I've REALLY, REALLY tried, but ......

[ahinton]

I really think that my life would be impoverished if I weren't allowed to hear the Serenade or the War Requiem again. On the other hand, I would object pretty violently if I were required to listen to more than about 1 minute and 18 seconds of any of Bruckner's (very, very) slow movements.

I could live without the Serenade but not the War Requiem (which I think to be one of Britten's best as well as most engaging works). In noting your wry comment about Bruckner, I did momentarily wonder whether your 1 minute 18 second limit would apply equally to performances of those slow movements conducted by Celibidache or Segerstam and those from other conductors who adopt considerably brisker paces for them?...

[Quarky]

The Shostakovich quartets deserve a mention. I would rate them more highly than Bartok's or Schoenberg's. Certainly an easier listen.

[rauschwerk]

Schumann's piano music (most of it anyway). I particularly hate the Toccata, which was played on R3 this morning. Don't know what any listeners see in this horrid piece.

[Tapiola]

Schumann's piano music (most of it anyway). I particularly hate the Toccata, which was played on R3 this morning. Don't know what any listeners see in this horrid piece.

I love the Toccata Though an early-ish work, I hear in it a presentiment of the tragedy and madness that was to inflict poor Robert later in life.

[ahinton]

Schumann's piano music (most of it anyway). I particularly hate the Toccata, which was played on R3 this morning. Don't know what any listeners see in this horrid piece.

Then try this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT68hCACDQc - from almost 60 years ago, from a great pianist who is still with us and playing remarkably well...

[jayne lee wilson]

Concision?
Bruckner?

Once you understand his marvellously original, endlessly inventive methods and structures you know that he never wastes a note. Though some of the worst, otherly-advised revisions and truncations, damaging the symphonic coherence, have undoubtedly led to this superficial impression of redundancy.

[vinteuil]

...he never wastes a note.

Anton Bruckner, the Anton Webern of symphonic form

.

[LMcD]

We're lucky enough to be able to attend regular chamber concerts on our doorstep, and I always find that my appreciation of the music is enhanced when I can see what's going on. Not being musically untrained, I don't always know what to listen out for - perhaps I can find some videos of performances of the Bartok quartet on YouTube. I share Vespare's enthusiasm for the Shostakovitch quartets. The journey from the pretty jolly No. 1 to the grimly sparse late works is absolutely fascinating.

[Pulcinella]

We're lucky enough to be able to attend regular chamber concerts on our doorstep, and I always find that my appreciation of the music is enhanced when I can see what's going on. Not being musically untrained, I don't always know what to listen out for - perhaps I can find some videos of performances of the Bartok quartet on YouTube. I share Vespare's enthusiasm for the Shostakovitch quartets. The journey from the pretty jolly No. 1 to the grimly sparse late works is absolutely fascinating.

Typo perhaps?

[jayne lee wilson]

Actually though it's more like Second Viennese School plus Stravinsky (sometimes more, sometimes less) plus whatever else happened to catch his fancy from music of his own generation, although that might make it seem too eclectic, which indeed plenty of Henze's work is, though not the 2nd Concerto, which I find one of the most emotionally searing works of its time, I've known it since my teenage years and return to it regularly. Henze is a counterexample to this thread topic as far as I'm concerned - a composer whose work I immediately took to, and which has remained an important companion through the decades.

Intriguing.....You've tempted me to try the concerto again.....(after a few years.....but I was referring (not clearly enough, sorry) to the (my) general feel of Henze rather than just this piece)...
I love the way music can sound so different, when you return to it much later on... the music can't have changed... so baby, it's you...
So maybe a negative thread will have positive effects....

[Petrushka]

So maybe a negative thread will have positive effects....

I'm not much into chamber music but I've been listening to the Bartok String Quartet No 1 with the Takacs Quartet courtesy of youTube. It somehow seemed to fit a late Friday afternoon in October and I enjoyed it. Will try the rest as time allows. Never knowingly heard any of them before!

[kernelbogey]

There are certain works with which, despite repeated efforts over time, I continue to struggle....

That applies, for me, to the symphonies of Shostakovich. However, I am going to give the quartets a go soon.

I have heard the piano quintet live twice in the last 15 months - and loved it.

Music moves in mysterious ways....

[Pulcinella]

I'm not much into chamber music but I've been listening to the Bartok String Quartet No 1 with the Takacs Quartet courtesy of youTube. It somehow seemed to fit a late Friday afternoon in October and I enjoyed it. Will try the rest as time allows. Never knowingly heard any of them before!

What a sheltered life you've had, Pet.

And what a wonderful voyage of discovery awaits.
I really hope that you enjoy the other five too.

[gradus]

I can't get into Janacek especially the orchestral works and operas. Fortunately there's plenty of other Czech music that strongly appeals eg a stirring performance of Asrael this pm on R3, after a less-engaging Taras Bulba.

[kernelbogey]

I can't get into Janacek especially the orchestral works and operas. Fortunately there's plenty of other Czech music that strongly appeals eg a stirring performance of Asrael this pm on R3, after a less-engaging Taras Bulba.

A friend at University bought me the Glagolitic Mass for my 21st. I've never looked back. Find the last two movements, if you can, on YouTube....

The piano suite On an Overgrown Path I is utterly beguiling.

I'm going to see WNO in The Cunning Little Vixen on 28 November in Southampton.