Five Pieces you would be happy to never hear again

[cloughie]

Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra because the narration is insufferable..... ok to be honest, basically any piece with narration in it, but especially that one.

The answer kea, is clearly not to listen to it with narration, without it the Variations and Fugue on a theme of Purcell are great - and Britten's own Decca recording is excellent!

My five would be:
Ravel:Bolero
Sibelius:Violin Concerto
Beethoven:Symphony 9 - 4th Movement
Payne: Symphony based on bits of Elgar
Shostakovich:Sym 13

[ahinton]

The answer kea, is clearly not to listen to it with narration, without it the Variations and Fugue on a theme of Purcell are great - and Britten's own Decca recording is excellent!

My five would be:
Ravel:Bolero
Sibelius:Violin Concerto
Beethoven:Symphony 9 - 4th Movement
Payne: Symphony based on bits of Elgar
Shostakovich:Sym 13

I'm not convinced that Ravel himself had much affection for his Bolero.
Sibelius VC? SHAME!
Beethoven 9 finale? Oh, come on - a pilot piece for the Missa Solemnis if ever there was one!
Elgar 3? A triumph of an achievement!
Shostakovich 13? One of his best; what do you have against it, just out of interest?

[Serial_Apologist]

I'm not convinced that Ravel himself had much affection for his Bolero.
Sibelius VC? SHAME!
Beethoven 9 finale? Oh, come on - a pilot piece for te Missa Solemnis if ever there was one!
Elgar 3? A triumph of an achievement!
Shostakovich 13? One of his best; what do you have against it, just out of interest?

Personal taste in all manner of things is a very strange thing, often not able to be accounted for.

A group of us were once discussing this subject with the jazz pianist Keith Tippett. Keith said, "I can understand it if someone comes up and says to me, 'I don't like your music'. But what really annoys me is when someone, say a reviewer, says my music is rubbish. Condemning something like that demands a justification - why is it rubbish? I want to say to them, 'in what way is my music rubbish?'".

That said, I can usually offer some explanation of my own dislike of a particular piece, or composer. In my case it usually turns out to be some predominating aspect not appealing - thin material, clichés, over-repetitiveness, monotony, prolonged aggressiveness, poor integration of elements, thick or unimaginative orchestration; but mostly it boils down to lack of temperamental affinity with the composer.

[kernelbogey]

Hiya kernelbogey,
What if it does! Your opinion is equally as valid to me.

Thank you.
I don't like Liszt.

[MrGongGong]

Guess what's top of my list ?

[Bryn]

Guess what's top of my list ?

Well DoGgone, I really have no idea.

[Richard Barrett]

"I cannot see the point in such lists other than as an excuse to peddle personal prejudices"

Prejudices are defined as preconceived opinions which aren't based on reason or actual experience. In that sense I don't think there are very many prejudices on show in this thread. Most of the opinions expressed seem to be based on quite some actual experience of the music in question, unless I'm mistaken. I think it's quite interesting to get a rounded view of people's musical enthusiasms by seeing also what they don't like. Everyone here will have heard for example Sibelius's Violin Concerto so there's no question of "prejudice" behind Cloughie being happy not to hear it again, which, now I think of it, I think I would be too. The finale of Beethoven 9 isn't something I like much but I think I'd want to keep open the possibility of hearing it again. I do like to hear Boléro now and again though.

[kernelbogey]

Prejudices are defined as preconceived opinions which aren't based on reason or actual experience. [...]

Though I suppose an opinion about a composer's entire oeuvre, based upon one piece only, would be a prejudice based on experience, yet irrationally formed?

[Ein Heldenleben]

Strikes me there are some quite consistent dislikes in the thread . Mine would be

Rimsky-Korsakov : Scheherazade
Massenet : Meditation from Thais
Khatchaturian Theme from Spartacus aka One Din
Orff : Carmina Boreana
Bizet Carmen

Nothing terribly wrong with any of them as music but so overplayed.....

[Bryn]

... so overplayed.....

Not in my abode they're not.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Schere... Oh can't be bothered to spell it ......was on R3 twice the week before last as was Rhapsody in Blue. If I didn't like Gershwin so much that would be in the list as well...

[Richard Barrett]

Though I suppose an opinion about a composer's entire oeuvre, based upon one piece only, would be a prejudice based on experience, yet irrationally formed?

Indeed. But how much of someone's oeuvre do you need to know before making your mind up?

One of my own efforts was welcomed into the world by the late great Felix Aprahamian with the words "Not a piece one would like to hear again." I didn't hold it against him.

[pastoralguy]

Strikes me there are some quite consistent dislikes in the thread . Mine would be


Massenet : Meditation from Thais

Nothing terribly wrong with any of them as music but so overplayed.....

Massenet's lollipop is an odd one for me. I loath listening to it but love playing it! (It often comes up if I play weddings, bar mitzvahs etc...)

[Stanfordian]

Guess what's top of my list ?

Hiya MrGongGomg,

I can hear an extended drum roll!

[Stanfordian]

Thank you.
I don't like Liszt.

Hiya kernel,

This is not an unusual viewpoint but not one shared by myself. Liszt does divide opinion more than most I find.