Bob Draper wrote:

>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).
>
>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.

I agree with Bob.  I enjoy exploring, too:  reading Fanfare and BBC
magazines, wandering around my local Tower (especially the Clearance Bins)
and checking BMG's and CDNOW's websites.  At this point, however, other
than knowing a poor performance when I hear it, I am not usually familiar
enough with a work to be able to make fine distinctions between
performances.  Even though I could never justify to myself buying different
versions of the same work when there is so much else I haven't tried, I
do have Koopman's, Landowska's and Tureck's versions of the Goldberg
Variations.  Not having any musical education (aside from playing the
trumpet from age 8-11 and being able to pick out a tune on the recorder),
listening to how different artists perform the same work is a way for me to
get at least a feel for the varieties of performance, even though I have
little understanding of what is being done, technically.

Ron Chaplin