# Do you Prefer Mixing and Matching of Genres/Eras When you Listen to Classical Music?



## MonagFam (Nov 17, 2015)

As I was recently adding some music to my library, I was thinking how I almost make a concerted effort to select works from different eras. As I often focus on orchestral I don't know that I switch genres as often. At any rate, I was curious if anyone else does this? Do you intentionally try to listen to works across genre and/or era, or will you stick with one for awhile and then move on?


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## Adam Weber (Apr 9, 2015)

I often unconsciously get stuck in a rut listening to a particular era, but I'm happier when I switch it up.


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## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

Sort of I generally listen to Bach to start the day off the rest of the day is spent re-listening to someone new I like (by new I mean new to me so any era but usually 20th century) at night is when I do my exploring new music I've never heard, which lately has been Brian Havergal's symphonies...

My music collection is alphabetized and to be honest I make a conscious decision to try to add new composers whose last names don't begin with B, M, or S as those lettered composers names take up nearly half of my collection. This is what happens when you have most all of Bach, Beethoven, Bartok, Barber followed by Mozart, Mendelssohn, Mahler, Myaskovsky and so on.


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## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

I listen to whatever I'm in the mood for, but I seldom jump around between chamber music, orchestral, opera etc. With the exception of my 'assigned' Saturday Symphony today it's been largely chamber works.


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## drnlaw (Jan 27, 2016)

D Smith said:


> * * * I seldom jump around between chamber music, orchestral, opera etc. * * *


Hmm. For me it's just the opposite. My musical taste comprises almost exclusively romantic and post-romantic-but-still-tonal eras, but I very consciously alternate among music forms. A symphony followed by an opera followed by a piece of chamber music followed by whatever. Within my preferred musical eras, I do make SOME effort, but less effort, to mix it up.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I jump around between genres all of the time. I rarely listen to just symphonies or just string quartets etc. I also jump around between composers all of the time. I rarely listen to one composer continuously for days at a time. As a result, I don't stick to any era when listening, although I do listen to Romantic and onward much more than Classical and earlier (with the exception of a few key composers, most notably Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven).


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

I rarely fixate on a particular composer (although I got on a Scarlatti kick last month). In a given listening session, I am likely to stay within a particular era and genre, but not over multiple sessions, even on a single day.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

I mix and match all of the time.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Yes, definitely. The more contrast the better.


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## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

I just listen to whatever I'm in the mood for as well, but I often get obsessed with a composer or a particular genre of their works and will listen to that primarily for a while. I also tend to mix-and-match classical with pop music and jazz.


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

Like others above I listen to what I'm in the mood for.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

I may listen to Handel and then followed by late Beethoven. But I don't consciously do that based on eras per se. It's based on the works themselves.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

I have in the past tended to just listen to what grabbed my fancy.
But, thanks to TC and many great recommendations I have started more sustained listening phases to some composers or periods. For instance I had a Mahler run over Christmas, which has now become a north European romantic phase.
There is just too much choice out there


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

There's a good balanced mix of genres and eras in my collection. For casual listening I use shuffle play. For deep listens that I report on Current Listening, for instance, I try to alternate between a group of chamber mostly from one era, then a group of orchestral from another era the next time, or else I try to connect the deep listening selections thematically somehow, e.g. all from one nationality, etc.

Whatever I listen to, it usually doesn't take long to get in the mood for it, and often I don't know what I'm in the mood for anyway.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Never. I won't even mix composers. Currently I am listening to nothing other than different performances of Shostakovich's Fourth and Eighth Symphonies. Nothing else. It's how hpowders rolls.


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## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)

posting about mixing composers i found this on facebook if it has been posted before sorry


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I've tried to focus on a single composer for a while, but can never stay with it. I have a restless nature - a need for frequent change.


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## Guest (Feb 1, 2016)

I listen to both good and bad. Sometimes I can't tell the difference.


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## Guest (Feb 1, 2016)

Tonight's listening was: Penderecki Cello Concerto, Lutoslawski 1st Symphony, Exodus Blood in Blood out and Beethoven 7th Symphony. I had Exodus on because I wanted something loud on while I was dismembering the body. Ha, just kidding. I didn't dismember the body.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

I listen to whatever I'm in the mood for jumping from on to another, doesn't bother me at all


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

I can only obsessively listen to a piece when I am stressed. And by 'obsessively' I mean for weeks on end. My last obsession was Olivier Grief's Requiem and I am still not quite over it—fragments are often playing in my head.


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