My niche seems to be Piano Concertos.  I have in excess of 725 different
works and over 1500 performances, but I haven't updated my list in several
weeks, so I probably have more.

I don't necessarily set out to get multiple performances, but as we all
know, that new wonderful performance might be out there somewhere just
waiting for me to find it.  My weakness are the concertos of Brahms and
Rachmaninoff.  I have 25 versions of both of the Brahms works with 48
of 1 and 44 of 2.  My Rachmaninoff collections has 63 versions of both
the 2nd and 3rd but only 50 of the Rhapsody.

No, I don't like all of them, but how was I to know which ones?  What
is amazing to me is how few recordings I can call my absolute favorites.
For the Brahms 2, I choose Zimerman/Bernstein and for the Rach 3, Helfgott
(just kidding).  I actually tend to like Rodriguez's for bringing out
so many little features that I don't hear in other performances and I
have a weak spot for the Cliburn/Kondrashin since it was my first.

As for collecting, I still have EVERY record and CD I have ever had
except for 2 that I gave to my cousin in a weak moment years ago. 
It seems that the nicest people I know are Piano Concerto Collectors.

Joel Hill
Tallahassee, FL - USA
ALKAN Web Page: http://www.nettally.com/joelhill/alkan

             ***********************************************
The CLASSICAL mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R)
list management software together with L-Soft's HDMail High Deliverability
Mailer for reliable, lightning fast mail delivery.  For more information,
go to:  http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html