I've been thinking quite a bit lately about the way, or ways, in which I listen to music. One aspect of my thinking has revolved around the medium through which the music gets to me. I own quite a number of CDs and had it not been for recent developments in technology I suppose I would have been content to continue buying more in my very senior years. But I've found myself growing away from this way of encountering the music I enjoy, particularly over the last couple of years. And this isn't simply due to issues of availability or a change in fashion.
I think I may well have come to the point when I just don't buy anymore CDs and seek to give away some of those I own. Too much of what I've got just sits on various shelves and I don't listen to it. So what's the point?
Well, the point is to listen - and to that end I've sort of vaguely decided (but not quite, if you know what I mean) to play each and every CD, and get close to it. If it doesn't work, then out it goes. I think.
The thing is that I suspect it's going to be impossible to conclusively decide that something I once enjoyed doesn't work anymore when the current version of myself responds in a different way. Case in point: I played the music from Brideshead Revisited yesterday evening, which I haven't listened to for years, and the magical glow that once surrounded it had gone. But what I heard still had a presence for me and, if anything, I was more aware of the harmonic textures involved than ever before. So, will I pass it on to someone who might get more out of it? And who could that be when no one listens to this kind of stuff anymore and no one owns a CD player to spin the thing?
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