Music that excites audiences and bores players

[Chris Newman]

Some years ago some friends played in a performance of Sir Arthur Bliss's suite of music for the film "Things to Come". The audience loved the famous March: "As good as Elgar", "Terrifying", "Exciting" were typical comments. Members of the orchestra in almost every section found what they had to play repetitive and dull and they hated it and seemed surprised at the response. I too love the piece.

Without just kicking the knees away from under pieces which are much loved for their wonderful total sound what other pieces of music can playing or singing members tell us have this effect?

[Chris__C]

I've generally found Bruckner or Wagner very boring to play, while Mozart and Mahler for example are almost always very enjoyable.

Chris

[DracoM]

Used to be said [apocryphally?] by some in a pro band I used to know quite well that pros were bored by playing Beethoven symphonies. Still true? Was never true?

[Norfolk Born]

A friend of mine who organizes and performs in local concerts commented, during a discussion on one of last season's programmes:
'...and of course we felt we had to include Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, even though it's anathema to us'.

[Serial_Apologist]

Singing Bach's "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" innumerable times while in the school choir - those boring bits of chorale interspersed with endless instrumental infill noodling - put me off the piece, and nearly off J.S.Bach for life.

[Tony Halstead]

Schubert's 9th Symphony, 'the Great'.
Known to orchestral players as 'the Great C Monster'!

[barber olly]

Some years ago I discovered via a conversation with a Halle Viola player that Sibelius tone poems, En saga, Pohjola's Daughter and the Leminkainen Legends which I love to hear are not very interesting to play.

[Nick Armstrong]

Schubert's 9th Symphony, 'the Great'.
Known to orchestral players as 'the Great C Monster'!

[mercia]

I would imagine the trumpet and timpani parts in many Mozart and Haydn symhonies are very boring. I mean you're only playing two or three different notes throughout, aren't you?

[rauschwerk]

I sang in the chorus for Boult's recording of Holst's Choral Symphony and recall that the orchestra certainly hated playing that.

[Serial_Apologist]

I sang in the chorus for Boult's recording of Holst's Choral Symphony and recall that the orchestra certainly hated playing that.

Gosh rauschwerk - I have you on record, then!

[cavatina]

Some years ago I discovered via a conversation with a Halle Viola player that Sibelius tone poems, En saga, Pohjola's Daughter and the Leminkainen Legends which I love to hear are not very interesting to play.

To be fair, a lot of orchestral writing for the viola isn't very interesting-- but then, it's not meant to be.

When I was in a student orchestra, I actually enjoyed the repetitive parts as it gave me the chance to listen more fully to everything going on around me instead of focusing on technical matters and "getting it right". You might say it allowed me to enjoy experiencing the music from the inside, almost as a kind of meditation.

[Nick Armstrong]

I sang in the chorus for Boult's recording of Holst's Choral Symphony and recall that the orchestra certainly hated playing that.

In my limited experience, orchestras are pretty cynical about British music. A friend who played front desk fiddle for one of the London orchestras suggested that competition was heated when it came to trying not to have to play the Three Choirs Festival. He had failed to avoid it the year I went, and I remember he and colleagues being very very withering about Bax's 'Garden of Fand' (I think they had found an obscene variant of the title, but I can't remember it - not that I could post it if I could ) and the V-W 'Sea Symphony'. The second of those certainly excites me.

And my personal highspot was playing in 'Serenade to Music' (in the presence of Ursula V-W in fact) and I found it very very moving, I was in positively cavatina-esque raptures... Well, almost.

[Serial_Apologist]

To be fair, a lot of orchestral writing for the viola isn't very interesting-- but then, it's not meant to be.

When I was in a student orchestra, I actually enjoyed the repetitive parts as it gave me the chance to listen more fully to everything going on around me instead of focusing on technical matters and "getting it right". You might say it allowed me to enjoy experiencing the music from the inside, almost as a kind of meditation.

Getting it right is when it happens of itself rather than "you" doing it and thinking it must. It saved my life, once.

[Ariosto]

To be fair, a lot of orchestral writing for the viola isn't very interesting-- but then, it's not meant to be.

When I was in a student orchestra, I actually enjoyed the repetitive parts as it gave me the chance to listen more fully to everything going on around me instead of focusing on technical matters and "getting it right". You might say it allowed me to enjoy experiencing the music from the inside, almost as a kind of meditation.

And when a viola part gets interesting and it goes out of third position, and even up to the frostbite area, the rest of the band break open the champaigne and drown their sorrows!!

By the way cav, you never answered my post about BBC balancing techniques, or should I say lack of them!!