# Do you keep a CD if you only like 5 minutes of it?



## Radames (Feb 27, 2013)

I got a deal on a Nikos Skalkottas recording: Concerto for 2 Violins; Concertino for 2 Pianos; Nocturnal Amusement.









I've heard people say how good the concerto for 2 violins is, but I couldn't stand it. I loved the stupid light fluff Nocturnal Amusement for xylophone and orchestra though. It's 3:33 long. I'm keeping the disc just for that. Maybe someday I will go back to the violin concerto and like it.

Do you have any CDs that you keep just for a small tidbit?


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

I burn CD-Rs of the good stuff, and resell the chaff.


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## Radames (Feb 27, 2013)

NoCoPilot said:


> I burn CD-Rs of the good stuff, and resell the chaff.


I was thinking of that. But sometimes don't you have to go back to something and listen again?


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Yes, I have CDs where I originally bought them because of one or two movements that were less than 10 minutes each.


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

If I know I'm only gonna like one piece off a recording, I usually try to download just that. I did this with a Naxos Heifetz recording which included Glazunov's Violin Concerto, Bruch's Scottish Fantasy, and Brahms' Double Concerto w/ Feuermann and Ormandy. I knew that only the Brahms would appeal to me, so those are the three tracks I downloaded. Simple.


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

"Do you keep a CD if you only like 5 minutes of it?"

I keep a CD even if I don't like ANY of it. I purchased CDs with music of Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Hindemith, Boulez, etc.; and remained confident that what I understand today will be understood tomorrow. What is mystifying becomes interesting. What is interesting becomes familiar. What is familiar becomes enjoyable.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I probably keep it because nobody wants it and the alternative is the garbage can. Another question might be "do you keep CDs you never listen to?" Many of us probably can apply that to about 80 percent of our collections.


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

Certainly. If I can't find those 5 minutes elsewhere they're definitely worth keeping.


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

I used to keep everything but I culled my collection a while ago knowing that it was highly unlikely I would want to play those particular cds again. I still have works I'm not keen on or some unwanted duplication but it's what else that's on the discs which makes them worth keeping.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

For 5 minutes I would never buy a CD; I'd get the download instead and make a CD with other stuff if I wanted or remaster one of my existing CDs.

Generally if I buy a CD and don't like the whole thing I will remaster the part(s) I want onto another CD then give away the commercial one. I plan to do this with a CD I recently purchased of music by Ester Magi since the only thing I enjoy is her 8-minute fantasy called _Bukoolica_ which I suppose means bucolic.

The CD also has a piano concerto, a piece of chamber music, another short item and a 22-minute Shostakovich-sounding symphony. I'm dedicating all those to whomever I give the CD to (likely my local resale shop.) Anyone that likes Shostakovich might like the symphony -- though there is a better performance on YouTube led by Neemi Jarvi from an out of print LP.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

SixFootScowl said:


> I probably keep it because nobody wants it and the alternative is the garbage can. Another question might be "do you keep CDs you never listen to?" Many of us probably can apply that to about 80 percent of our collections.


Oh I forgot, I can always dump useless CDs in the library donation bin for them to resell. Someone out there might like it.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I can never tell what I will like in the future. I've sold or chucked a good number of CDs and some of them I found myself having to buy again. Skalkottas can be tough if you can't get atonal music but is very rewarding once you have cracked that nut.


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## Radames (Feb 27, 2013)

Enthusiast said:


> I can never tell what I will like in the future. I've sold or chucked a good number of CDs and some of them I found myself having to buy again. Skalkottas can be tough if you can't get atonal music but is very rewarding once you have cracked that nut.


I hope you didn't pay too much. I got the Skalkottas free.


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

Yes, because I have never sold, or gave away, a CD that I have purchased, including those that I really disliked!


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I only buy what I like. :angel:


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Radames said:


> I hope you didn't pay too much. I got the Skalkottas free.


I must confess to not knowing that record. But I have the piano concertos and some other CDs. I play them quite often.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

I'm often a completist, so repertoire-wise, yes, I tend to keep them. As regards recordings chosen because of the performers, much less so. 

Also, and not at least, one's taste can change. I couldn't stand Per Nørgård when starting exploring classical music. Now I enjoy a lot of his music & seek out works not heard.


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## Dan Ante (May 4, 2016)

Oh yes they make very good bird scarers hung on your fruit trees.


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

I often purchase CDs to get to know them both composer- and performer wise. If I despite several attempts persisted to dislike them, I used to cull them - BTW sometimes ripping them first. But I have - like so many others - experienced, that taste changes with time, so now I tend to keep them. This creates of course problems with space, and the space which is at my disposal is not endless like the outer space.


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## erki (Feb 17, 2020)

I lived real happy time some 20 years ago in US. Local second hand record store let me to exchange the CDs I did not like to something else. So I bought something, listened and decided if I want to keep it. I think it was a win-win for both of us - I must have bought hundreds of CDs from them over few years.
Now I buy CDs from local auction site. These come too cheap now to bother - so I just throw away the ones I do not like(or decide to be really bad). It is just a piece of plastic in anyway.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

erki said:


> I lived real happy time some 20 years ago in US. Local second hand record store let me to exchange the CDs I did not like to something else. So I bought something, listened and decided if I want to keep it. I think it was a win-win for both of us - I must have bought hundreds of CDs from them over few years.
> Now I buy CDs from local auction site. These come too cheap now to bother - so I just throw away the ones I do not like(or decide to be really bad). It is just a piece of plastic in anyway.


Our local CD Shoppe, Silver Platters, has a section of 99¢ CDs. I thumb through them sometimes, almost never find anything to take home.

But it makes me sad. Somebody spent the time to write and learn this music, paid money to have it recorded, had a commercial Compact Disc manufactured at some cost, and then tried to distribute it -- only to end up in the cut-outs bin. All that effort for naught.

Somebody said it's just as hard to make bad music as it is good. A lot of people do it anyway(?)


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Radames said:


> I got a deal on a Nikos Skalkottas recording...
> 
> I've heard people say how good the concerto for 2 violins is, but I couldn't stand it. I loved the stupid light fluff Nocturnal Amusement for xylophone and orchestra though. It's 3:33 long. I'm keeping the disc just for that. Maybe someday I will go back to the violin concerto and like it.
> 
> Do you have any CDs that you keep just for a small tidbit?


I don't keep them, I cull them. Some examples which come to mind are these short (or shortish) pieces which where sacrificed in order to be able to cull the whole disc:
- Boulez - Messagesquisse.
- Bach's - Erbarme, dich (from St. Matthew Passion).
- Varese - Ionisation.
- Hovhaness - Return and Rebuild the Desolate Places.
- Josquin - Motet: Inviolata, integra, et casta es Maria.
- Takemitsu - Three Film Scores for String Orch.
- Xenakis - Herma.
- Holst - Egdon Heath.
- Wagner Siegfried Idyll.

I listened to these many times and was familiar enough with them to be comfortable in making the decision. I did a major cull of my classical collection, reducing it from around 1,000 to 350. To make that easier, I did it in stages over a few years and developed a list of criteria. Having only a short work on a disc was one of them. There where other criteria, including mono recordings which inevitably have poor sound quality.

Years ago I was talking to a person who had an earlier career as a pianist, but had switched to more sustainable employment, when he was young. He was of course familiar with not only the piano repertoire but classical music in general. I reflected on the tendency to amass vast amounts of recordings, and asked what he thought about it. He said that there's no use in owning more recordings than you need, because they just end up sitting there gathering dust and you don't get time to listen to them anyway. I'm basically of the same opinion, and although it took a bit of effort to cull overall I have been happy with the result since.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Sid James said:


> I don't keep them, I cull them.


When you say "cull", do you literally mean you throw them out/destroy them, or do you sell them or give them away?


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Most of them went to charities which resell them. A few where given to family or friends.


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## Radames (Feb 27, 2013)

Rogerx said:


> I only buy what I like. :angel:


Don't you ever get something out of curiosity at a shop? I had to hear the Schnabel symphonies, but I had to get rid of that CD.


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