# How much does a desire for novelty influence your listening habits?



## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

I'm particularly interested to hear from fans of modern and contemporary classical music. I listen to music for at least 1-2 hours a day, so I tend to exhaust my interest in eras and idioms within about two years. My path has been chronological all the way up to modern and some contemporary stuff, but I feel compelled as much or more by weariness with my past favorites as I do by the music itself. 

For instance I felt almost forced into the world of electroacoustic soundscapes (an interest that didn't last, unfortunately) because my ears were desperate for something fresh, even at the expense of overall enjoyment. I'm listening to a lot of Messiaen for similar reasons, but with greater enthusiasm.

How much of your "playlist" is in the spirit of exploration and the desire for epiphanies with things that confuse or elude you, versus the same old favorites? For fellow marathon listeners, do you think absorbing so much music so frequently accelerates the expansion of your taste?


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

Everyone likes 'novelty'. Which need not be contemporary anything, but just more examples, more supply of the style one prefers. 

I don't bore easily, so I don't get bored of what I already know, but I like to add new things on the basis that there's no pressing need to always listen to what I've already become familiar with. 

I've explored modern/contemporary out of interest, not out of a thirst for novelty and I still listen to old favourites alongside listening to newer works.


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## Andolink (Oct 29, 2012)

Clairvoyance Enough said:


> I'm particularly interested to hear from fans of modern and contemporary classical music. I listen to music for at least 1-2 hours a day, so I tend to exhaust my interest in eras and idioms within about two years. My path has been chronological all the way up to modern and some contemporary stuff, but I feel compelled as much or more by weariness with my past favorites as I do by the music itself.
> 
> For instance I felt almost forced into the world of electroacoustic soundscapes (an interest that didn't last, unfortunately) because my ears were desperate for something fresh, even at the expense of overall enjoyment. I'm listening to a lot of Messiaen for similar reasons, but with greater enthusiasm.
> 
> How much of your "playlist" is in the spirit of exploration and the desire for epiphanies with things that confuse or elude you, versus the same old favorites? For fellow marathon listeners, do you think absorbing so much music so frequently accelerates the expansion of your taste?


Much of your post applies to me. I get bored pretty easily and am ever in search of something fresh. The only major exception is the music of J. S. Bach, of which I never tire, though I periodically go for periods without listening to his music in fear that I might, at some point, exhaust my adoration.

But I also have a deep interest in modern/contemporary music and am ever in search of living composers who excite me by being "cutting edge" or innovators such as Chaya Czernowin, Michael Finnissy, David Hudry, Marina Khorkova, Raphaël Cendo, Enno Poppe, et. al.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I don't know about novelty but I do like variety and I do like to explore - so that sounds like I like novelty. But I do like to feel that the music I am listening to fits into a bigger story. I like lots of contemporary music but I do hear it as part of a long tradition. And I know a fairly big amount of Baroque, Classical, Romantic and modern (say 1914-1960) music. Yes, many of the best new composers since 1950 have produced music that does something different to us than the modern and Romantic composers before them, but "paradigm" change has long been a feature of the tradition, even if not as regular or mixed up as it is these days. 

Right now, and for the last 18 months, I am finding quite a range of contemporary music to be so rewarding that I sometimes go days mostly listening to only it. Now I am also finally getting into early music and that is also over-represented in my listening mix at the moment.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

I listen almost exclusively to modern and contemporary classical music, so I fit some of your parameters.

My love of discovering new music, is a strong motivator in my listening. I love going to Amoeba Music in Hollywood and picking CDs from their quite extensive contemporary (they label it avant-garde) classical section that I am completely unfamiliar with. The possibility of discovering something revelatory, is exciting to me. And it happens fairly often.

That being said, a great piece of music is a great piece of music, even if it is somewhat familiar sounding and not very novel. Novelty will keep me searching, but great pieces keep me listening.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I should probably have added that I do like finding new things - often through great new performances - in established classics. Is this about novelty or wanting to know more about something old and loved?


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Things are well said here already. The desire to hear new music, whether it be "New Music" or unfamiliar music from past eras; the interest in exploring alternate versions of a familiar work via new conductors, orchestras, soloists ….

I fit those categories. I pursue an interest in "New Music" and most of my hard disc purchases are from contemporary or modern-20th century composers, though I will do something like pick up the box set of Spohr symphonies or Ries symphonies in order to explore these somewhat neglected composers in greater expanse. 

I certainly often purchase "blind" (or is it "deaf" in musical terms?), choosing totally unfamiliar composers/works on the basis of them being recorded on, say, the cpo or NEOS labels or the Donaueschinger Musiktage collection of discs. Sometimes one lands less than impressive (at least to my tastes) sounds; but on occasion one hears something revelatory and stunning, which makes the chancy efforts well worth while.

So, yes, I'm an explorer and adventurer … in my own way.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Clairvoyance Enough said:


> ...How much of your "playlist" is in the spirit of exploration and the desire for epiphanies with things that confuse or elude you, versus the same old favorites? For fellow marathon listeners, do you think absorbing so much music so frequently accelerates the expansion of your taste?


I don't listen to much music that's new to me nowadays, although ten years ago it was the opposite case. I listened to and collected a lot of music I didn't know, not only modern and contemporary but also lesser known music and the canon.

No sooner did I amass a collection of almost 1000 discs that I started to cull it. The main reason was that I wanted to devote the limited time I have to music which I enjoy. In many cases its more about things I love versus those I just like, not merely a case of likes versus dislikes.

I'm still quite an eclectic listener, but one thing is clear. I have developed a reduced tolerance for music that is dark, depressing and heavy. That has reduced Mahler, Bruckner, Shostakovich and a lot of the atonal, serial and experimental music in my collection - entirely wiping out Schnittke, Xenakis, Henze and others of this sort.

Despite having a few intellectual orgasms over his music in the past, the extremely novel - read random sounding - music of John Cage largely puts me off now too, although I like some of his piano music. I haven't retained any Stockhausen.

I don't regret opening up to novelty though because I just played the field and applied a funnel process to sort things out according to my needs. Its allowed me to reach this point. I could not have decided what is essential if I had not been so broad to begin with. So yes, it did initially expand my taste.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I'm interested in exploring different concepts in music, regardless whether they sound good or not. As in other threads I won't pretend all concepts are interesting to me, or sound good, or are complex, when they obviously aren't. Take the concepts of Cage's Music for Changes, or Carter's 3rd String Quartet. if they sound arbitrary or random, it's because for the most part they are.

For your listening (dis)pleasure:


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## Antiquarian (Apr 29, 2014)

Clairvoyance Enough said:


> How much of your "playlist" is in the spirit of exploration and the desire for epiphanies with things that confuse or elude you, versus the same old favorites?


I find that recently most of my listening has been exploratory. For instance, one day one of my friends convinced me that I should listen to _Tabuh-Tabuhan_ by Colin McPhee. (1900-1964) I was immediately struck that something composed in 1936 sounded so modern. It was reminiscent of Philip Glass, or Michael Nyman. It wasn't really an epiphany, but it did rekindle my interest in minimalism that had sort of died out. So now I am listening to more John Adams. I suppose you could say that my enthusiasm for particular styles of music are often precipitated through the suggestions of others.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Sometimes it can be beneficial to take a break and stop listening for awhile: the mind gets refreshed when it's not continually being fed input... The search for novelty doesn't interest me but I'm always ready for inventiveness and originality. Novelty for its own sake can lack substance and depth. When the mind and heart are ready, there's enough great music in the world to last 20 lifetimes and never run out. I believe the best music is the one that finds you. You'll somehow run into it through serendipity or get tipped off and it can open an entirely new world without effort. It becomes a matter of infinite curiosity and possibilities.


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## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

It's a mood thing. I get into moods where I want to revisit old/familiar favorites, and I get into moods where I want to explore new things.


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## NLAdriaan (Feb 6, 2019)

To me, it is puzzling to find the music that fits in with the mood of the moment. The thrill of listening to music and being carried away with it, is what I look for. But it remains a lucky pick. It can also happen in a live concert with a familiar symphony, which is played as if you hear it for the first time. Sometimes I think back of the time when I heard all those great pieces of music for the first time, entering new worlds all the time. 

As to so-called avant-garde or new music, I think I listen more to jazz and improvised music and to 'strange' music by DJ's  To me, classical (composed) music includes however the likes of Kurtag, Ligeti, Bartok, Messiaen, Shostakovich, Boulez etc and goes all the way back to Monteverdi. 

I read the 'biography/diary' of Sviatoslav Richter that he organised evenings at home with friends where they would listen to records or watch videos of concerts or opera's. I wonder if anyone here does that. It is actually lots of fun to discover new music that way. now that I think of it, I nowadays seriously listen to recorded music mostly on my own. With kids around in a busy house, it is becoming a scarce event. And in my car most nuances are gone and you can't really hear the music well. When going to a concert, I tend to go for the more familiar music.


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