I am not a Solti s "fan", and this are my reasons!!

It depends on how "excited" one may become when he/she reaches the... "Funeral March", dear Oscar.

In any case, if one ever reaches the point of a "desert island" situation, he/she should know The Twilight...is coming, in one or the other way...So, it might be a bright idea to "enjoy" it...in style!

Parla

'There is more than one way to skin a cat' is a phrase that springs to mind. I do have more than one version of the ninth (four currently) and sometimes one gets substituted in for another. I guess it is how you see the idea of a recordings - for me there is no such thing as definitive and so each recording I keep is there because it does provide a different version of the music. I respect your viewpoint but for whatever strange reason I would feel limited.

Regarding talking about the music itself I think you will find there many topics that reach that area e.g. the 'Mahler profund?' and 'Requiems' threads (BTW I agree - not enough), but there are also many about making comparisions of artists (conductor, singer, soloist). This I suspect is somewhat related to Marx's idea of commodity fetishism (although I am no expert and could be completely wrong in my interpretation), plus also the simple fact that many of us do have favourites that we defend against those who do not. I don't disagree with your sentiment that it can be too much, but neither do I feel it has no place. As always, the probelm is if one loses perspective...

As for frequency, well I have no pattern. Just last month I must have listened to Schumann's Fantasie at least a dozen times. The first time was just because I am reading a biography at present and wanted to listen to it in the context of the letters between Schumann and Clara. The other times because after being reaquainted with it I decided to dig a little deeper and gain a better understanding of the piece. I then spiralled out into the Davidsbündlertänze and on to pieces by Liszt. Liszt led me back to Mahler (also induced by a thread here) and right now I am listening to some Henze, with an urge to go back into Hindemith and also have another go at Elliot Carter's string quartets. So there you go... 

Naupilus, I wasn't having a go at you in my previous post. I simply seized on your reference to Karajan's 9th to illustrate what seems to me the banalisation of monumental works, such as the Ninth, which for me should be great occasions and not everyday listening. You don't yet hear them played in supermarkets, like pop songs, but that will come; I'm sure of it. I remember as a Wagner-obsessed teenager dreaming of, if not being able to see, at least owning a complete Ring cycle on disc. It was then a dream. Today a teenager in the same situation could probably order two or three different recordings, possibly including a version on DVD, out of a month's (or week's?) pocket money. Now that I can afford multiple recordings of the Ring but am not so obsessed, I content myself with just one - Bohm Bayreuth 1967 - and I haven't listened to that in over three years. I just haven't time, not if I want to listen to all the other music that interests me - or simply the rest of my collection. Which leads me to rephrase my previous question; how do people find time to be able to make comparisons between multiple recordings of the Ring, or the complete symphonies of Bruckner and Mahler, or big works in general, without it impinging on other musical interests?

 

Guillaume wrote "I simply seized on your reference to Karajan's [Beethoven] 9th to illustrate what seems to me the banalisation of monumental works, such as the Ninth, which for me should be great occasions and not everyday listening."

Guillaume, how I agree with you. Such music is not for 'comfortable' listening. The idea of half-listening to such music is horrifying, to me at least. It was Edward Greenfield (Gramophone, September 1966, p154) who famously (notoriously) opened his review of a recording of the Ninth with "A Ninth to live with".

If I have many recordings (including several by one conductor) it is to help me approach nearer to an idea (imaginary, in my head, I suppose) of what can be found in the music. Whilst I'm interested to hear what different interpreters find in the work, no less interesting is the way a single conductor's repeated attempts at the same music illustrate the struggle to get to its heart. As an admirer of Klemperer's Beethoven, I find it fascinating to hear how in each of his recordings of the Ninth (some from live performances), within essentially the same interpretation he attempts to get ever nearer to his idealised vision of the music. This makes for fascinating, demanding but rewarding listening.

Chris