempo and mood and length depending on the occasion but if I can I prefer to listen to the whole thing. Works which have an well defined structure need to be listened to with each part in its right place to fully appreciate the beauty of it.


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## MrTortoise (Dec 25, 2008)

I usually listen to the entire work, however I have been known to 'skip to the good stuff'. When I was a young man my lp recording of Carmina Burana had more than a few scratches at the beginning of the third section. Don't feel the obligation to listen to an entire piece if you don't want to. It's your music collection to enjoy as you see fit. It wasn't unheard of in the classical era for the movements of a symphony not to be played back to back. Many times an aria or soloist would perform between movements.


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## CageFan (Dec 2, 2010)

Preferably listening or watching the entire work, but Wagner's Ring cycle really is....eh...


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## opus55 (Nov 9, 2010)

CageFan said:


> Preferably listening or watching the entire work, but Wagner's Ring cycle really is....eh...


I don't think I listened to every disc of Ring cycle by Solti yet.. 10 years since I bought that boxset. Not a Wagner fan but I wish to understand his music more.


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## Listener (Sep 20, 2010)

Usually will listen to the entire work, and then to one movement by itself if I particularly liked it.


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## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

I listened to just 2 repetitions of Satie's Vexations - that was enough. I think 840 would send me slightly mad.


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## Jacob Singer (Jan 7, 2011)

Depends on the piece of music.

Just because I find one movement of a piece to be interesting does not necessarily mean that I'll find the other movements to be interesting as well.


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## CageFan (Dec 2, 2010)

Depending on occasion. Not always listening to the entire work, but preferably yes.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Mostly, I listen to the whole work straight through (& any other works on the disc). But if the work is say two cd's in length (like Verdi's _Requiem_), I usually listen to the two discs some distance in time apart. Sometimes I like to listen to seperate movements of Mahler's symphonies (like the massive Adagio of the 10th) because his symphonies are quite long & it's sometimes difficult to concentrate all the way through in one sitting...


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

I almost always try to listen to the entire work from start to finish, unless either I don't have the whole thing or I don't really care for part of it, as in Beethoven's 9th Symphony, which I usually stop listening to once the choir starts singing "Freude." Sometimes, though, I just get interrupted and can't help but to stop in the middle of a piece.


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## Herr Rott (Jan 11, 2011)

Kopachris said:


> ... Beethoven's 9th Symphony, which I usually stop listening to once the choir starts singing "Freude." Sometimes, though, I just get interrupted and can't help but to stop in the middle of a piece.


How interesting. I am much the same, but when it comes to Beets 9th I sometimes START at the vocals, more often than the opening.

I try to keep music in my life as much as possible for as long as possible. I am always playing it. Perhaps one gets fussy by listening to too much!


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## Guest (Jan 11, 2011)

I sometimes find it difficult NOT to listen to a piece all the way through. It's like not resolving a cadence, leaving a splinter in your mind that drives you mad. If I have to stop a piece before it ends, I'll usually/almost always come back to it later to finish.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Jeff N said:


> I sometimes find it difficult NOT to listen to a piece all the way through. It's like not resolving a cadence, leaving a splinter in your mind that drives you mad. If I have to stop a piece before it ends, I'll usually/almost always come back to it later to finish.


Yes, this is why I usually don't like "greatest hits" and "best of" compilations of a composer's music, which only give you extracts (i.e. seperate movements) of their works. I found these compilations excellent when I was a teenager hearing many of the popular composer's works for the first time, because they allowed me to familiarise myself with a composer's style and famous highlights. I even sent a friend overseas a Haydn compilation last year for Christmas, which was a good thing as she is just getting into classical music. But after I got over the hurdle of familiarising myself with the major composers, I found that I really wanted to listen to works in full, and I have stayed that way ever since & it's been over 20 years now...


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## opus55 (Nov 9, 2010)

I still buy Philips "Greatest" or "Favorite" 2CD DUO series recordings because they're not extracts; they contain complete works.


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## Charon (Sep 8, 2008)

Most often I do, with the exception of opera.

For operas, I usually watch them by act because I often don't have 3 consecutive hours of uninterrupted time on hand.


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## Tschaikowsky (Jan 21, 2011)

99% of the time, yes.


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

Sometimes I might want to hear a particular movement (just for the kicks, as it were) but more often than not I'll listen to the whole work. If it's quite long, such as Mahler 3, I might take a short pause after a movement or an act, just to stretch my legs a bit and use the bathroom if I have to.


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

Yes, 95% of the time. I have always held the firm belief that a work must be heard in its entirety to gain the effect the composer intended. The lone exception I've granted myself is the _Ring_ cycle... I've accepted the fact that there's no way I could listen to all 4 operas in a row on 4 successive nights. That's just too big of a time commitment.


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## Pieck (Jan 12, 2011)

Only if I dont have the time, but even then I try to listen to short or single movement works.


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## Jacob Singer (Jan 7, 2011)

Even the composers themselves have recognized that individual movements can certainly stand alone as wonderful pieces of music.

Take for example Beethoven's Grosse Fuge or Andante Favori. If he and others are open-minded enough to hear things that way, then why can't we?


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

People's time is limited nowadays and with the convenience of the recorded medium we have the option to play just part of a piece. Of course it is recommended to try and set aside time to listen to a full piece at times, but that isn't so easy all the time.


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

*Music and health*

And I once started to listen to Grande Symphonie Funebre et Triomphale by Berlioz and planned to listen to whole but that day I had terrible diarrhea and at the end of first movement I had to go, you know, then decided that I won't listen to the whole piece if I will have to make unexpected pauses to visit restroom. 

Aramis.

Sibelius 7th symphony makes me want to kill myself.

I don't listen to all when I don't like something, the 15 first minutes are important for me....If they are boring I won't insist, that's it! Parsifal....I watched all 
the DVD...I suffered all along until the end, I conside myself a hero.

By the way...Richard Strauss was such a braggart that when he composed the symphonic poem "a Hero's life" he was speaking about HIM!!!!!! Incredible but true!

Martin


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Almost always the whole piece.

I think the adagietto of Mahler's fifth is the only movement I often spin on its own.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

When I'm approaching a work for the first time I always try to listen to the whole thing in one sitting, as intended by the composer. Since opera is my favorite classical music genre, this gets me in trouble sometimes because some operas are extremely long, and lately I've been having less and less patience for the ones that exceed three hours. Still, I do my best to complete them the first day, with breaks in between acts (with the obvious exception of Wagner's Ring that requires at least four days if not longer). I use the same approach for other genres such as symphonies. So I try to allocate enough time to my little project (and this may involve advance preparation such as reading about the work and the composer) when I'm planning to get to know a work that is new for me. I won't start a work that has a running time of three hours if I only have two available hours that day (in spite of my frequent posting here, believe me or not, I *am* quite busy in my personal and professional life).

However after I'm familiar with a work, then I'll select highlights such as arias and ensembles, overtures and intermezzi, or symphonic movements, etc, that I like more than other parts of the work, and will transfer them to my iPod for subsequent listening, which can even be done in random order using the shuffle function (I know some of you will yell "heresy!!!." While like Andre above, I often don't like "greatest hits," "highlights," and compilation CDs that we find commercially available (often the idea of "greatest hits" is equal to "most popular hits" that aren't necessarily the greatest ones, just as much as McDonalds is popular but sucks, LOL - not to forget that these compilations, save a few exceptions, often don't have the best orchestras, musicians, singers, etc), I don't mind doing my *own* slicing and dicing to compose a playlist that I want to listen to during a walk, a long drive, a relaxed moment, etc. That's because the playlist will cater to *my* taste, not to some music industry executive's idea of what may sell more easily; and will include decent orchestras/conductors/singers, etc. 

But I think it is important to give the work a fair chance and a thorough assessment in the order and length that the composer has intended, at least for a first encounter with it. I like to mentally grade a work in a little system of mine (simple, kind of A+, A, A-, B+ etc) and I take into account whether the pace is good, whether there are excessive longueurs or not, etc, so it is essential to really take on the whole thing to have a clear notion of its value.


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## RBrittain (Jan 24, 2011)

Same as the general consensus. I usually listen to the whole work, but am occasionally lazy. Bruckner symphonies usually last more than an hour. In his Sixth, for example, I'll tend to sometimes just listen to the Adagio.

(And here it is!)






That said, it's probably more rewarding listening to it after the first movement. One should really earn their adagio, but sometimes I am lazy.


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## the_emptier (Jan 27, 2011)

I try to, i can sit through a couple symphonies, an opera and various other works because i tend to stay in my room and do a lot of homework and other things. i also constantly listen to my ipod and i get through a symphony in a class period (study hall, i dont listen during a normal class  )

although as i listen to something i favor different movements but listening to different sections out of context is weird for me. i think i've listened to the first act of la boheme dozens of times though..im trying to get away from it and at least just focus on the second act !


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## tahnak (Jan 19, 2009)

opus55 said:


> I'm doing it now with Beethoven's 9th 3rd movement. I always lose focus in the third after the first two intense movements. The adagio seems more appropriate 4am in the morning too :lol:


Yes. I have a habit of listening to just one movement of symphony on a day.
I am sure Beethoven's adagio would sound awesome at 4 in the morning.


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