Music that doesn't move you

[Tetrachord]

Here's a chance to talk about what music has failed to click with you and why. For me, it's:

1. "Symphonie Fantastique" (Berlioz): it just bores me with its endlessly self-conscious emotionalism and unsubtle aural narrative.
2. Bruckner; any of the symphonies; paints on too wide a canvas/sprawling/bigger isn't better;
3. Mahler; any of the symphonies; same reason as Bruckner; wears its heart on its sleeve;
4. Any large scale choral/orchestral work, eg. Brahms German Requiem, Mahler 8, last movement Beethoven #9 - too much; less is more. The result ends up being muddied noise, IMO;
5. The avant garde; anything at all from this movement because much of it is sonic art rather than music.

Well, that's sure to create controversy. These are purely personal responses.

[Richard Barrett]

rather than music

Bad start there I would say.

[MrGongGong]

5. The avant garde; anything at all from this movement because much of it is sonic art rather than music.
.

Vague statements like this don't "move me"
BUT i'm going to York tomorrow so might call in to see Trevor to share how his phrase has found favour with the bufton tuftons

[Tetrachord]

Vague statements like this don't "move me"
BUT i'm going to York tomorrow so might call in to see Trevor to share how his phrase has found favour with the bufton tuftons

Oh, I didn't think it was so vague.

[MrGongGong]

Oh, I didn't think it was so vague.

"The avant garde" in the way you seem to be using it isn't "a movement"

The Eroica is a great example of "avant garde" music


and Trevor is still a genius

[Lat-Literal]

Not a huge fan of most waltzes and most marches and anything stridently or militarily nationalistic.

But I don't tend to criticize music on the grounds that it is the first step on the path to its abolition.

See the fairly recent history of Mali etc where it was all in certain places being phased out/banned.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Trio sonatas (with a few exceptions).

[Richard Barrett]

Here's a chance to talk about what music has failed to click with you and why. For me, it's:

1. "Symphonie Fantastique" (Berlioz): it just bores me with its endlessly self-conscious emotionalism and unsubtle aural narrative.
2. Bruckner; any of the symphonies; paints on too wide a canvas/sprawling/bigger isn't better;
3. Mahler; any of the symphonies; same reason as Bruckner; wears its heart on its sleeve;
4. Any large scale choral/orchestral work, eg. Brahms German Requiem, Mahler 8, last movement Beethoven #9 - too much; less is more. The result ends up being muddied noise, IMO;
5. The avant garde; anything at all from this movement because much of it is sonic art rather than music.

And pardon my rudeness but what a breathtakingly superficial view you seem to have of all the music you mention in this post.

[Stanfordian]

Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique, heard it too any times.
Franck - Symphonic Variations, not sure why.
Brahms, Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn, the Saint Anthony Variations, not sure why.
Leopold Mozart - Toy Symphony, just plain awful, cuckoo! cuckoo!
Maxwell Davies - An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise, the drunken wedding party and that bloody piper, heard it too many times and any novelty has worn off.

So five works I can't get on with is not too bad, I think.

[DracoM]

Elgar leaves me cold.

[ahinton]

And pardon my rudeness but what a breathtakingly superficial view you seem to have of all the music you mention in this post.

Er - might you care to try to explain precisely what's supposedly "rude" about that?

[EdgeleyRob]

Sibelius and Nielsen,absolutely no idea why.

[Serial_Apologist]

Verdi - heavy, verbose, impenetrable, indigestible. So un-Italian!

(I'm not a great fan of Itanlian opera in general, between the times of Caccini/Monteverdi and Puccini, though it occasionally produced "good tunes" )

[richardfinegold]

What music does the OP actually like?

[Dave2002]

What music does the OP actually like?

Pehaps that "signature" piece by Cage? Probably too modern, though.

Mozarrt or Beethoven violin sonatas might get through the OP filter - perhaps! Or are they too long, too short, unpleasant instrumental combination etc.? What about songs?

For myself I'm not too fond of Delius, though some of his work is lovely. Vaughan Williams sympony 1 - the Sea. The opening is brilliant, but it seems to go off after that.