Steven Schwartz wrote:

>...  I must say I wish I could provide a list of even the five greatest
>recordings of the century, but wouldn't that assume that I had heard most
>of the recordings of the century to make my list worth anything at all? ...

I usually look at such list with a shrug...Not only because of the "heard
most of?!" phenomenon mentioned above, but also of the conservatism in the
choice of repertoire.  Even if a recording of a somewhat adventurous nature
qualifies, it is very hard to rally enough votes to get it on the board.
So the final list gets recycled each time this topic comes up.  Magazine
readers read this list again and again, and more people have it in the back
of their heads when they vote next time.

Maybe I don't have the "swallow all" mentality of some collectors.  I
actually buy a fair amount of CDs each year.  With limited budget (also
competing with a book-collecting hobby!?), I can only concentrate on a
certain part of my interest which, unfortunately, is post-1900 and frequent
the library for the "classics."

I would assume not everybody is a generalist.  It seems that there would
be a line somewhere before a newbie collector finds out his/her pocket is
getting thin and starts in a specialized direction.  Even at this, it still
requires a deep pocket, I am afraid.  You will be amazed how many Bartok
discs there are out there, for example.  Then do you rush out to get the
"top ten list" or the Fischer/Ct for Orch/Philips?

Enjoy you listening.

Vachnadze