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The Listening Club

14K views 129 replies 40 participants last post by  Lord Lance 
#1 ·
Like a book club but for music. How about starting a thread where we pick one piece a week to listen to in depth and comment and observe on it? It would be very interesting to read about other people's thoughts, feelings and understanding of the piece. Great way for people to appreciate the music a little more and hopefully enjoy it.
Thoughts?
 
#66 ·
I still suggest using a lot system to pick pieces. Nominations can take a long time. What if one person from the group is randomly selected each week to choose the song? Use a random generator program if you like.
 
#69 · (Edited)
There was a vote on page 4 of this thread voting 13 to 1 in favour of individual nominations, though I am aware that random allotment of individual nominations hasn't yet been discussed. The reason why I am operating a first come, first served policy for nominations is because a lottery would too random. While it is true that it might speed up the waiting times, it is equally possible for someone to have to wait longer for their turn to come around if they are unlucky.

According to the current lineup, Fugue will have week 2's nomination starting on Mon and Vesteralen will have week 3. Whenever someone's turn is coming up and they haven't yet nominated a piece, I will send them a private message around 2 weeks before their nomination. All nominations must be nominated at least a week before the propsed start date so that people have a chance buy recordings if they need to.

The way I had organised it, if someone hadn't picked a piece, the next person who had would be selected. I think that I will change it to a random selection from the pieces that have already been chosen. This random selection will be selected in advance so that we will always have a fallback. If I do it that way it means that everyone will be guaranteed a chance. If I only picked by lottery, people will inevitably lose out. Currently this list will stand at:

WEEK 1 (Current) - Boridin: Symphony No. 1 (Selected by consensus)
WEEK 2 (18/06/12) - Beethoven: String Quartet No. 15, Op. 132 (Selected by Fugue)
WEEK 3 (25/06/12) - Neilsen: Symphony No. 5, Op. 50 (Selected by Vesteralen)
WEEK 4 (02/07/12) - YET TO BE CHOSEN BY VIOLADUDE (If not selected before 24/06, a random selection from the existing nominations will be chosen)

I will choose the random selection (if that option is needed) on the day after the deadline for nomination expires. If someone else's choice is selected at random, they will go back to the end of the queue. Likewise, if someone fails to nominate when their turn comes around, they will join the back of the queue. I will remind people in advance so that they get a fair warning. The next 4 upcoming nominations will also be posted as the second post in every Listening Club thread.

Does this system appeal?
 
#75 ·
Week 2 will start on Monday. I have listed the dates of the current schedule in post 69 of this thread. :) Weeks 2 and 3 are all ready to go in terms of links, purchase options and background info. The schedule for the next 4 weeks will be listed as post 2 in each listening club post.
 
#80 · (Edited)
Sorry mine is going to be a rather more common piece but I'd like to nominate Bach's Harpsichord/Piano concerto no 1. It's my favorite and I wonder how other people see it.. :) Hope that's okay! ...But is it too short? I can nominate a few of them at once but they're not exactly one whole piece so not sure about that.
 
#86 ·
Hi everyone,

As you may have noticed, I have been (mostly) away for the past couple of days, and I will be (almost entirely) away for the next couple of weeks. When is it my turn to select a piece? I might not be here during that time, so when it is needed, my choice is Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 16 in G major, Op. 31, No. 1. It is one of a couple of the Beethoven sonatas in my repertoire, and it is definitely my favourite, although probably one of his least-known ones. Wonderful work. I may be back to check on the weekend, and if I have time, I can offer a bit of insight and background information on the sonata.

(P.S. It is about 22 minutes long, is that over the time limit?)
 
#93 · (Edited)
We decided earlier in this thread (by vote) that it would be better for people to go for individual nominations rather than voting on each week's selection. It was thought that this would lead to a greater variety because people have more individual tastes and a consensus would be likely to negate that. It also allows us to accept nominations that few people have listened to or heard of. It was also thougt that voting for each piece would be altogether too time consuming and people would lose interest in that process, leading to the same group of people being catered for.

I have a spreadsheet containing all the members and the current schedule as well as the piece they have nominated (if any). There are currently 34 members on the list and 10 nominations. When a piece is nominated in advance, I will prepare the list of available recordings, YouTube links and background info within a few days. This usually only takes about 15-20 mins. 9 out of the 10 nominations mentioned earlier have already been prepared.

The deadline for nomination is a week before the scheduled Listening Club is to start, thereby giving people at least a week's advance notice of what will be discussed. The schedule for the next 4 upcoming Listening Club posts is available in the latest Listening Club thread. The current schedule is:

PART 5: A Faust Symphony (Liszt) chosen by crmoorhead starting 09/07/12
PART 6: TBC by MMSBLS before 08/07/12 and starting 16/07/12
PART 7: TBC by Clementine before 15/07/12 and starting 23/07/12
PART 8: Piano Sonata No. 16 in G major (Beethoven) chosen by CarterJohnsonPiano and starting 30/07/12

If you nominate in advance, members will be informed about the subject of discussion up to five weeks in advance. If people do not nominate in advance, people will recieve less notice, but no less than a week.

Past discussions/reviews will remain 'active' for people to contribute to at a later date and links are given in each Listening Club thread. Even thought we are starting a new thread every week, the main reason for this is so that we progress through the list of members at a steady rate. I would hope that discussion of the pieces not be restricted to that one week as, realistically, people take a little time to get round to it.

I hope that clarifies any questions you had. :)
 
#97 ·
I nominate Schubert works!! Please consider the ff:

1. Schubert's Great C Major or Unfinished Symphony

2. String Quintet in C or Trout Quintet

:)
 
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