# Classical Music Related New Year's Resolutions?



## Queen of the Nerds (Dec 22, 2014)

What are your classical music related New Year's Resolutions?
I'll start.
1. To listen to AT LEAST 50 12-tone classical music pieces.
2. To listen to this MONSTROUSLY LONG playlist of many assorted classical music pieces that I have not heard before or I that just need to listen to the complete version of.
3. To listen to AT LEAST 50 medieval and Renaissance classical music pieces.
4. Listen to all the Mahler symphonies.

Your turn!


----------



## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Easy... finish listening to the whole Scott Ross box set of Scarlatti keyboard sonatas.
Encode at least 1500 albums total into lossless ALAC.
Listen to Pollini Beethoven piano sonata cycle.


----------



## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Be more focused on listening to great pieces and spend less time on lesser pieces other than for education.


----------



## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

- To listen to more 20th and 21th century music.
- To explore the great composers I'm the least familiar with (Josquin, Rameau, the 2nd Viennese School, Bartok, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, etc.)
- To watch/listen to more opera.
- To watch/listen Wagner's _Ring_.
- To listen to all the Bruckner and Mahler symphonies.
- Probably something else I've forgotten about.


----------



## aajj (Dec 28, 2014)

- Discover additional Schubert piano sonata recordings.
- Discover additional Bartok piano concerto and string quartet recordings. 
- Listen to the John Adams violin concerto at least once per month. 
- Read _The Leonard Bernstein Letters_.
- Possibly expand my limited interest in opera. 
- Seek out worthwhile 21st century music. 
- Groan less often at the excessive play of Baroque era music on classical radio stations. Baroque is fine but radio goes way overboard. 
- Always listen to Russian composers named Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Mussorgsky.
- Occasionally listen to Russian composers named Shostakovich and Borodin. 
- Never listen to Russian composers named Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.


----------



## Jeff W (Jan 20, 2014)

-More Baroque. I have an embarrassingly small selection of Baroque music. Going to start off with Telemann.
-Fill out on chamber music. Chamber music has clicked more and more for me, so I want to add more and more of it.
-Expand more into sacred choral\vocal works. Really like these now! Didn't used to...

Ummm... I'll add more here if I think of anything!


----------



## Tero (Jun 2, 2012)

Listen to 100 discs. Dispose at least 20.

Get turntable. Play 5 remaining LPs. Rest of LPs are rock etc.


----------



## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Learn a couple of new piano pieces
Listen to all the composers that I like and explore their music (even) more
Discover new music and new composers in any genre


----------



## Guest (Jan 1, 2015)

I just reset all my play counts to zero, and am planning to listen through my entire collection yet again -- probably by July or so. No small undertaking -- more than 1000 hours of music!

I'm also planning to complete my "album rating" project. Previously I have given ratings to all works but not albums.

Also, I want to limit new purchases to four a month, and only music pre-screened on iTunes or Spotify.

Carpe annum!


----------



## xpangaeax (Oct 1, 2013)

aajj said:


> - Never listen to Russian composers named Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.


To each their own but...my goodness this really does not compute!


----------



## xpangaeax (Oct 1, 2013)

I want to include my 2014 resolution which was to attend at least 10 performances of classical music, since prior I had only been to about 2-3 total in my life. This year I bought a subscription to the Richmond Symphony, but there were only 2 pieces in 2014. I went to the Met once, and also went to a performance of the 6 Bach Cello Suites by a local Chamber music society, so I at least did 4...

2015 I will spend exploring the files I have amassed of the major composers that I am interested in as of right now. I am still new to the game, so going after 21st century stuff and finding deep cuts isn't really a priority yet. My list is: Mahler, Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Dvorak, Wagner, Bach. I will probably sporadically throw in things like Haydn, Verdi, Brahms, Chopin, who I have works by. I will also listen to whatever upcoming performances there are. Lastly, I think I will buy some sort of Met subscription or Guild membership in the fall, and make more trips up.


----------



## Queen of the Nerds (Dec 22, 2014)

Der Leiermann said:


> - To listen to more 20th and 21th century music.
> - To explore the great composers I'm the least familiar with (Josquin, Rameau, the 2nd Viennese School, Bartok, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, etc.)
> - To watch/listen to more opera.
> - To watch/listen Wagner's _Ring_.
> - To listen to all the Bruckner and Mahler symphonies.


I totally agree! I'll add thise to my list. Also, why is it that "totes" appears first on my word selection after typing "to"?


----------



## Queen of the Nerds (Dec 22, 2014)

I will continue here:
1. To get more of an appreciation for Wagner, Rachmaninoff, and Shostakovich.
2. To get AT LEAST ten people to like classical music.
3. To listen to more Baroque!
4. To listen to ballet music composed by someone other than Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, or Prokofiev.
5. To listen to more piano music.


----------



## samurai (Apr 22, 2011)

Simply to continue in my enjoyment of and learning from classical music. It is truly a never ending journey of exploration--and, sometimes--discovery.


----------



## omega (Mar 13, 2014)

Listen to :

Chostakovich (symphonies and string quartets)
Schumann (symphonies)
Haydn
Dutilleux
Bax
Lutoslawski
Berg
Schönberg
more Bach and baroque music
etc.


----------



## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

I wow to:

- Have fun
- Not to be afraid
- Seek out the unknown
- Do some more musical archaeology
- Further develop the art of irony
- Unashamedly salute Dmitri Shostakovich as the greatest composer ever!
- did I write, have more fun!

/ptr


----------



## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

Queen of the Nerds said:


> 4. To listen to ballet music composed by someone other than Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, or Prokofiev.


Debussy's Jeux and Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé. You didn't ask for recommendations but you _have_ to hear those.


----------



## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

albertfallickwang said:


> Easy... finish listening to the whole Scott Ross box set of Scarlatti keyboard sonatas.
> Encode at least 1500 albums total into lossless ALAC.
> Listen to Pollini Beethoven piano sonata cycle.


Also add in another resolution... my goal is to have all of the Bach Guild budget box sets from iTunes and Amazon mp3.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

So far my only goal is to go to my used CD store tomorrow and pick up Dohnanyi's Webern recording before somebody else gets it.


----------



## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

manxfeeder said:


> so far my only goal is to go to my used cd store tomorrow and pick up dohnanyi's webern recording before somebody else gets it.


you go, girl!!!


----------



## MagneticGhost (Apr 7, 2013)

To listen a little more and to buy a little less


----------



## Queen of the Nerds (Dec 22, 2014)

I have Jeux on my iPod!


----------



## Polaris (Jan 2, 2015)

My goal for this year is to actually listen to and truly understand classical music in general. I want to become an aficionado, but that's going to take longer than a year. I have an assortment of classical mp3's from iTunes but part of my audiophile hobby is to hear music as it was actually played and mp3's are terrible in terms of actual listening experience. So starting today, I have bought or re-bought in this case 2 classical albums. I went with what was familiar, so I bought Joshua Bell's Vivaldi Four Season's and Bach. Four Season's I had previously purchased on iTunes. So in a few days I will have the actual album at the higher audio quality.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Manxfeeder said:


> So far my only goal is to go to my used CD store tomorrow and pick up Dohnanyi's Webern recording before somebody else gets it.


Rats. Somebody else got it. The year's ruined.


----------



## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

I have none, other than a resolve to get back to practicing my instrument and comping after a one-year hiccup / haitus... that though, a resolve already made in mind before New Years, and not at all connected to the arbitrary business of attaching it the the rollover of the calender / odometer.


----------



## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

I don't really have a resolution for this year in particular. Generally my aim is the same as every year: play music as often as possible, learn as much as possible, try not to die.


----------



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Queen of the Nerds said:


> To get AT LEAST ten people to like classical music


The music will take care of itself.


----------



## soundoftritones (Dec 24, 2014)

1. I want to learn more about tonal music. As much as it hurts my ears (as an extremely avid Renaissance to Romantic Era music listener), the structure really interests me and I'd like to grow to appreciate it more - if not for the music, for the creativity, at the very least.

2. Listen to more guitar solo music!

3. Return a Bach CD collection that I bought a few years ago that had Chopin Nocturnes and Polonaises mistakenly copied on it instead. I was horrified that, when anticipating to relax to a lovely Bach cantata, I found myself listening to an very... _exciting _ Polonaise...

Though nothing can quite deter my love for Chopin, this shook me up for quite a while. =_=


----------



## Oscarf (Dec 13, 2014)

MagneticGhost said:


> To listen a little more and to buy a little less


+1 ... But started failing miserably... Just added another 90 or so CDs in the last two weeks

A more reasonable resolution could be to go back and listen again to all Shostakovitch Bruckner and Sibelius symphonies


----------



## Balthazar (Aug 30, 2014)

I am following the lead of András Schiff and endeavoring to play some Bach first thing each morning as a matter of "mental hygiene." I would like to go straight through the WTC Book 1, changing it up every week or two.

And I have a stack of books to read ranging from C.P.E. Bach's _Essay on the True Art of Keyboard Playing_ to Ashbrook and Powers' _Puccini's Turandot_.


----------



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

So I'm hoping not to screw up my iTunes library, or to have a backup ready when anything happens to it. 

I can't figure out any other specific resolutions.


----------



## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

I will endeavor to put a more concerted effort in exploring music I haven't heard including music written after the year 1940. This is a prospect I find endlessly thrilling and I will start as soon as I am able...


----------



## Queen of the Nerds (Dec 22, 2014)

trazom said:


> I will endeavor to put a more concerted effort in exploring music I haven't heard including music written after the year 1940. This is a prospect I find endlessly thrilling and I will start as soon as I am able...


Now that I think about it, I need to add that to my list...


----------



## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

DeepR said:


> Learn a couple of new piano pieces
> Listen to all the composers that I like and explore their music (even) more
> Discover new music and new composers in any genre


... and achieve this by spending less time on forums.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Oscarf said:


> +1 ... But started failing miserably... Just added another 90 or so CDs in the last two weeks
> 
> A more reasonable resolution could be to go back and listen again to all Shostakovitch Bruckner and Sibelius symphonies


Maybe you should start with Shostakovich, go to Sibelius, and end with Bruckner. At least you'll end the year feeling better.


----------



## classicalremix (Jan 6, 2015)

To listen as much as I can!


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

To listen to composers other than J.S. Bach...but it's not working.


----------



## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

I will use the following words at least 15 times each in completely unrelated posts this year

-Frivolous
-Ergo
-Defenestration 
-Copious


----------



## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Another resolution is to listen to both composers of the month and not neglect any of them.


----------



## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

I'm a little late but a few relevant resolutions of mine are:

To develop a better understanding of music, beginning with String Quartets. To this end I have a couple of books which will start me off in the right direction.
Further to the above, to read around the history of Composers I particularly enjoy. Reading figures highly in my New Year Resolutions this year.
To continue the process of streamlining my music collection as following my final order for the foreseeable future earlier today, space is at a premium. It is my final order because my final resolution is...
To save up and upgrade certain elements of my Hi-FI. In particular I wish to:


Upgrade my Turntable - presently an Ion USB unit
Upgrade my Speaker Cables and Bi-Wire my Speakers in the process
Acquire Speaker Stands for my Speakers to better locate them
Find a way to stream Media from iTunes/my Computer to my HiFi - something to research as I have no idea where to start here - perhaps a question to ask in the relevant sub-forum when I am in a position to act.


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

To get my dog to like Mahler.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

hpowders said:


> To get my dog to like Mahler.


It can be done. Bruckner's students got his dog to wag his tail at his music. Also, they got it to howl at Wagner's.

http://www.classicfm.com/composers/bruckner/guides/mops-dog-was-hungry-anton-bruckner/


----------

