danajohnhill.org | Hard Times Come Again No More

I was awoken at four o’clock last night by loud purring and a paw placed directly on my face. Lucy, evidently, had been allowed to remain indoors for the evening. She was on my pillow. Of course, you can’t just push Lucy away when she’s like this, because she thinks you’re trying to pet her, and she just becomes happier. My only alternative to face-paw was to put her out, which I did. She’s a special kitty, but she’s very furry, and I can’t stand the feeling of fur on my face.

Reading through the latest issue of Classics Today this morning, I came to realize that I have been going about CD collecting the wrong way. Not x-tremely wrong, but just not the smartest way. And here’s the thing: It’s not really my fault, per se. You see, what I have been doing for the most part is getting what’s been easy to get, and easy to find. This is a natural situation that comes out of having access to relatively little information. The Classics Today staff obviously gets piles of CDs to review. They get stuff I will never see on any store shelf. Of course, I do work at a classical music radio station, so I do see lots of CDs. But, my personal collection is a little like the station’s collection: It’s full of standard rep, in fairly middle-of-the-road performances that were all mainstream commercial releases. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to be one of these collectors that collects live CD-Rs and bootlegs. I don’t want any of that. But reading the review of Der Sieger by Reznicek (CPO 999 898-2), I knew that this is a disc that I should be hearing. Ditto Friedhelm Flamme’s set of the complete organ works of Duruflé (CPO 777 042-2[SACD]).

The problem is that I have been a bit narrow in scope. Yes, I do have a great deal of twentieth century music in my collection now, which certainly wasn’t the case even a year and a half ago. Now I have a Wozzeck and a Moses und Aron and more Messiaen and even Lutoslawski. But I got those because they were recordings of performers I knew. I think I was focused on getting so-and-so’s entire output, like, say, Bernstein. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Bernstein CDs, and I wouldn’t part with them. But I also have a lot of duplication in my collection. I don’t intend to get rid of any of it now, but, think of what else I could be getting if I weren’t shopping for, say, Sinopoli’s recording of Also sprach Zarathustra, when I already have Kempe’s, Solti’s, Karajan’s, and probably another one I can’t remember right now. It’s hard to say, though, because there are some performers whom I really like, and I want all their stuff, and that entails duplication.

I guess my point is that I need to be more all-encompassing in my purchasing. Instead of buying another set of Brandenburg Concerti (since I already have ten different sets), or any other thing I already have just because I can get a bargain, I should buy an opera by Smetana.

Last night at Publix I found the bargain bin full of boxes of Count Chocula, perhaps my favorite cereal. I got four boxes, figuring I’d stock up while I had the chance. In a previous edition of the News page, I told you about Fruit Brute, a cereal from the same line as Count Chocula. It appears that there was another, equally short-lived character on the team, Yummy Mummy. This is amazing to me, and sad. I still love cereal, but it seems like the real glory days of sugary cereals are behind us. What I wouldn’t give to have some Sir Grapefellow.

Filed under: Animals, Food, Music, Musings on September 24th, 2004