Let’s talk collections and listening habits!
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Not by “design”, but some things eventually become “complete”. By that I mean, I don’t systematically double check what is missing and what I would need to get in order for something to be “complete”. But some things may eventually be “completed” just out of natural interest. For example, when I started out, I became very interested in Jerry Goldsmith, and picked up LPs and later CDs when I found them and could afford them. Having a “complete” Jerry Goldsmith collection seemed way out of reach and not a realistic aim. But over the decades, I accumulated quite a bit. I have currently around 240 Jerry Goldsmith albums. When I look at that, that is most of his body of work, but probably not all it. I am actually not sure how “complete” it is… there are no major films missing, obviously, but experts might take a look at it and point to where it’s not “complete”. So some things just naturally “complete” themselves over time. Any new release of a previously unreleased Goldsmith score would probably end up in my collection… no need to stop now. 😀
I do have some classical composers and non film scores composer where I have a more or less “complete” collection… I do have all Peter Gabriel or Talk Talk albums, for example, or all of the works of Gustav Mahler and Pierre Boulez, but I’m not sure if I have film composers where I have everything (or close to everything).
I have a veeery big John Williams collection. Not as big as yours Thor. And I would never pay horrendous money for something like the 3 disc Goodbye Mr. Chips set. But at least, he is one composer where I would be interested in having everything. Apart from him there is no composer where I am interested in more than 50-60% of their work. That’s probably because my interest is (despite looking left and right) mainly narrowed to symphonic film music. And from the 50s on there is no film composer who did just that.
I may not even know if I have a composer “complete” because I’m lax in the checkbox department.
I’m pretty sure I have all (or close to all) compositions (by no means all recordings) by:
Gustav Mahler
György Ligeti
Pierre Boulez
Richard WagnerI do have so many Jerry Goldsmith scores, I might as well strive for completion now…
As a side note:
I also have all Duck comics by Carl Barks, the one collection I started and finished with the completionist’s mindset. 🙂I am not a completist by definition of anyone. I don’t need to have everything exactly. I have quite a lot by some composers like Goldsmith, Williams or Morricone though.
I did an FSM threads with a similar subject once, “Completionist Collections”, where I asked which part of your collections do you consider “complete” strive to complete. FSM: Completionist Collections
As I said, I’m a bit lax in the checkbox department myself, so I don’t even know how “complete” some of the collection is. I do have a natural inclination to get some composers… like when there is a new interesting album by Leonard Rosenman or Bernard Herrmann or Alex North, I’ll probably get it, though I have not compared my collection with Discogs or Soundtrack Collector to see how complete it is. Same with Beethoven, I got a lot, certainly all the concertos and symphonies and string quartets and sonatas, but how would I know if it’s “all”? I’d have to compare my collection with a “Werkeverzeichnis”, but I haven’t done that.
The classical composers I do have complete (I listed up there) are “easy” to have complete, because either the ouevre had a clear, limited focus (Wagner, Mahler), or there were supposedly complete editions that I have (Boulez, Ligeti when you combine Sony and Teldec). I also do have all (studio) albums by Peter Gabriel or Talk Talk, but there are not too many, so it’s “easy” to be complete there and know it.
Yes, it’s a topic that comes up a few times. I see I gave a long and elaborate reply in that FSM thread from 2022, all of which is still relevant. Except that the want list has changed a little bit. A few of the items acquired, several more added.
I think we discussed awhile back that it would be neat to get ALL of a composer’s work in one go. For example, isn’t there an enormous box out there that contains ALL of Mozart’s music? I suppose if you have the cash (which I don’t), that would be instant gratification if you’re a Mozart fan. But where’s the fun in that? 🙂
An aim for completness around a composer like Mozart is a difficult enterprise. The question what are all the best and relevant recordings of a particular piece cannot be easily answered. Even that definition of that complete collection is super complex with hundreds and hundreds of different recordings of each major piece.
There were and have been over the years several hefty boxes with ALL of Bach (Hänssler https://haensslerprofil.de/shop/werkausgaben-boxen/die-kompletten-werke , really good recordings, I do have some but by no means all or most of them) and all of Beethoven, and all of this or that.
“ALL” is of course debatable, as there may always be some odds and ends to include or not include, what is “ALL” anyway, all Bruckner Symphonies or all VERSIONS of ALL Bruckner Symphonies. (I have a set that is literally the latter:
).I can’t say that these box set’s take the fun out of it, quite the contrary, they really allow to have a good overview dive into a composer. I don’t have a lot of “composer complete” boxes, as they used to be expensive (not anymore, you can get the Hänssler Bach edition now for a fraction of what it originally cost), and seemed a bit “overwhelming”, I preferred to spread out my funds for music over various different music and couldn’t just dump it all on ONE composer (and therefore not buying a lot of other music, like film music).
I do have some “specific” box sets, like all of Mozart’s symphonies, or Piano concertos, or all of piano sonatas.
I’ve never been that hung up on various performances of a piece. I’m more about the composition itself. Even if I’m well aware of the fact that the different interpretations are worthwhile artistic accomplishments in and of themselves. In classical music, when there are so many different versions of a single piece, I’m more about having ONE version I’m pleased with (of course, I DO own some classical works in different recordings….you can’t really be a music lover and not). So if – at some point – I got a box with the complete composition works of a composer, and I thought they were well-performed, I would close that door for good, for as long as I live, probably.
I’m a (wannabe) completionist for John Williams, Goldsmith, Beethoven, Haydn and Wynton Marsalis. I’m also aiming for a, if not complete, very large collection of Telarc records. All the audiophile hipsters overpaying for vinyl, and I’m over here getting some of the best recorded music ever for $4 a pop.
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