# Cd Collections...



## tgtr0660 (Jan 29, 2010)

Maybe this thread has been done before but the search didn't return anything... I want to ask: do you have a big classical music cd collection? How many discs do you have? 

I have only 250. And climbing, of course... 

(since I took a hiatus from classical music between ages 25-28 -don't ask me why- in general my cd collection borders 1400, but classical-only has just recently started to grow again, probably till infinity... )


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## Artemis (Dec 8, 2007)

There is an old thread on this:

http://www.talkclassical.com/4779-unmasked-your-classical-collection.html

It's very amusing to glance through it again. Those were the days. So funny.


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## KaerbEmEvig (Dec 15, 2009)

I've just started buying CDs. Right now I am looking for the 5 CD set English Concert (Arkiv) - Bach Concertos as the shop I've bookmarked no longer sells it. I am also looking for Led Zeppelin ZoSo 80's remaster.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

The biggest classical collection I´ve heard of was a guy living in a 2-room flat
in Paris with his 18.000 LPs and still looking for more. He also had them in his
bathroom. Apparently he had a normal job.


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## handlebar (Mar 19, 2009)

As of now I'm at just under 4000. About 98% are classical and the remaining are world music and jazz.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

People might want to shout at me for it, but my collection is entirely digital. Of course, I started out with CDs, but I have no idea which files in my iTunes library were ripped from them! So, in iTunes digital terms, my collection is 6 days long and 11.4 GB in size.

I realise that this is probably one of the smallest collections of anyone on this forum, but bear in mind that I'm an income-less full-time student who has only been listening to this kind of music for 6 years!


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## TresPicos (Mar 21, 2009)

Artemis said:


> There is an old thread on this:
> 
> http://www.talkclassical.com/4779-unmasked-your-classical-collection.html
> 
> It's very amusing to glance through it again. Those were the days. So funny.


Aah, yes.

I miss that special mix of high-mindedness and scorn. 

- This is my learned opinion. I would like to hear yours. 
- Hm, I have another opinion. 
- Well, then you're an idiot.


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## Conor71 (Feb 19, 2009)

Polednice said:


> People might want to shout at me for it, but my collection is entirely digital. Of course, I started out with CDs, but I have no idea which files in my iTunes library were ripped from them! So, in iTunes digital terms, my collection is 6 days long and 11.4 GB in size.
> 
> I realise that this is probably one of the smallest collections of anyone on this forum, but bear in mind that I'm an income-less full-time student who has only been listening to this kind of music for 6 years!


Nothing wrong with having a Digital Collection IMO .
I have about 300 or so Classical CD's (maybe not entirely an representative number as I am counting Box sets as 1 Disc!).


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Polednice said:


> People might want to shout at me for it, but my collection is entirely digital. Of course, I started out with CDs, but I have no idea which files in my iTunes library were ripped from them! So, in iTunes digital terms, my collection is 6 days long and 11.4 GB in size.
> 
> I realise that this is probably one of the smallest collections of anyone on this forum, but bear in mind that I'm an income-less full-time student who has only been listening to this kind of music for 6 years!


Not that small: 6 days = 6 x 24 = 144 hours, so assuming one CD carries about one hour of music on average, you have around 140 to 150 CD's if they were original CD products from labels.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Classical: about 2000
Total: about 5000


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## Mozartgirl92 (Dec 13, 2009)

I have only 60-64 classical cds; but I know that my collection is far away from finished, there is so many good composers out there, and as if it wasn´t enough, my Mozart collection is too small for my taste.


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## dafnis (Jan 18, 2010)

around 700 classical CDs I guess... I'm actually trying to catalogue nowadays!


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## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

Total CD's = 150-200

Classical CD's = 15

I don't buy many classical CD's as there are so many version's out there that it's a bit of a nuisance searching for what is the best recording when there is no consensus. It's good in a way that you can find the recording that's just right for you (preferred tempo, dynamics etc) but I think modern musical works are more specifically designed in conception to be arranged onto an album. When you buy _Dark Side of the Moon _you get Pink Floyd's definitive version that was wrote specifically to be released on an LP. Even within classical, I have recently bought Riley's _A Rainbow in Curved Air _and Glass' _Glassworks_, that both work well because they were produced and directly linked to the composer, and fulfilling his specifications of what the album should be.

So, basically I am saying that pre-mid 20th classical works didn't have a CD or LP in mind upon creation, and for me don't exploit the benefits of studio production against live performance. There are plenty of sites on the internet where I can listen to classical music without having to purchase a CD anyway.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Polednice said:


> People might want to shout at me for it,


I won't be one of those people.


Polednice said:


> but my collection is entirely digital.


Can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself, so the song lyric goes.

As for me, it pleases me to have a CD collection that's still comfortably on the 'safe' side of the high 3-digits. It's starting to outgrow the dedicated 'in-wall' shelving in my den. In fact, it had been my idea to get a bookshelf-unit specifically for the storage of my recordings- but that initiative has been temporarily postponed, due to cash-flow issues (having to replace a totalled car can do that to a person, sometimes...)


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

> The biggest classical collection I´ve heard of was a guy living in a 2-room flat
> in Paris with his 18.000 LPs and still looking for more. He also had them in his
> bathroom. Apparently he had a normal job.


That's not a normal sized ambition though 

Well I tend to be very discriminating in what I buy so I'm not going to rocket beyond 200, almost all in the chamber music category. For example - 5 different versions of 5 Shostakovich String Quartet Cycles, but not a single Shostakovich orchestral piece. When it comes to orchestral music, I only have a few CDs by Szymanowski, Myaskovsky and Enescu in the form of violin or cello concertos and a few symphonies. The Enescu stuff on Olympia records, I don't listen to much, but I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it. For sale if anyone wants (j/k).


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

*Take a look*

My pride, my tresor!

http://www3.bell.net/svp1/


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

Quality is more important than quantity....Isnt it? Imagine having Complete Bach! Wuash...I'd be so disappointed...Just 5 CDs by Bach would be enough for me! Then...do you have enough considering what you like? That's good...Why more!

Martin, old and wise. LOL


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

*please be free*

to write.....

Martin


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

I read that other thread... youch! I'm glad there aren't many people like that on this board now.

I have around 300-320 physical CDs, all of which have been ripped onto iTunes, which is my preferred listening format. Together the mix of ripped and downloaded music on iTunes makes up about 6000 songs or 50G. Unlike many posters here most of my CDs are gotten from boxed sets - I try to get complete sets of works whenever possible. 

I also have a subscription to Naxos, which I use for any pieces I don't own. Naxos is really a great tool for going in-depth on certain composers.. for instance, I've been using it this past weekend to sample a number of Bach's organ works and cantatas, most of which I had never been exposed to before.


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## Octo_Russ (May 11, 2010)

I have 1200 Classical discs, and another 400 non classical discs.


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## Guest (Jan 2, 2011)

I think there's probably only one conclusion one could draw from the size of a collection, and that only a tentative conclusion, and that is the larger the collection, the more likely that the collector's opinions will be informed ones.

More CDs; more data. More data; more information.

But that's only generally. I know people with much larger collections than mine whose opinions are not terribly reliable. I know people with much smaller collections whose opinions I have found very trustworthy. A person with a large collection may be a bigot. A large collection may be large because there's lots of duplication (of pieces in different performances) or because it consists of everything written by Glazunov and Medtner and Hummel and the like but little or nothing by Schubert or Prokofiev or Lachenmann.

That said, I always find it interesting to see how small the collections are of some of the more opinionated posters. This is true on every board, not just Talk Classical. Of course, one's experience of music may be much broader than is evident in one's collection (c.f., "people with much smaller collections whose opinions [are] trustworthy.")--but if a person has many and very settled opinions about all sorts of music, it is a bit unsettling to find that that person only has a couple of hundred CDs or has only been listening for a couple of years or so.

Makes one wonder, at the very least, just how much concluding ahead of the evidence actually goes on in forums of this sort.


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## Rangstrom (Sep 24, 2010)

some guy said:


> I think there's probably only one conclusion one could draw from the size of a collection, and that only a tentative conclusion, and that is the larger the collection, the more likely that the collector's opinions will be informed ones.
> 
> More CDs; more data. More data; more information.
> 
> ...


I certainly agree. Significant exposure to different performances over time tends discourage absolutes, but if your only data point is a 5 minute clip on youtube your opinions can be dead certain.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

But that's only generally. I know people with much larger collections than mine whose opinions are not terribly reliable.

Of course the alternative possibility is that your opinions aren't very trustworthy.

Indeed, how do you measure "trustworthy"? Is someone only trustworthy when their opinions mirror your own?

Returning to the OP, my own collection has moved somewhat beyond 2000 CDs... I'm not certain as to the exact number as I have so many stacks of discs that I haven't counted awaiting my constructing some additional shelves... and then there's perhaps 300 or 400 LPs in storage (and not played for years). My collection is fairly broad, ranging from medieval chant through contemporary composers. I have a clear preference for vocal music (opera, choral, lieder) but I try to collect the major works in every genre. The composers who I have the deepest collections of would include Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert, Monteverdi, Handel, Debussy, Wagner, Richard Strauss, Mahler, Brahms, Puccini, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, etc... The composer in which I would acknowledge the greatest deficiency in my collection is unquestionably Verdi... who I love... but haven't avidly collected for whatever reason.


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Collecting cd's is a beautiful obsession, but at the same time it's also a frustrating one because I'm sure that some here have a hard time keeping up listening to everything they buy. And you can't listen as many times as you'd like to the cd's you adore because there's always a pile of cd's waiting that you haven't yet heard.


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## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

I only have around 50 classical CDs, but a huge collection of digitised music on my computer. I review new disks via lossless downloads before committing to purchase - with my hifi setup it's every bit as good as playing a CD, but I do like to buy the CD if it deserves it.


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## Elgarian (Jul 30, 2008)

jhar26 said:


> Collecting cd's is a beautiful obsession, but at the same time it's also a frustrating one because I'm sure that some here have a hard time keeping up listening to everything they buy. And you can't listen as many times as you'd like to the cd's you adore because there's always a pile of cd's waiting that you haven't yet heard.


I think it may depend on the way we perceive the activity. For instance, I never think in terms of my 'collection' of books. I think of it as my _library_: that is, as an extended resource for delving into the various subjects that interest me - not necessarily for reading here and now, but anticipating a probable future need. I haven't read all the books I own (in the sense of reading from cover to cover) and I don't think I ever will, but I've 'used' or consulted every one, often many times. So my relationship with my library of books is an ongoing, organic one.

I think of my CDs in the same way. It's not a 'collection' but a library, a _resource_, and my relationship with it changes over time (just as it does with the books), but it's never complete in any way, and I don't expect it to be.


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## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

Argus said:


> Total CD's = 150-200
> 
> Classical CD's = 15


I've done well this year. It's only gone up from 15 to 20. I'm more proud of myself if I manage to resist buying a CD that I don't really want, than unnecessarily expanding my collection. I've already got too many CD's I don't listen to enough.



some_guy said:


> More CDs; more data. More data; more information.


More CD's = more expendable income. Owning discs containing the possibility of music doesn't equate to actually listening to more music.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I've really been into it lately. I've bought a ton of stuff in the past few months. I'm listening to many 20th century composers I never bothered with in the past.

I pretty much exhausted my interest in jazz throughout the past three decades. The last 30 CDs I've purchased are all orchestral/chamber music discs.

Now is a great time to build a collection. I can't believe all of the fantastic box sets available for practically nothing. I love Amazon vendors!

The 2-CD EMI Gemini sets, and Decca/London bargain sets are great as well!


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## Guest (Jan 2, 2011)

Argus said:


> More CD's = more expendable income.


I was in a turntable shop in Pasadena around 12 or 13 years ago to get my Rega reconditioned. I had just purchased a VW New Beetle for 17,000USD, so my comment to the owner when I saw a 20,000USD turntable there was "That cost more than my car!"

His response: "As it should be."

I haven't had a car now for six or seven years. Buying CDs, even at my fairly rapid clip, is much cheaper than buying a car. Is much cheaper even than operating and maintaining a car. And I spend less per month on CDs than I do on rent. (Well, mostly.)

Come to think of it, I haven't had any income for about six or seven years. Just got lucky, I guess. But that means that for me more CDs does not equal more expendable income, that's for sure!



Argus said:


> Owning discs containing the possibility of music doesn't equate to actually listening to more music.


Of course it doesn't. But I buy CDs in order to listen to the music on them. (I'm not in any way a "collector.") The discs I own are discs I listen to. Why, I'm going to go put another one on right now!!


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

I think I have discussed about this topic before. But since "everyone" is keen on it, let me share my story.

I have lost count how many CDs (including DVDs) I have. I crudely estimate the total number to be around 2,000 classical music CDs, please give or take maybe 10% to 20% for variability around the best estimate!

Listening to classical music and reading about the musicology of the piece, its composer and performance practice are musical hobbies of mine. It educates the senses and the mind. It never bores me. The CDs I have range from ancient music (say pre-1500 where its composer(s) maybe unknown) to 20th century music, but the number of CDs by period varies. I don't have any CD of music belonging to the weird electronic fart, crappy junk category for instance. I have mostly Baroque and Classical periods, followed by Romantic; the former two make up almost exclusively of historically informed performance practices.

I buy my CDs from two favourite websites, and sometimes from the various Amazon avenues (especially if items are out of print). In my opinion, CDs have become cheaper for a few good reasons, all excellent for us the consumer. These include sheer competition amongst the labels and internet shops, the vast range of music available to us from all the centuries before us leading to price discounts; I have not bought significant quantities of CDs on full price any longer, say 90% plus of CDs I bought in 2010 were from the websites offering routine price discounts by label (these include discounts from so called budget labels like Naxos to premium labels). I love it.

I'm quite happy with my music collection/library/whatever one prefers to call it. Yes, I do have lots of CDs still in the clear plastic wraps un-opened. _"Buy first, listen later"_ is my disgusting purchasing motto. Why? Because I can afford to, because it is my hobby and because it gives me satisfaction when I listen to it (eventually). I don't think any other hobbies of mine give me as much satisfaction as listening to music (which includes attending concerts but this thread is about CD collection). So dollar for dollar, this music hobby of mine is financially cheap, relatively speaking, juding by satisfaction and dollar spent. (Motoring is another hobby of mine, but cars are quite different and cost significantly way, way more).


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I'm quite happy with my music collection/library/whatever one prefers to call it. Yes, I do have lots of CDs still in the clear plastic wraps un-opened. "Buy first, listen later" is my disgusting purchasing motto. Why? Because I can afford to, because it is my hobby and because it gives me satisfaction when I listen to it (eventually).

Yes... and in many instances I recognize that a given recording may not remain in print forever... or until I have played through everything that I have yet to listen to. This is especially true of music that is not part of the core repertoire... be it recordings of medieval of Renaissance music, Baroque music beyond Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi, and a majority of music by living (or recently deceased) composers.


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## ozradio (Oct 23, 2008)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> weird electronic fart, crappy junk


lmao 
Over 1,000 discs here and it's not enough.


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

Stlukesguildeohio...how old are you? May I ask?

Martin, 59


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## Ralfy (Jul 19, 2010)

Around a thousand, but I bought most locally in Manila due to annual sales. Unfortunately, distributors are no longer importing classical music due to poor sales, so I've to buy new purchases through Amazon (delivered to relatives in the States) or whenever I visit HK.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

I haven't actually counted yet,but I must have at least 300 or so. Bigger than some, but nowhere near the size of others.I'd love to have zillions more,though.
My collection is very quirky, and no one could ever accuse it of being uninteresting !
It lacks many of the most famous masterpieces by Bach,Handel, Moart, etc ,not because I don't love them, but because I've already heard them countless times and have taken advantage of the incredible variety of interesting rarities which are on the market, something which is unprecedented in the history of recorded classical music.
Instead of Bach's B Minor mass and St.Matthew Passion, the Well Tempered Clavier, gGolberg Variations,Handel's Messiah, the Beethoven String quartets and complete piano sonatas, 
and many other beloved staples, I have oddball selections such as Anton Rubinstein's "Ocean" symphony, Respighi's "Sinfonia Drammatica"(his only symphony), the three symphonies of Czech composer Zdenek Fibich (1850-1900 and delightful), the Color symphony of Arthur Bliss, the six symphonies of Carlos Chavez, symphonies 1 and 2 of Enescu, the "Festive" symphony of Smetana(also his only symphony, symphony , and others by Myaskovsky,Szymanowski, Bruch,Korngold, Glazunov,Gliere, John Alden Carpenter, Paul Creston, an early one by Richard Strauss,Johan Svendsen,Vasilly Kallinikov,
Vincent D'Indy, Stefan Wolpe, Balakirev,Berwald, Bax, Khatchaturian, Pfitzner, Franz Schmidt, etc. , and obscure oratorios and other choral works by Max Bruch, Franz Schmidt,Carl Nielsen,
Prokofiev, Szymanowski, etc,miscellaneous orchestral works by Reger, Nielsen, Unno Klami of Finland, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Hugo Alfven, and many others.
Instead of the old standby operas by Verdi,Puccini, Mozart,Rossini, Bizet etc,although I have a few of them, I have instriguing obscure operas by Albert Roussel,Franz Schreker, Riccardo Zandonai, Franz Schmidt, Walter Braunfels, Antonio Carlos Gomes, Rimsky-Koraskov,Alfred Schnittke,Anton Rubinstein, Pavel Haas, Peter Cornelius,Busoni, the rarely performed late ones of Richard Strauss, and Smetana opera other than the Bartred Bride, etc.
And there's much more of interest in it !


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

*I am not bright enough*

But....

stlukesguildohio why do you always write in two colours brown and black as answering yourself...Are you two pepople in one? LOL.

Martin


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

stlukesguildohio why do you always write in two colours brown and black as answering yourself...Are you two pepople in one? LOL.

I use the red to denote quoted dialog that I am responding to. I could use the "quote" feature... but I think that using color is more visually attractive... and I am a visual artist after all.:tiphat:


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

*Oh!*

I use the red to denote quoted dialog that I am responding to. I could use the "quote" feature... but I think that using color is more visually attractive... and I am a visual artist after all. 

I didn't know that...LOL

What do you do?

Actually, I am a languages teacher...before I was a project leader in Information systems.

Martin


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