Any glaring omissions in your library?

[Mark Antony Owen]

There are plenty in mine. Here are just a few of the more shameful ones:

- Almost all of Tchaikovsky's, Vaughan William's, Prokofiev's and most of Haydn's, Schubert's and Mendelssohn's symphonies.

- Anything by Glinka

- Most of Beethoven's piano sonatas

- Most operas (not surprising, as I'm not really a fan)

- Almost all of Bach's cantatas

- Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Bks I & II

... and much more, I'm sorry to admit.


How about you? Come on, own up!

[Brendan]

Prokofiev, Russian opera and AC. Could probably do with more Liszt, too.

[IcedNote]

Pretty much everything by Mozart (except the Requiem), because he bores the $&^#@! out of me.

-G

[Corlyss_D]

Pretty much everything by Mozart (except the Requiem), because he bores the $&^#@! out of me.

-G

Philistine!

[Mark Antony Owen]

My Mozart CDs have multiplied significantly just recently, both through purchases made out of curiosity and thanks to a magazine subscription offer that earned me the Brilliant Classics 40-CD Mozart Masterworks set! I don't find him boring, but I prefer Haydn ... hence my shame at admitting to owning so few of his symphonies. Think I've only got 13, 36, 76, 77, 101, 102 and 104.

[IcedNote]

Pretty much everything by Mozart (except the Requiem), because he bores the $&^#@! out of me.

-G

Philistine!

It's just.....too.......perfect.......??

-G

[Haydnseek]

I have very little Bach although I admire his music very much. I was considering buying one of the complete editions at one point when the stock market was roaring and the dollar was strong but that got postponed indefinitely. As I don't collect many versions of the same work my collection feels otherwise pretty full, at least for the time being, and purchases of classical music have slowed to a trickle over the last couple of years. I do plan however to get a couple of Mozart operas I don't own and the new Naxos recording of Mendelssohn's Octet.

[Ralph]

I have never been able to complete my collection of works by Anonymous although I try very hard.

[lmpower]

I am in the same situation as Haydnseek. I admire Bach, but I do not own his cantatas, oratorios, magnificat, St. John Passion. I do have the St. Matthew Passion and B minor mass though, so I feel that I possess the best of Bach in my collection. Perhaps someone could suggest the most outstaning recording of Bach cantatas.

[Eternalstudent]

Pretty much everything by Mozart (except the Requiem), because he bores the $&^#@! out of me.

-G

As much as I enjoy singing Mozart (Dalla sua Pace at the moment), I can't tolerate listening to much of his work. Meh, I consider myself a modernist at heart and I don't mind admitting I only own his Requiem.

As for omissions that I need to rectify... everything. No Shostakovitch, no Prokofiev, no Crumb, no Penderecki, no Glass, no Reich, no Adams, no Schoenberg, no Webern, no Langlais, no Reger, no Vierne, no Schubert, no Schumann, no Wolf, no Strauss, no Ravel, no Debussy... In fact I own under thirty classical CDs and I doubt I will get too many more in the near future. A pox on all Universities and massive debt!

[Corlyss_D]

With a couple of exceptions, I don't much care for anything written after 1936 (Respighi's death date).

[greymouse]

I don't have any opera in my roughly 200 CD classical collection other than the usual miscellaneous overtures and excerpts. This is a horrible omission, but it's difficult to fix since they tend to be expensive and I don't have much disposable income.

Maybe I will make it a point to purchase one opera CD set every 3 months.

[karlhenning]

Any glaring omissions in your library?

Dittersdorf

[Harvested Sorrow]

Pretty much everything by Mozart (except the Requiem), because he bores the $&^#@! out of me.

-G

Same, although I own an opera too (and some random chamber works).

I need to look into his chamber music, though.


Aside from that..Haydn as a whole, I need more Bach, and definitely need to explore Schubert's chamber music and more of Schumann's piano music.

[Lark Ascending]

Apart from excerpts on compilation CDs I have nothing by Bach, Haydn, Handel, no Mozart symphonies, only one Beethoven symphony (the 6th), no opera, early music, baroque and, surprisingly, no 12 tone

[karlhenning]

Any glaring omissions in your library?

Dittersdorf

Correction: I have been told that is a shining omission

[Mark Antony Owen]

Any glaring omissions in your library?

Dittersdorf

I've just listened to a small sample of his works on Naxos, and I have to say I'm not too keen to add him to my collection. I found his sinfonias like much 18th Century music: a bit too formulaic; a tad 'music by numbers'. All very agreeable as background music, to my ears at least, but not something for which I'd book concert tickets.

[Cyril Ignatius]

Bach - very little indeed.

Xavier Scharwenka - I have a great concerto of his, but need the works for solo piano.

Lupu performing Brahms.

[Wallingford]

I could always use more Buxtehude.

[Reed]

Piano music of Schumann. In fact, I have very little Schumann other than the symphonies. Until recently, I wasn't that interested in him. Now, I am becoming so, so now there's something ELSE to spend money on.

I don't have a few of Bethoven's string quarters, little Schubert piano music. With thousands of CDs, you'd think I'd have some of the major bases covered.

On the other hand, I have four or five versions of Szymanowski's Third Symphony, two of Sauget's ballet Les Forains, four of Korngold's Symphony, two of Koechlin's Jungle Book cycle, and other relative obscurities.

[Jack Kelso]

The postings here are fascinating in that they show our most intimate tastes. Three recordings of one Szymanowski symphony is a highly personal admission. I've got one recording of all three.

I've got ALL the 19th century orchestral works---even those of Volkmann, Raff, Gade, Goetz, Bruch, Goldmark, Rubinstein and the Swiss symphonist Hans Huber. 17th and 18th centuries show lots of concerti, oratorios, etc. by Handel, Bach, Purcell, Haydn, Gluck, Danzi (our Schwetzingen-born master!) Mozart and the Italians. The Italians..?!

There we have it: what I DON'T have---the Italian operas! I can go and see one live, but I haven't bothered to collect them.

Modern? A little from everyone, lots from some---even enough 12-tone to be at least representative and keep me off Karl Henning's black list.

Jack

[premont]

My library contains almost no romantic or modern music except for some Beethoven, Bartok and a few other "lesser" composers. However since money and time have got a natural limit, this reflects my preference for early music more than it means lack of interest in later music.

[Jack Kelso]

My library contains almost no romantic or modern music except for some Beethoven, Bartok and a few other "lesser" composers. However since money and time have got a natural limit, this reflects my preference for early music more than it means lack of interest in later music.

Certainly a Bach fan like yourself would love Schumann's works, like the "Symphonic Etudes" (called the greatest set of variations for keyboard since Bach) for pianoforte. Also Mendelssohn's oratorios are an homage to J. S. Bach and contain beautiful things.

P.S.: By the way, did you invest in a couple of Handel oratorios? As I recall, you wanted to get recordings in German....

Grüße,
Jack

[PJME]

There are many omissions in my collection. I hardly have " the classics/Iron repertoire".
But I listen to the radio on a daily basis. I can choose from:
VRT - Klara / Belgian national radio - Flemish Station. Mainly classical. There is a jazz program,a folkmusic program, a daily program made by guests that has pop,rock,electronics etc, organ/early/Baroque music
RTBF MUsiques 3 - Belgian national Radio - Walloon station. Roughly the same programmation.Slightly more serious and a less "childish" approach of the listener.
The Netherlands: Radio 4: very good, very broad programming.From Operetta to avant garde, via Jazz and Folk/ethnic. Dutch music is played.
France : France Musique : the French still have two large symphony orchestras ( Le national et le Philharmonique),a large chorus ,a "Maitrise "(children's chorus) a national Jazz orchestra. Many exchanges with Saarbrucken/Germany and other stations.
http://www.radiofrance.fr/chaines/orchestres/accueil/
All these stations are member of the European Broadcasting Union - so we get a lot of music : from Iceland to Turkey and Greece.
Great Britain : BBC 3 - the classic example in every sense. In July the Proms will turn my living room into a concerthall.
Germany: WDR 3. I'm looking forward to http://www.musiktriennalekoeln.de/. Inspired and daring programming.
VRT 1 (news & info) has a weekly program on classical music & events.
On TV, ARTE shows concerts,operas (often with France Musiques),gives info.
So, I can listen to Beethoven, Mozart,Bach,Handel,Bruckner...Bizet and Verdi all day long. (Yesterday, live: Elisso Virsaladse with the Beethoven Academy in 3 Mozart pianoconcertos)
I "invest" in rare repertoire.From forgotten Belgian composers to Roy Harris ,Darius Milhaud, Arthur Honegger and Szymanowski ( I have three versions of symphony nr 3 aswell...)
I play Bach a lot (cantatas),plenty of early Music ...enjoy occasionaly Respighian bombast and Miklos Rozsa kitsch

[karlhenning]

. . . even enough 12-tone to be at least representative and keep me off Karl Henning's black list.

:-)

Jack, I appreciate the jest . . . though I trust I do not really have any such ogre-like rap :-)

[Jack Kelso]

. . . even enough 12-tone to be at least representative and keep me off Karl Henning's black list.

Jack, I appreciate the jest . . . though I trust I do not really have any such ogre-like rap

Good that you took it for what it was---just a jack-joke!

Best,
Jack

[rogch]

I could always use more Buxtehude.

So could i. And Bach, Rameau, Lully, Corelli, Vivaldi, Bieber etc. I get ruined just to think about it. I have quite a few baroque recordings, but it is impossible to get enough of them. But Bach's mass in h minor and Corelli's concerto grossi top the list of works i have to buy from that period, together with Buxtehude's trio sonatas.

Apart from the baroque period the worst omissions in my collection are probably Mahler's ninth symphony and Das Lied von der Erde. Other embarrassing omissions: Most of Mozart's operas, Beethoven's Diabelli variations, Chopin's nochturnes, Schönberg's verklarte nacht, Prokofiev's Aleksander Nevsky suite, just about all important cello concertos except from Haydn's.... I really don't know why i haven't bought more of them, it is definitely not because i don't like them. And among the few cello concertos i own we find the not too obvious candidates Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Alfred Schnittke. Not at all bad concertos, but not the usual ones to start with...

[FrankAderholdt]

The complete recorded operas of Massenet -- but I think I'll get over it.

[premont]

P.S.: By the way, did you invest in a couple of Handel oratorios? As I recall, you wanted to get recordings in German....
Jack

Yes, I looked a little around, and decided to acquire the Brilliant 40CD Händel compilation (I don´t care for what Corlyss calls it). A veritable and inexpensive goldmine of music.

It contains among others the recording of Belsazar, you recommended me,with Peter Schreier. But also Jephta and Messias, the Brookes passion, the Johannespassion, some operas, the Conoration Anthems, Water Music, Fireworks Music, Concerti Grossi opus 3 & 6, Organ concertos opus 4 & 7 and the complete Chambermusic (Sonatas for soloinstruments and continuo, Triosonatas).

I have never been an opera fan (probably my fault), maybe I have not yet reached that stage, so I don´t care for the operas. Nor do I think, that Belsazar will become my daily listening, even if the interpretation is reasonably good though a tad conservative. Neither will Jephta, the recording of which, as far as I can judge, is very good with a strong team (John Mark Ainsley, Michael George and Christiane Oelze), but the recording of Messias - I didn´t own a recording of this - is very much to my taste, and I am happy to have got to know the two Passions. I knew the titles, but didn´t know they were that rewarding listening. The Water Music and Concerti Grossi are represented in reliable but a little workman-like recordings with The Academy of St-Martin-in-the-Fields, and the Organ concertos are the Nadir of the box in rather uninspiring performances with Ivan Sokol, a Slovakian organist, who has made some impressive Bach recordings for OPUS. And at last but not least the chamber music in the excellent six-CD CDR recording with Philip Pickett, the late David Reichenberg and John Holloway among others. So you can see, that my wish to acquire a Händel Oratory turned into a somewhat longer, and for me most rewarding, Händel adventure.

Regards,

[jbuck919]

There are plenty in mine. Here are just a few of the more shameful ones:

- Almost all of Tchaikovsky's, Vaughan William's, Prokofiev's and most of Haydn's, Schubert's and Mendelssohn's symphonies.

- Anything by Glinka

- Most of Beethoven's piano sonatas

- Most operas (not surprising, as I'm not really a fan)

- Almost all of Bach's cantatas

- Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Bks I & II

... and much more, I'm sorry to admit.


How about you? Come on, own up!

I hope that for seniority alone I will be forgiven for having neglected this thread up to this point. I was so afraid that if I bought into it I would have to make confessions that would ruin me for the use of normal human company for the rest of my life.

So I finally read the first post (and not, I admit, the rest of the thread). And here is where I go with this:

I'm ok with the major symphonies mentioned in the first clause. I even owned all of Vaughan Williams years ago even though I cannot now remember a single note of any of them.

Glinka--you feel bad for not owning Glinka? He is strictly in the "who cares" pile.

Beethoven piano sonatas. I don't bother with the standard piano repertory not because I can play it virtuosically, but because I either can play it or can get it in my head by playing it non-virtuosically. No guilt in not owning solo keyboard works, of which I have very few.

Most operas. It is important that the greatest operas be in one's repertory. Opera is not a genre of exclusion because one happens to know somebody who is an opera buff who thinks Bellini, Rossini and Donnizetti are composers of great merit. You've got to have some operas under your belt because they are among the greatest compositions of all time.

Bach's cantatas. I'm not the right person to talk to. I'm a cantata nut, and could survive on a diet of nothing but. Nevertheless, even very experienced listeners and great musicians do not know more than a few of the cantatas, so you don't have to feel inferior in that regard.

Bach WTC. Refer to note on Beethoven sonatas. I can actually play all of these, if I wanted to practice enough.

[Corlyss_D]

The complete recorded operas of Massenet -- but I think I'll get over it.

Mmmm. You should try one. I'd recommend Cendrillon or Werther.

[premont]

Beethoven piano sonatas. I don't bother with the standard piano repertory not because I can play it virtuosically, but because I either can play it or can get it in my head by playing it non-virtuosically. No guilt in not owning solo keyboard works, of which I have very few.
Bach WTC. Refer to note on Beethoven sonatas. I can actually play all of these, if I wanted to practice enough.

Certainly it is all-important to get to know the music pe se by studying the score and by playing it oneself, but no matter how well I was able to play the music myself (I am not BTW), I would still feel a strong desire to hear, how really great performers interprete the music. I don´t think my imagination can match the imagination of the great ones.

Shouldn´t we accordingly refrain from the theatre? You can read the plays yourself at home.

[Mark Antony Owen]

Beethoven piano sonatas. I don't bother with the standard piano repertory not because I can play it virtuosically, but because I either can play it or can get it in my head by playing it non-virtuosically. No guilt in not owning solo keyboard works, of which I have very few.
Bach WTC. Refer to note on Beethoven sonatas. I can actually play all of these, if I wanted to practice enough.

Shouldn´t we accordingly refrain from the theatre? You can read the plays yourself at home.

Nice retort.

[jbuck919]

Shouldn´t we accordingly refrain from the theatre? You can read the plays yourself at home.

That is in fact precisely what I do with Shakespeare (not to mention others). Both the quartos and the first folio were only published because anyone with a brain could see that he was the read of all time. Please do not interpret my pecadillos as recommendations to stay away from the theatre or music live or recorded live. I think serious listeners should have a large and balanced collection, but not having Glinka in it? Still don't get the point.

[Auntie Lynn]

Been trying ever since I was a teeny weeny to get the full piano score/orchestral reduction for La Bayadere...no luck to date. HOWEVER, I did get the full length La Peri thanks to a nifty gentleman at this site - can't remember his name but he was a lifesaver...blessings forever...

[Jack Kelso]

Shouldn´t we accordingly refrain from the theatre? You can read the plays yourself at home.

That is in fact precisely what I do with Shakespeare (not to mention others). Both the quartos and the first folio were only published because anyone with a brain could see that he was the read of all time. Please do not interpret my pecadillos as recommendations to stay away from the theatre or music live or recorded live. I think serious listeners should have a large and balanced collection, but not having Glinka in it? Still don't get the point.

Anything that's lacking in my collection is probably not there because it has not yet caught fire with me.

Why Glinka? Why not Glinka?! I have works of his in my collection because I enjoy them....nothing truly remarkable, but enjoyable nonetheless. Lots of such composers---Auber, Massenet, Flotow, Dukas, etc.

Not ALL music I enjoy has to be deep, ponderous and "great".

Jack

[Ken]

I'm a novice and my library is still in the range of less than thirty albums, so I do indeed have some notable omissions. I am still a '1, 2 and 7' shy of completing the Beethoven symphonic canon, and then I think I will move on to obtaining the 'best' of Mozart's piano concertos before I begin broadening my library.

[DSzymborski]

I don't have any glaring omissions, but looking at my database, I have certainly have some odd inconsistencies. For example, somehow, I only have one recording of the Bizet symphony and RVW's 2nd, yet I have 3 recordings of Raff's 5th, 4 of Arnold's 3rd, and I think every single set of Crusell Clarinet Concertos known to man.

[Jack Kelso]

I don't have any glaring omissions, but looking at my database, I have certainly have some odd inconsistencies. For example, somehow, I only have one recording of the Bizet symphony and RVW's 2nd, yet I have 3 recordings of Raff's 5th, 4 of Arnold's 3rd, and I think every single set of Crusell Clarinet Concertos known to man.

I know where you're coming from.

I have one recording each of Brahms' piano concertos, but three recordings of Goetz' Symphony in F, two of Volkmann's First Symphony (d Minor, op. 44) and Raff's Third and Fifth Symphonies!

Jack

[Gary]

Been trying ever since I was a teeny weeny to get the full piano score/orchestral reduction for La Bayadere...no luck to date.

Auntie Lynn,

I don't know about a full piano score of La Bayadere, but there is a recording of it with Richard Bonynge conducting the English Chamber Orchestra on Decca. The score used is of a John Lanchbery rearrangement, which contains some Pavlova material--namely in the Kingdom of the Shades scene.

Catalogue Number: 4369172

[Reed]

Anything by Liszt.

He just never appealed to me, based on what I've heard.

Am I missing something?

[karlhenning]

Anything by Liszt.

He just never appealed to me, based on what I've heard.

Am I missing something?

The Missa choralis!

[jserraglio]

Liszt Saint Francis of Paula Walking on the Waters