# Your (Long-Standing) Listening Tradition(s) or Habit(s)



## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Currently listening to Wagner's Ring Cycle (Barenboim, Bayreuth, et al), my thoughts was on one of the few traditions I have in playing this masterpiece (or rather, a series of masterpieces), which is at least once every year ((typically with a Bruckner symphony or two) since 1989 (when PBS broadcasted the MET's stupendous production with James Levine on the podium). The listening experience never ceases to amaze me (in part because of Wagner's far-reaching, far-looking music, and also because of Levine's and Barenboim's absorbing takes, with great orchestras and singers at their disposals). Other traditions of mine include:

Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker", with
Glazunov's "The Seasons", with
Lehar "Der Zarewitsch."
-played at around Christmas.

Eugene Goossens' First Symphony, with
Edgar Bainton's Third Symphony.

Kenneth Leighton's Cello Concerto, with
Kabalevsky's Cello Concerto no. II, with
Myaskovsky's Cello Concerto.

Ignacy Jan Paderewski's Piano Sonata, with
Glazunov's Piano Sonata no. I, with
Bax's Piano Sonata no. I, with
Blumenfeld Sonata-Fantasie.

Ives' Second Symphony, with
Creston's Second Symphony, with
Hanson's First Symphony, with
Diamond's First Symphony, with
Barber's Music for a Scene from Shelley.
-at around the Fourth of July (screw the 1812 Overture).

So, out of curiosity, what's your long-standing, or typical listening tradition (or habits).
Or is it at random.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Rather obvious: Bach's St. Matthews Passion every year at Easter.


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## ViatorDei (May 19, 2016)

Mahler's 2nd on (or near) Easter

Mahler's 1st and 4th in the Spring

Sibelius' 3rd and 6th in the Spring

Mahler's 5th and 6th in Summer

Mahler's 7th on a long summer night's drive

Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde and 9th in the Fall

Sibelius' En Saga in the Fall

Mahler's 10th in the Winter

Sibelius' 4th, 7th, and Tapiola in Winter

Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker around Christmastime

And probably some others I can't think of at the moment...


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

*Your (Long-Standing) Listening Tradition(s) or Habit(s)*

Using my ears.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Seldom enjoying the confines of tradition, I listen very much at random.


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## Guest (Jun 15, 2016)

No traditions. Sometimes random. Guided by mood, inclination, suggestion, or spotting something out of nowhere (including amongst my own CDs). Probably go through little phases, focussing on a particular thing, maybe composer or instrument or stylee.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

My only tradition is to listen once a year on New Year's Day... yes, to the Blue Danube.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

My only tradition is that every year at the start of the year I plan to have more structured listening to my collection, and then soon decide not to bother.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I have a habit of listening to all nine Beethoven symphonies in order, full cycle. I don't often listen to one symphony at ramdom. This is true of other symphony cycles that I have such as Brahms and Saint-Saëns, but for Mendelssohn I re-ordered them roughly to the order they were created in. Nonetheless it is generally the whole cycle or nothing for listening.

Other traditions or habits of mine are to never listen to overtures apart from the works they belong to, and avoid highlights sets of operas, Messiah, or other works.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

A selection from the _Christmas Oratorio_ first thing Christmas morning, and two or three Haydn quartets over Christmas lunch. On Good Friday it's _Parsifal_, and the following Sunday it's either _Messiah_ and/or one of the Bach passions. I'll usually try to fit in an appropriate Bach cantata on various holy days. Not that I'm religious; it just seems appropriate to play them on the days for which they were composed.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

Florestan said:


> Other traditions or habits of mine are to... avoid highlights sets of operas, Messiah, or other works.


Me too. I'd much rather have a whole work, even if sometimes (like on some recordings of _Carmen_ or _Fidelio_) all I really gain is some hammy and/or badly-dubbed dialogue.


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

If I own a complete symphonic cycle I nearly always listen to all of the symphonies in order over a period of time rather than just choosing any particular one in isolation. And if I 'binge' on a particular composer I tend to do play the works in a largely chronological sequence unless things get too fiddly.


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

I do usually listen to a bunch of Strauss Waltzes, etc. around New Years. I listen to Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture on the 4th of July. I might listen to Messiah or one of Bach's Passions around Easter, etc. I will listen to works that conjure up "winter" in the winter, etc. It's not necessarily tradition but it is a tendency.

But I also usually don't go more than a month or 2 without listening to a complete Beethoven Symphony Cycle. I usually listen to the Ring Cycle at least once a year. There's several things I do that with. I can't go a year without listening to a Mahler Symphony cycle or Sibelius or Mozart or a dozen other composers. I jump around but usually go through all of someones symphonies or string quartets or piano concertos or piano sonatas within a short span of time.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Reichstag aus LICHT said:


> Me too. I'd much rather have a whole work, even if sometimes (like on some recordings of _Carmen_ or _Fidelio_) all I really gain is some hammy and/or badly-dubbed dialogue.


So do I. I hate cuts and more than hate excerpts (though if left without a choice, I'll take them).


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Reichstag aus LICHT said:


> A selection from the _Christmas Oratorio_ first thing Christmas morning, ...


I am drawing a blank. What is the Christmas Oratorio and who composed it?


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Reichstag aus LICHT said:


> Me too. I'd much rather have a whole work, even if sometimes (like on some recordings of _Carmen_ or _Fidelio_) all I really gain is some hammy and/or badly-dubbed dialogue.


If you have hammy Fidelio you need to get the Bernstein Fidelio--it is wonderful and the DVD is even better because the DVD is live.

By the way, I do have a Fidelio that has none of the dialog and I tolerate it because it is Waltraud Meier (also had Domingo but perhaps a bit beyond his prime). I have a separate copy that I Frankensteined in the dialog from a different set.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

elgars ghost said:


> And if I 'binge' on a particular composer I tend to do play the works in a largely chronological sequence unless things get too fiddly.


Yeah, I tend to binge. Nothing but Beethoven Ninths for months and collected 40 some CD sets. Months of listening to all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas in order over and over and over (I rarely listen to piano sonatas anymore).

Did same with Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition, Messiah, Fidelio, Flying Dutchman, Maria Stuarda, Barber of Seville, Sonnambula, and others.

Currently binging on Beethoven symphonies, specifically my wonderful new Zinman cycle, but the later Toscanini cycle is coming in to my mailbox tomorrow and we'll see where that leads me.

But I do come back to Beethoven's symphonies, Messiah, and those operas noted above because I love them all.


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

I always listen to some appropriate music during Holy Week even though I'm not an observant Christian.

There's a lot...Bach's Passions, Schutz's, all the 16th century responsories, any Stabat Mater....


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

Florestan said:


> I am drawing a blank. What is the Christmas Oratorio and who composed it?


Bach's BWV 248, known as the _Weihnachtsoratorium_ in German. Six cantatas, each celebrating an episode in the Christmas story. Glorious stuff, some of it recycled from earlier Bach works, but who's counting?


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Reichstag aus LICHT said:


> Bach's BWV 248, known as the _Weihnachtsoratorium_ in German. Six cantatas, each celebrating an episode in the Christmas story. Glorious stuff, some of it recycled from earlier Bach works, but who's counting?


Thanks. Now my worries are over. I had run out of things to search and buy on Amazon. I'm going to be looking into this soon.


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## majlis (Jul 24, 2005)

Chamber, solo piano and works for string&orchestra, Are the only things I listen at.


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

Whatever I feel like whenever I feel like it, in Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter. 

One tradition that I dislike is my local orchestra's yearly tradition of playing nothing but Messiah around Christmas for a week. I guess it draws a crowd.

I have noticed that I don't go more than a month without listening to at least one Beethoven symphony and sometimes I binge on many of them.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

elgars ghost said:


> If I own a complete symphonic cycle I nearly always listen to all of the symphonies in order over a period of time rather than just choosing any particular one in isolation. And if I 'binge' on a particular composer I tend to do play the works in a largely chronological sequence *unless things get too fiddly.*


Can you clarify the highlighted phrase for those of us who don't speak UK English idiomatically? I'm really curious what it means. I'm imagining anything from violin (fiddle) cadenzas to what we would call self indulgent noodling.

Oh wait - maybe I've got it! From the context, unless you have to pull out and flip too many CDs back and forth?


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Apart from a few recordings mentioned by members above, Matthew passion etc, this record stands as long as I can recall in our family.

Decorating the house for Christmas and this one on repeat .


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

Weston said:


> Can you clarify the highlighted phrase for those of us who don't speak UK English idiomatically? I'm really curious what it means. I'm imagining anything from violin (fiddle) cadenzas to what we would call self indulgent noodling.
> 
> Oh wait - maybe I've got it! From the context, unless you have to pull out and flip too many CDs back and forth?


Cock on, Weston! :lol:


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## Xenakiboy (May 8, 2016)

I listen to at least one piece by Xenakis a day! 

Other days, a few hours of Xenakis at once!... :devil:


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## Antiquarian (Apr 29, 2014)

I watch / listen to the New Year's Concert (the _Neujahrskonzert)_ every year. I have a few of the annual CDs in my collection, but try to catch the broadcast on TV when possible. I sometimes dream of attending in Vienna, but I hear it is nearly impossible to find an invite. But it is not really very high on my "to do" list. It doesn't take long for me to get my fill of Johann Strauß.


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## Xenakiboy (May 8, 2016)

Actually now that I think about it, I might start a tradition for Halloween with select pieces by Zorn, Scriabin, Sorabji, Mussorgsky, Wagner and Stockhausen...


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## Notorious JWB (May 6, 2016)

Dvorak's American Quartet every year around late spring when the weather finally stops sucking. Vaughan Williams' Sinfonia Antarctica during the worst snowstorm, provided I'm inside, warm and don't have to go out any time soon. I can listen to Schubert's Trout pretty much any time but have always associated it with summer. Chopin, Rachmaninov and Bruckner's Ninth almost exclusively at night. Sibelius' Fifth isn't really associated with a particular time or occasion, but I have to make sure that I only listen to it when I know I'll have at least ten minutes to scrape myself off the ceiling afterward. 

Oh, and before the threat of imminent death forced me to get sober a couple of years ago, few things made me as happy as getting absolutely DESTROYED on liquor and weed and listening to Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto in the dark.


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## Marinera (May 13, 2016)

Untill quite recently I never voluntarily listened to any music in the mornings and very seldom untill noon.

I am very sensitive to sounds in the morning, so I was very surprised when a couple of years back I found out I can listen to some solo piano music, like Bach's partitas for piano, suites and his Goldbergs, though I can vouch only for Perahia's performances.. Haydn's piano sonatas, which is a recent discovery too.
And I quite enjoy listening to Gerard Souzay in the mornings. His is the only vocal performance tolerable that early and quite often untill noon, but only on the overcast days, on sunny mornings it's solo piano. 

Symphonies and any orchestral music - only in the afternoon, the later in the afternoon the better, or in the evening.

It's strictly solo and chamber music from mid morning untill noon, plus an exception - Souzay.
Though I think later in the morning it's stretchable to something like a piano concerto. Perhaps I'm mellowing with age.

I have just read Antiquarians post which reminded me, that it falls under the same tradition/habit headline; I attend classical concerts or some other classically orientated musical productions on the eve of the New Year, occasionaly it's a matinee if it's something good.

Probably I should refrain from adding anything more , but things come to me later as I go. This is really the very last addition.
Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker from mid November to mid January.


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