# Complete works of...



## Wicked_one (Aug 18, 2010)

I've been pondering on this one for some time now...

Say you are going outside and you see in your local store "The Complete Works of *insert composer name*". You buy it, you forget the reason you got out in the 1st place, rush back home, open the box and you see that the CD's are categorized: symphonies, string quintets, choral music, lovely things, piano sonatas and so on.

My question is: how are you going to listen to these CD's? Go to Wikipedia - _List of composition by opus number_ and listen to them in a chronological (maybe) order or you will go through the CD's just like they are in the box? 1st CD - 2 symphonies, 2nd CD - the next 2 symphonies and so on...? 

:tiphat:


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Box for me probably. I am **** that way.


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## PicklePepperPiper (Aug 3, 2010)

Shuffle works for me - but if there's movements involved I have to listen to all the movements, in order, one after the other.

Failing that, shuffle, without me looking at the piece name so I just listen and base a judgement on that.

-PPP


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## Conor71 (Feb 19, 2009)

Ive never owned a Complete Edition but I think if I was to attempt to listen to one I would want to mix up the listening a bit by listening to a Disc of Symphonies followed by a Disc of Chamber music etc. rather than attempting to listen to the entire Set sequentially.

I do own quite a few large Box-sets of (e.g) Piano Sonatas, String Quartets and such by particular Composers and have listened to those sequentially as its cool to hear the progression in style that a Composer has within a set of compositions as well.

:tiphat:


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## Toccata (Jun 13, 2009)

I assume that the box set of complete works you are envisaging is of a composer whose output you are either wholly or mainly not familiar with?

This is relevant because some people acquire box sets of complete works only after they have already gained a pretty good appreciation of that composer's works. In that case, the question wouldn't arise as regards the order in which one might most profitably listen to the entire collection, as it would presumably be much less of a hit or miss exercise.

In the case of unknown composers, I wouldn't dream of buying a box set of their entire output if it involved any significant expenditure. That's because large chunks of their output are probably not worth listening to. I deduce this because if the said works are worth listening to then the composer wouldn't be unknown (at least to me).

Supposing someone gave me such a box set, I would likely go to Wikipedia or ArkivMusic to find out which particular works may be popular or worth a listen. I may possibly try some of the other CDs but more than likely I'd chuck them out.


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## Wicked_one (Aug 18, 2010)

Good point, Opal!

Let's say the box set we're talking about is Beethoven. I know his symphonies and piano sonatas, the violin concert and some piano concertos as well. If I were to buy such a box set with all of his complete works and go to Wikipedia looking for the popular stuff, there would be less interests for the other least popular works (and maybe there's some interesting stuff as well)

Should I go through all of them there would be no time to digest and put my finger on the ones I like or enjoy cause, you know, information overload, even with the score in front of me...


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

When I got such box set last time I did the following: went to TC, typed composer's name in searching engine to find thread about him, looked for posts by members that I consider fragrant and listened to works that they recommended :tiphat:


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## Boccherini (Mar 29, 2010)

I would reject to buy it in the first place.


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## Toccata (Jun 13, 2009)

Wicked_one said:


> Good point, Opal!
> 
> Let's say the box set we're talking about is Beethoven. I know his symphonies and piano sonatas, the violin concert and some piano concertos as well. If I were to buy such a box set with all of his complete works and go to Wikipedia looking for the popular stuff, there would be less interests for the other least popular works (and maybe there's some interesting stuff as well)
> 
> Should I go through all of them there would be no time to digest and put my finger on the ones I like or enjoy cause, you know, information overload, even with the score in front of me...


Having just checked frequency of play on my PC, these are the works of Beethoven that appeal to me most (first best) by genre:

Symphony: 9, 5, 6, 3, 7, 8, 1

String Quartet: 13, 14, 15, 11, 7, 9

Cello Sonata: 3, 5, 2

Quintet for piano and winds - Op 16

Violin Sonata: 9, 5

Piano Trio: No 6, 5

Piano Concerto: 5, 4, 3, 1, 2

Piano Sonata: 14, 23, 32, 21, 31, 29, 8, 27, 17

Piano Solo: Diabelli variations Op 120, Fur Elise, Rage over a lost penny, Eroica Variations Op 35

Sacred: Missa Solemnis

Overtures: Leonora No 3, Egmont, Coriolan, Creatures of Prometheus

Other Orchestral: VC, Romance for Violin & Orchestra Nos 1 & No 2

Choral orchestral: Choral Fantasy

Songs: Adelaide, Der Kuss, An die Geliebte

.............

There isn't much of Beethoven's output I don't like. I seldom play the Triple Concerto, however. I'm not madly keen on opera so I tend to shy away from Fidelio as a complete work, although there are some excellent pieces that I do listen to. Lately, I've been hunting around to collect all the odd bits missing from my WoO and Hess categories. But I'm a collector!


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

I would go for works that interest me first, like lieder, chamber music, symphonies, and then go on to other things (although for Bach I'd probably go straight for the cantatas and then the mass and passions).


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## ozradio (Oct 23, 2008)

I love the box sets and usually listen starting at the beginning. Since I'm relatively new to classical music I frequently will go through and listen to the famous pieces first. I do skip lieder, such as with the Brahms and Schubert sets, because they don't interest me.


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## djmomo17 (Aug 12, 2010)

I was not real familiar with Beethoven when I got 2 complete editions of his work within a 3 month period (the DG set and the Brilliant Classics box). I went through the DG set in disc order starting with Symphony 1, but I would take breaks from the 16 string quartets or 32 piano sonatas by randomly sampling something from disc "52" or whatever, just to keep it fresh. Like a few Lieder, a few piano trios, etc....organ works... For the second box set I knew all the works somewhat and I would just pick out superior performances to the DG set and listen to those.


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## Wicked_one (Aug 18, 2010)

It's not about Beethoven, it's about one's favorite composer who just purchased a complete set like this. I chose Beethoven cause I know he has a lot of music written for you name it 

I'm not a fan of lieder in general, but Liszt's transcriptions (of Schubert) are just wonderful. 

Anyhow, at the end of the day, I'm thinking that the best way is to choose a CD, put it on and see what comes to you: little theme, lovely intro, whole piece, who knows?


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

I have two 100-CD box sets, one of just symphonies by various composers and the other just piano music of various composers. I am currently trying to listen to the piano box set in order, though it gets hard hearing the same style of music for a long period of time >_<

And it's impossible to do that for the 100-CD symphony box set, unless you can stand listening to Haydn symphonies for 30 straight CDs.


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## Wicked_one (Aug 18, 2010)

I wonder how's the feeling of listening to Leslie Howard's Liszt. I'll have to try it one day, I do. 

Haven't listened to a lot of Haydn, but I will check some of his symphonies. Thanks for the idea!


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