1. Have you intentionally purchased multiple recordings of the same musical works?
- yes, to a large degree, in 100s of cases. Up to around around 20-25 versions in a few cases, due to cheap LPs and collecting for many years.

2. If you have, why?
- to get more nuances from the work, plus checking out some famous interpretations or interpreters.

3. Which composers/musical works do you most feel the need to collect multiple recordings of?
- mostly the classical core repertoire, or obscure works I fancy a lot, or works where I feel the musicianship could be better. But I don´t buy that many alternative recordings any more, except when the LP cover designer is interesting.

Remaining on my want list:
- all Mozart piano concerti / Anda
- Beethoven Sonatas / Goodyear
- complete Beethoven / Brilliant Classics
- Maria Yudina 8 CD / Brilliant Classics

 

For the majority of orchestral and other instrumental pieces, I am content with a single "reference" recording. There is however much vocal music for which I have several recordings. This is the area where I believe the interpretation can differ most significantly from one recording to the next. I have many recordings of Schubert's Lieder for example; I have the Fischer-Dieskau box set, the Graham Johnson complete recordings (which features a range of singers) and several other individual CDs. It is always nice to hear different voice types for a single song.

Another area where I enjoy collecting multiple recordings is early music and baroque. Because these composers were less specific with their performance directions, the interpretations can differ more significantly. For many composers, e.g. Bach, there is often the question of the instrument, or the HIP question, and it is therefore interesting to hear the full range of interpretations.

 

Yes, all the time!

For me, interpretation is the name of the game, the more interpretations one can listen to the deeper one's understanding of the art becomes.. It not that what it is all about!

Any work that I like where there are several versions available. There are to many composer where I have multiple versions to tell about all, but to name a few, Some of my favourite Fourth Symphonies, Mahler (52) Shostakovich (29) Ives (14), I've got about 25 versions of Messiaen's "La nativité du Seigneur" and 19 "Turangalîla-Symphonie's" and 41 of Rakhmanioff's Symphonic Dances, crazy, I know, have listened to all of them (or will) and really think that it makes me much, much richer then if I had bought gold!

/ptr

 

Impressive; an indiscrete question perhaps, but could you reveal in some way whether you use these library resources professionally too or not?

 

1. Have you intentionally purchased multiple recordings of the same musical works?

Yes. Probably in the 100's as well

2. If you have, why?

To find the "Perfect" recording. A recording that plays the music the way I hear it internally (which, by the way, never happens!)
Also, to check out other recordings that other people recommend, or just because I love the piece of music that I want to hear a variety of interpretations

3. Which composers/musical works do you most feel the need to collect multiple recordings of?

The big ones for me are:
Stravinsky: Le Sacre, Petrushka, Octet, L'histoire du Soldat
Copland: Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid, Symphony #3
Grainger: Lincolnshire Posy
Husa: Music for Prague 1968
Holst: The Planets
Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra
Respighi: The Roman Trilogy
Mahler: all symphonies, but faves are 6,3 and 5

Can you tell I'm a brass player?!?!?!

 

Bach obviously demands the most since there's the whole period recordings thing vs. so many good Bach pianists, plus that Art Of Fugue thing, etc.

 

Yes
To find what I think is the best recording
For instrumental, the Schumann and Brahms symphonies, which are my favorites.
In vocal, Wagner and the Italian comic operas, and Mozart's big 5.

 

Joen's 1,2 and 3 work fine for me, except that the multiple recordings of the same work stop at a half-dozen or so. Beethoven, Mahler and Bartók are the principal multis.

 

1. Have you intentionally purchased multiple recordings of the same musical works?

Yes, constantly! More often than I buy works that I don't already have.

2. If you have, why?

I like to hear different interpretations of the same work to see which ones I feel work the best for me. I look for recordings I connect with and feel resonate the best with me. If I had the chance to conduct or play a work and then record it, what would it sound like? How would I play it? How would I phrase it or set the tempo? The recordings that are closest to what I have in my head or could see myself doing are generally those I keep.

3. Which composers/musical works do you most feel the need to collect multiple recordings of?

Works that I listen to most frequently which generally are Symphonies, Piano Concertos and Solo Piano Works.

Symphonies take up the majority of my collection. Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Dvorak, Haydn, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, etc. I usually have 20+ recordings of each Symphony that I really love.

I have purchased something like 60 different complete Beethoven Symphony Cycles and listened to them extensively to find ones that I like best. I am now down to about 20 that I feel are worth keeping. I'm trying to cut it down to 10-15 but it seems impossible. I'm at about the same with Brahms Symphony Cycles.

I have well over 200 Mahler Recordings. I'm trying to cut it back to 10 favorites for each Symphony, which again seems impossible at times.

Beethoven Sonatas I've bought probably 30 different cycles...I think I'm down to about 10. I have lots of non complete cycles and misc. recordings as well.

Mozart Sonatas and Piano Concertos I probably have over 20 complete cycles each plus all sorts of misc. recordings.

I have probably 40 different recordings of Mozart's Requiem as well.

Lots of Vivaldi's Four Seasons Recordings too.

A lot of times the only way I can hear a recording is to buy it so I buy and trade or buy and sell a lot. It's getting better with things like Spotify where I can hear something first but I still have to buy most of it.

But there are lots of works that I feel I only need 1 or 2 recordings of. Sometimes I like to have a Traditional Recording of a work and then a Modern Recording for both interpretive and sound quality reasons.

 

/ptr- For me, interpretation is the name of the game, the more interpretations one can listen to the deeper one's understanding of the art becomes.. It not that what it is all about!

Any work that I like where there are several versions available. There are to many composer where I have multiple versions to tell about all, but to name a few, Some of my favourite Fourth Symphonies, Mahler (52) Shostakovich (29) Ives (14), I've got about 25 versions of Messiaen's "La nativité du Seigneur" and 19 "Turangalîla-Symphonie's" and 41 of Rakhmanioff's Symphonic Dances, crazy, I know, have listened to all of them (or will) and really think that it makes me much, much richer then if I had bought gold!

realdealblues- Symphonies take up the majority of my collection. Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Dvorak, Haydn, Mahler, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, etc. I usually have 20+ recordings of each Symphony that I really love.

I have purchased something like 60 different complete Beethoven Symphony Cycles and listened to them extensively to find ones that I like best. I am now down to about 20 that I feel are worth keeping. I'm trying to cut it down to 10-15 but it seems impossible. I'm at about the same with Brahms Symphony Cycles.

I have well over 200 Mahler Recordings. I'm trying to cut it back to 10 favorites for each Symphony, which again seems impossible at times.

Beethoven Sonatas I've bought probably 30 different cycles...I think I'm down to about 10. I have lots of non complete cycles and misc. recordings as well.

Damn!!!

In comparison I am but a rank amateur. Of course I can't help but think that 60 versions of Beethoven's Symphonies or 54 performances of Mahler's 4th is a bit... excessive?

But then I am reminded of a joke a friend recently related (which fits both of us to a T:

Anyone who is driving slower than you in traffic is an idiot.
Anyone who is driving faster than you is a maniac.

:lol:

 

Damn!!!

In comparison I am but a rank amateur. Of course I can't help but think that 60 versions of Beethoven's Symphonies or 54 performances of Mahler's 4th is a bit... excessive?

But then I am reminded of a joke a friend recently related (which fits both of us to a T:

Anyone who is driving slower than you in traffic is an idiot.
Anyone who is driving faster than you is a maniac.

:lol:

Well, if I think about Beethoven Symphonies, there are so many interpretations.

I know I love all of his Symphonies.

But...

They can be played with Big Orchestras and Small Orchestras.
Period Instruments and Modern Instruments or even a mixture of both.
They can be Fast, Slow, Moderate, Muscular, Lean, Majestic, Gigantic, Exciting, Dramatic.

There are so many different interpretations of Beethoven Symphonies it's insane...

But, unless you hear several, how do you know which one fits you?

Do you just buy a set because it's popular and say to yourself, well that's Beethoven, that's the way it should be played?

How do you know? Maybe you find out you hate Period Instruments or maybe you like slower tempos with modern instruments and large orchestras? Maybe you like them faster with modern instruments and smaller orchestras?

So to me, you have to do a lot of listening if you really love something. Each one also gives you a different glimpse into not only the composer but also the conductor and his vision of the work which leads to me to believe maybe I will like this conductors vision on another work that I enjoy. For me it's exploring deeper into things that I like and people that I like.

 

1. yes

2. for same reason as many of the others above

3. Berlioz Les Troyens - probably the only one where I'm tempted to go for completeness. Samples of opera singers .... and then hunting out those I like best. In particular, I probably have over 100 CDs with Callas singing.

 

1/ Yes, but I'm fairly sated now!

2/ Primarily to compare different interpretations and also, in the case of Beethoven, Schubert and (up to a point, Bach) as explained below.

3/ Most of Mahler, especially the symphonies. Also symphonies of Bruckner, Schubert and Beethoven - I was also interested in collecting both 'period' and 'modern' in the case of the last two. I've been meaning to augment my sole Shostakovich cycle (Haitink) with a cherry-picking of recordings by Mravinsky, Kondrashin and Rozhdestvensky in order to create an exclusively 'Soviet' cycle but this is on a perennial back-burner as collecting unfamiliar works by other composers takes precedent.

I also bought Bach's GV's, AoF and '48' for both piano and harpsichord (and, in the case of AoF, for ensemble with soloists) in order to hear how they sounded on different instruments, but am happy with just one recording for each version.

 

About 25 Don Giovannis, over 17 Rigolettos, about 15 L'Elisirs d'Amores, 11 Marias Stuardas and Madamas Butterflies...

I though I'm good until Schigolch came in and said he has 100+ Normas.

 

I remain one of the crazy ones, as should have been evident had you read my post at the "Favorite 'Le Sacre' recordings" thread, where I admitted to purchasing two large boxes of Stravinsky's epic, with a total of 44 or so different versions. And this just adds to the recordings I already owned, some of which were not included in either box set. But hey! It was the 100th anniversary year of the riotous premier. What else could I do?

In my younger days I actually collected recordings of Beethoven's Fifth! Now that is pure wackiness, 'cause there are just too too many. (I acquired some 50 or so just on LP before the CD phase hit. I dread counting up the number I currently have. I gave up counting such things years ago.) Yet, I'm still open to possessing one more version, if it gets a really great review in a music magazine ... or if it gets an especially terrible review. I sometimes buy a recording because it is supposed to be so bad. It serves for comparisons.

I vowed years ago not to purchase another set of the complete Beethoven symphonies, but I've broken that vow many a time since. (Heck ... another Beethoven set adds another Fifth to my collection!)

In recent years, as I turned more and more to Schubert (whom I didn't understand in my youth and whom I always considered was a composer to study more deeply as I acquired some age and wisdom), I began collecting Winterreise recordings. But the variety there is copious since the work is arranged for several voice types and various instrumental groups besides the requisite pianoforte.

Of course I count multiple copies of nearly every major musical work. I have many many Brandenburg Concerto sets and Vivaldi Four Seasons recordings. I find the tonal variety of the Bach concerti more varied than in the Vivaldi works, so I actually pursue the Bach moreso than the Vivaldi.

For someone like Bruckner, though I have several complete sets of his symphonies, I lean towards picking up interpretations of my two favorite symphonies, the Fourth and the Seventh. I have many of those. Each one is unique and telling in its own way.

For Nielsen it's the Fourth Symphony ("The Inextinguishable"), for Mahler the Second and Fourth, for Shostakovich the Fifth. With Bartok it remains the String Quartets. For Bach, the Cantatas, especially BWV 82, and the Brandenburgs. For Mozart the Oboe Quartet (my favorite work by Mozart). It's obviously easier to collect multiple copies of older established works by the classical masters than it is to find a lot of the modern stuff. But I do have several versions of favorite pieces like Gorecki's Third Symphony (I think I own every recording of it) and Penderecki's Threnody. It's often more difficult to track down multiple versions of something by, say, Iannis Xenakis or George Crumb (though I have managed several versions of the string quartet Black Angels, a favorite again).

Craziness, for sure.

Often I do comparative listening, sometimes with three or four works compared at a time, sometimes only one movement of each under scrutiny. I often use the score in hand for such listens. I like to see (or hear) what I might learn. I like to learn.

Music is a passion for me. It was never my main job, but it was always on the fringe side of everything I've ever done ... nearly everything. And for that reason it remains still fun, 'cause I've never overdosed on it or came to count music as a means of earning a living. It's been a lifetime hobby, and remains so well into my umpteenth decade.

I may be crazy, and I may be stupid for collecting multiple copies of so many works, but I've learned a lot, so I'm not dumb.

At least I hope not.

As long as I can afford this addiction, and I can afford it, there is probably no harm done.

 

No. If I have duplicates, it's because of pairing issues.

I certainly appreciate that various interpretations can be quite different. I like listening to different performances on Spotify, etc. However, when push comes to shove, I'd always rather acquire a work I don't currently own at all, and there are so many of those on my wish list.

I don't have a big CD collection to begin with. I'm a bit of a minimalist with possessions.

 

1. Have you intentionally purchased multiple recordings of the same musical works?
2. If you have, why?
3. Which composers/musical works do you most feel the need to collect multiple recordings of?

As a general principle, I try not to own multiples. Partly it is because, with my rather limited resources, I would rather use my funds to expand the breadth of my collection. I would rather purchase new works than performances of something I already own. Because of this, I end up spending a fair amount of time before purchasing reading reviews, testing out performances on Spotify, YouTube, etc., and also reading what people around here and other venues recommend. Part of that is simply the good fun of the search itself. Also, since chamber music makes up much of my collection, there are often only a handful of performances of individual works. It's easier if symphonies are one's first preference to end up seeking out multiple versions.

I realize that my tendency to avoid multiples differs significantly from most other collectors. I certainly can hear differences between performances, often significant differences, but in those cases where I have multiple recordings of the same work, I almost inevitably zero in on one performance as my preferred and listen to it to the exclusion of the others. I also tend not to buy box sets, which is one of the ways one tends to accumulate multiple recordings. And in fact, probably the majority of the multiples that I own have come from buying (a small number of) box sets. If I end up with multiples that are not part of a box set, I generally end up selling back the CDs and deleting the files from my computer (but only after I've got a good sense of what I prefer).

In several cases, I want an HIP version and a non-HIP version. So for Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier and Goldberg Variations, I have both a piano version and a harpsichord version. While I generally prefer the HIP version, I have both a modern and an original-instrument version of Haydn's string quartets. In a few cases, I continue buying new performances in hopes of finding a version of something that I'm satisfied with (I've had a very hard time finding performances of Mozart's piano concertos that really satisfy me -- especially in terms of good acoustics).

There are a few significant exceptions to all this:
*Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (Stravinsky himself; Markevich; Gergiev / Kirov; Boulez / Cleveland; Dudamel / Simon Bolivar)
*Beethoven's symphonies (Karajan 1962; Kleiber (5&7); Barenboim; Gardiner; Vanska)
*Beethoven's string quartets (Takacs Quartet; Alban Berg Quartett; Quatuor Mosaiques [for op. 18])
*Debussy's Preludes (Jacobs; Samson Francois; Michelangeli; Bavouzet)
*Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra and Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta (Reiner / Chicago; Boulez / Cleveland)
*Ravel's Piano Concerto in G (Argerich; Zimerman; Bavouzet)
*Shostakovich's symphonies (Barshai, Haitink, Mravinsky, Petrenko, strays such as Bernstein doing #5)

These exceptions are because I sometimes want both a classic or historically famous performance (e.g. Stravinsky's Rite, also Markevich) and an outstanding contemporary one (e.g. Gergiev, Boulez). In the case of contemporary performances of Rite of Sping, Boulez captures the clarity and detail, Gergiev the savagery. But my interest in differences of interpretation here is more the exception than the rule.

 

Anton Bruckner's Eighth Symphony: Karajan (BPO, VPO), Wand (BPO), Barenboim (Chicago), Kubelik (Bavarian), Rozhdestvensky (USSR Ministry), Most (Mahler Youth), Horenstein (BBC), Tennstedt (LPO). Why? The canvas (or scope) of this magnificent symphony is so huge that various renditions (or approaches) are valid in their own rights and are often revealing).

Alexander Glazunov's Sixth Symphony: Butt (LSO), Serebrier (RSNO), Fedoseyev (Moscow), Svetlanov (USSR SO), Golavanov (Moscow Radio). It is a wonderful score, in some ways Tchaikovskian and Borodinian, and yet it points to people like Rachmaninoff, Gliere, and others. And it's interesting how they treat the outer movements in particular: grand in Borodin's style, or something closer to Tchaikovsky's dramatic utterance and manner. Butt is more of the former, while Fedoseyev brings out more of Tchaikovsky in the reading (though more Glazunov/Borodin type majestic in the finale).

Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony: Muti (Philharmonia), Svetlanov (USSR), Rakhlin (USSR SO), Symeonov (USSR Grand Radio SO), Simonov (LSO), Jurowski (LPO), Ashkenazy (Philharmonia), Ahronovitch (LSO). An amazing work that invites the various degrees of the (overly) sentimental approach, the highly poetic one (slow movement), the redemption, the struggles. And it is amazing how different interpretations of it are often compelling and bring new lights of this difficult work not readily recognizable before.

 

No. 1 is an amusing question. How can a person accidentally acquire multiple versions of the same work?

In my case, I've had a penchant for acquiring many multiple versions of the works I most love. Some of this acquiring has to do with my reviewing multiple versions during the time period I was reviewing for Classical Net and MusicWeb.

As for specifics, I have about 150 versions of Bach's Goldberg Variations and dozens of versions of the WTC. Other Bach works where I have "dozens" include the French/English Suites, keyboard partitas, solo cello suites, Brandenburgs, etc. Clearly from my perspective, Bach is best.

I also have many versions of Shostakovich symphonies, quartets and the Op. 87 Preludes and Fugues. Other composers in the "many" category include Mahler, Bruckner, Dvorak, Buxtehude, Chopin, Schubert, Schumann, Handel keyboard suites, Haydn quartets and solo keyboard, Janacek quartets, Mozart……

Overall, the more I know of a work, the more I realize that many types of interpretations well reflect the music's greatness. However the one area where I'm quite stubborn is that I have no interest in hearing modern strings for baroque music.

 

I have 5 sets of Haydn's London symphonies and two sets of the Paris symphonies. I love doing comparisons of the same work in different performances.

 

There was another thread a while back on this subject. At the time I wrote this:

I used to have forty-something recordings of the Goldberg Variations, but after a three-year process of culling my insane collection I now have just the essential dozen recordings of that work.

edit: after checking it turns out I still have 22 recordings of the Goldbergs:

Arrau, Cole, Gould '55, Gould '81, Hantai, Hewitt, Jarrett, Kempff, Kirkpatrick, Landowska, Leonhardt '53, Leonhardt '65, Leonhardt '76, Pinnock, Karl Richter, Ross, Schiff, Suzuki, Tureck '47, Tureck '57, Yudina, Walcha

But since my vinyl got stolen I've lost eight of those (and added one on cd by Rousset)

After that I'd say maybe a dozen recordings of Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers

 

But since my vinyl got stolen....

Tragic as the theft is (and I am saddened by and sorry for your loss), it seems a touch encouraging, perhaps, to those of us who value the vinyl experience, that someone out there still thinks LP records are worth stealing. Those who proclaim that vinyl is dead should talk to you -- or better yet, your sneaky little thief.

 

Having begun this thread, I suppose I should fess up to my own collecting habits. I have a sizable music collection. I am at the point where more often than not, recent purchases are of alternative performances of works I already own than of works that are "new" to me.

In the case of the core repertoire that I listen to most I tend to have at least two alternative recordings. In most instances a seek out at least one older "historical" performance and one more contemporary one. In some instances I have more than two or three versions. In some cases this is because I have purchased the work specifically for the performance of a given musician(s). But there are also some works that I am so infatuated with that I seek to hear any acclaimed version. Among the works that I have the most performances of I would include Bach's WTC, AoF, and Goldbergs; Beethoven's symphonies... especially no. 9; Mozart's clarinet quintet/concerto; Haydn's "London Symphonies", etc...

I am quite of the same thinking as Winterreisender in that I often tend to have far more versions of vocal works. Among those I am most obsessed with I would include Gluck's Orphée et Euridice/Orfeo Ed Euridice, all of Mozart's major operas, the concert arias, the Requiem, and the Great Mass in C-minor; Berlioz' Les nuits d'été; Schubert's Winterreise and other lieder; Verdi's La Traviata; Wagner's Ring, Parsifal, and Tristan; Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel; most of Richard Strauss' operas... especially Salome, Elektra, and Der Rosenkavalier; the songs of Schumann, Faure, Debussy, and Ravel; Faure's Requiem, Mahler's Song of the Earth and Strauss' Four Last Songs.

 

Although I'm always interested in hearing how different performers approach a piece of music, I'm more likely to use my limited funds to investigate unfamiliar music than to duplicate repertoire I already have. It's hard not to end up with unsought versions of things, simply because they're coupled with the works I'm actually looking for, and I won't turn down another version of a favorite work if I think there will be something really special about it (I read reviews a lot). As time goes on I get to know what performers and kinds of performances I prefer in different repertoire, and once I have a version, or a few versions, that substantially satisfy my idea of a piece, I don't go looking for still others. That said, I do have a hard time resisting performances of Sibelius's 7th Symphony (someday someone will get it just right), as well as Wagner's Tristan (which no one can ever get just right) and Parsifal (which can sound just right in many interpretations). I also think it impossible to have too much Maria Callas, though I'm nowhere close to testing that thesis.

 

I have probably 1000 or so hours of classical music, so I'm arguably in the middle as far as collection size goes - some have 10x or 100x smaller, some have 10x or 100x larger.

Like @Alypius above, I prefer to add new works rather than new versions of existing works. I also have this weird habit of occasionally trying to listen to every single disc in my collection over the course of several months, which definitely helps me keep the focus on quality over quantity. However I have collected a couple of versions of a few works. I have maybe four versions of Beethoven's 9th and ditto the 4th piano concerto.

I would like to gradually begin exploring new versions of some of my favorite works, but for now it's not a priority. Then again, I'm only about 5 years into this collecting thing -- ask again in 15 years!

 

When I first started I would look for different interpretations of what I really dug at the time. Now, I choose more meticulously and and go for new pieces that I haven't heard. I jump around eras enough that one good interpretation for a piece is all I need.

Different strokes, really. Some people like to fix on one point and dive down. I like to see as many points as I can, with the occasional single-pointed dive.

 

Woodduck- Although I'm always interested in hearing how different performers approach a piece of music, I'm more likely to use my limited funds to investigate unfamiliar music than to duplicate repertoire I already have... As time goes on I get to know what performers and kinds of performances I prefer in different repertoire...

I suspect that most of us with a sizable music collection began in this manner... learning which performers and conductors we liked most for a given repertoire or period. There comes a point, however... or at least such is true in my case... in which one finds that there are increasingly fewer major composers or works that one "must have". Over the last 6 or 7 years I have been able to purchase large numbers of recordings... at a rate far faster than I have been able to listen to them. I must have at least 60 or 70 opera recordings alone that I have yet to play. At a certain point I found the pleasure afforded by music that was wholly "new" to me has declined in comparison to that afforded by alternative recordings of old favorites.

...and once I have a version, or a few versions, that substantially satisfy my idea of a piece, I don't go looking for still others.

As I suggested, in most instances I tend to seek out 2 or 3 alternative recordings of works that I count among the "core repertoire". In doing so, I tend to look for performances that are quite different from one another: one historic, one contemporary, perhaps one HIP. I usually don't go looking for further alternatives... but rather, they seem to find me.:lol:

That said, I do have a hard time resisting performances of Sibelius's 7th Symphony (someday someone will get it just right), as well as Wagner's Tristan (which no one can ever get just right) and Parsifal (which can sound just right in many interpretations). I also think it impossible to have too much Maria Callas, though I'm nowhere close to testing that thesis.

I am admittedly no Sibelius fanatic... but I do have several recording of most of his symphonies. The one performance that truly sold me on the 7th... and on Sibelius... was that of Beecham:

 

I am admittedly no Sibelius fanatic... but I do have several recording of most of his symphonies. The one performance that truly sold me on the 7th... and on Sibelius... was that of Beecham:

Yes, I once had the Beecham Sibelius 7th on LP. It was actually my introduction to the piece, and a beautiful introduction it is (I wonder why I don't have it now). It feels more affectionate - that adjective always gets applied to Beecham, but somehow it fits - than some; others may be more craggy, or more tragic, or more mystical, or more whatever (Bernstein's is more whatever!) - and so I must hear them too. I guess we all need our little compulsions.

 

I should say that, although the interpretations may vary wildly, I generally prefer to stick with one favorite recording of a work. There are a few exceptions in which I can't seem to choose between strengths and weaknesses of a couple of recordings, but they are few indeed.

I have Dvorak 9 in Bernstein and Kubelik (and have heard others too), but I rarely ever listen to the Kubelik. To me, the Kubelik recording has more clarity and precision, but a few moments seem far too tame in comparison to the energetic Bernstein disc on Sony. I tried to listen to them back to back a few times to make more in-depth judgements, but it turns out I would just rather have the energy in those few parts, 95% of the time.