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Best Ways to Organize a Classical Record LP Collection ?

Need advice and recommendations from AudioGon Classical LP Aficionados.

I recently acquired a large 30+ box Classical LP collection.
Feeling a little overwhelmed. :^( 
Organizing Classical music is different from other genres.

Do you organize by Composer, their Work, the Performer, the Label, other .... ?

Can you please share your experiences, ideas, the pros and cons you found with each method. 

I am hoping your information will help me to decide which method will work best for me. 

Thanks 

128x128ct0517

Showing 4 responses by bdp24

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,408 posts
 
I have far more "Classical" (the term originally identified a time period and composition form or style, approximately the mid-18th century through almost mid-19th, including Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. You can see TV clips from the 1950s, in which what is now called Classical was then referred to as "serious"---as opposed to Pop---or "longhair"---a pre-Beatles term!---music) CDs than LPs, both organized the same: Alphabetically by composer, then alpha by composition title (The Rite of Spring, for instance) or form (concerto, sonata, symphony, etc.), then alpha by conductor (no offense to orchestra members implicate!). Collections are at the end, also alpha by either the performer (if appropriate) or period (Baroque, say). After the music, I have the overtly audiophile label recordings (Reference, Sheffield, Wilson) and audiophile re-issue label pressings (Chesky, Classic Records), alpha then numeric. 
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,408 posts
 
Man ct, it's gonna take you years to listen to them all! A nice problem to have. I was getting so many promos and other free albums when I was a Tower buyer that I couldn't listen to them all before the next batch came in (weekly). I finally now am able to listen to those unheard albums in my remaining years, hearing new music on a daily basis. So much music, so little time! I have resorted to prioritizing; surely I need to hear the Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart (substitute your own taste here) pieces that I have yet to before that of other, lesser (to me) composers. And then there's the new Pop (Rock 'n' Roll, Bluegrass, Singer/Songwriter) and improved reissues of old favorites (The Beach Boys, The Band) and previously unissued historical material (Dylan) to keep up with. I just feel blessed to have been born (this time ;-) when recordings exist. How fortunate we are!
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,408 posts
 
Ooh ct, Trevor Pinnock is one of my favorite performers. I have a bunch by him; if you ever see any of his CRD LP's (UK label), get 'em. Lots of solo harpsichord of Bach, Scarlatti, etc. in incredibly high sound quality recordings.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,408 posts
 

Ha! I watched the documentary Anderson Cooper did on his Mother, Gloria Vanderbilt. Her second husband was conductor Leopold Stokowski, and there were some pics of him on stage, hair flying all over the place. I think that look was very common amongst conductors in the first half of the 20th Century, and may be where the term came from.

Paul Parsons, what makes sense in having Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Bruckner next to each other on a shelf is the same as for having Count Basie in between The Band and The Beach Boys---I know where to find what it is I find myself wanting to listen to. My shelves are for storing, not for chronicling the progression of musical styles through history. I find myself wanting to hear a particular composer or composition, not a period in time or genre in general. To each his own!

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