Bob Draper:

>> I have been surprised at the way some list members are so obsessed
>> with purchasing multiple copies of the same work in order to
>> chase that dream of  a performance of absolute perfection.

Deryk Barker:

>You assume that's why we do it. For me, it's because the greatest music
>has so much in it that one performer can't reveqal everything. After 35
>years of listening to Beethoven and Mahler I continue to discover more
>and more in their music.

There is that.  That's more or less the reason I have three or four
recordings of each of the Sibelius symphonies.

More often, though, it's Naxos's fault - I've got a perfectly good
recording of a work I enjoy, and for petty cash I can hear a second
opinion, so why not?

>> For me classical music is a journey of exploration. I want to peek
>> into as many dusty corners as possible and dig out the gems to be
>> found there. Better to spend my money doing this than purchasing
>> umpteen copies of Beethoven's ninth (for instance).
>
>Well, one might argue that a 2nd-rate performance of B9 is preferable
>to a first-rate performance of some of the stuff which has surfaced on
>CD in recent years. But I'll stick with the case I made earlier: great
>music needs to be heard in different interpretations.

One might also argue that to understand why B9 is so great, one must know
something of the context in which it was written. What were other composers
doing at the same time? IMO knowing something of the music of Vorisek or
Crotch helps one appreciate Beethoven.

It's fair enough to say that great music needs to be heard in different
interpretations - I don't disagree - but "great music" is subjective. The
"journey of exploration" is the way of finding what to me is great music.
It's a particularly pleasant journey in that one keeps tripping over very
enjoyable music on the way.

>> Surely it is somewhat parochial to stay with the same repertoire
>> over and over. Also, dare I say that this attitude seems to be
>> characterised by those who have fetish over Austro-German composers.
>
>Pleas withdraw the word "fetish" or we may come to blows.....

Fetish (n), "an object of irrational reverence or excessive devotion".
Since CM is a continuing tradition spanning six continents and several
centuries, using the term to describe someone who listens _only_ to music
from one century and one linguistic group doesn't seem out of order to me.

I would guess that more people prefer Brahms to (for example) Martucci,
Parry or Chadwick than vice versa. That's personal preference, and
unobjectionable.  Maintaining that Brahms was the greatest composer ever,
and belittling the music of Martucci, Parry, Chadwick and others while
never having heard a note of these composers is irrational reverence and/or
excessive devotion. Bob's hypothesis that people holding these views exist
seems plausible enough, and he may even have met some of them.

Peter Varley
[log in to unmask]