Extremely annoying pieces of classical music

[Uncle Monty]

I can't think of any music I find annoying apart from Spring from Vivaldi's 4 Seasons and possibly Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik but that is more because I hear them with mind-numbing regularity as telephone call waiting jingles in my job

I was trying to make sense of my BTVision channels on Thursday afternoon when I came across what I assume was a test transmission from the BBC, on one of the red-button channels I believe. It was a TV version of tomorrow's Discovering Music, where Stephen Johnson analyses Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. Now, I agree we've all probably heard it once too often, but in this case it's beautifully played by just a string quartet + bass, which is ideal for laying bare the structure. It was also in a beautiful place, Clandon House in Surrey, though of course that won't be apparent on the radio. So definitely worth a listen.

[Chris Newman]

I know I've said it before that though I love most of Gustav Holst's music I cannot stand Holst's "Beni Mora" which sounds one of those LPs (or 78s, if you are old enough to remember them) of Grieg's Piano Concerto when they got stuck in a groove and kept repeating the same phrase. I am delighted that I am not the only one who feels this: Peter Katin thought so too on the old boards.

[Ferretfancy]

Strange, isn't it ? I love Holst's Beni Mora, particularly the old BBC SO version with Sargent and that lovely tam tam smash in the left channel ! ( Actually a gong, I think )
Maybe the dance of the Ouled Nails is a precursor of minimalism?
What does trouble me is that there is so much Holst which we hardly hear at all.

[Mahlerei]

I wouldn't mind if I never heard The Planets again but I like the sound of Beni Mora. I see the new Davis/BBC Phil recording is available in France, Germany and the US but not here (yet). A bit odd, given that it's a Chandos disc.

[Simon]

Has anyone mentioned Danse Macabre? There is nothing attractive about that at all. Nasty atmosphere.

A glorious piece! And kids love it. But infinitely wonderful in Lemare's great transcription, as adapted by Raoul Prieto here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Neu-t6ofW6o

[Chris Newman]

Strange, isn't it ? I love Holst's Beni Mora, particularly the old BBC SO version with Sargent and that lovely tam tam smash in the left channel ! ( Actually a gong, I think )
Maybe the dance of the Ouled Nails is a precursor of minimalism?
What does trouble me is that there is so much Holst which we hardly hear at all.

Ferretfancy, Bang!!! on the head of a worrying nail!! I agree entirely.
bws
Chris.

[Vile Consort]

Works that would make me run screaming from the concert hall would include:

Last movement of Tchaikovsky 5 - banal and sort of slithery

Last movement of Beethoven 9 - can't stand the shreiking sops or the wobbling soloists that seem to be compulsory

Tchaikovsky's Rococco Variations - vacuous and self-satisfied

Hummel's trumpet concerto - banal and tedious in the extreme

The Chopin piano concertos - about as much structure and sense of direction as a bucket of frogs

Elgar's Vesper Voluntaries - utterly soporific - it seems total madness to programme all twelve of them in the same recital, but I've heard it done twice - arrrgggghhhhh!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Last movement of Tchaikovsky 5 - banal and sort of slithery

Although I love this work and totally disagree with the Tchaikovsky bashers, I admit there is a weakness here. I don't have the score to hand - not without disturbing a sleeping relative - but it's the melody with the following rhythm: dotted minim - 4 semiquavers - crotchet - minim - 5 crotchets - dotted crotchet - 5 quavers, etc. I would definitely call this "banal and sort of slithery". Otherwise, it's still a great symphony.

[salymap]

Chris, Beni Mora, do you remember the 'caravans crossing the desert' exchange on the old boards? I have the old Sargent recording and still like it, this side of 'love it'.
Another piece that irritates me is the opening of the Brahms Variations, aka St Antoni Chorale. A dirge, in the wrong hands.

[Eudaimonia]

Has anyone mentioned Danse Macabre? There is nothing attractive about that at all. Nasty atmosphere.

Really, that harmless old thing? For a second, I thought you meant "Concerto Macabre"...talk about a nasty atmosphere!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEAb8JNfvXs&feature=player_detailpage

[mercia]

banal and sort of slithery....vacuous and self-satisfied...banal and tedious in the extreme....as much structure and sense of direction as a bucket of frogs...

you've met my MP then?

[MickyD]

How about that dreadful spurious "Albinoni Adagio" in those soupy, plodding performances by the likes of Karajan? Thankfully, like the Pachelbel Canon, I seem to hear it less these days.

[BetweenTheStaves]

The Dream of Sodding Gerontius
the world would have been a much better place without it

Noo...o.o...o - it's a superb piece of choral work

[salymap]

I heard many performances and rehearsals of Gerontius and still have some of Sargent's 1945 recording with Heddle Nash, my favourite, and LPs of his 1955 recording with Richard Lewis. A few months ago I purchased the Barbirolli with Janet Baker. Thinking of my age and the first words Gerontius sings, I have decided to wait for Spring and the better weather. With various probs at the moment,I thinkit would be toomuch to take.
And yes, it is the best of Elgar, he was right.

[Don Petter]

Strange, isn't it ? I love Holst's Beni Mora, particularly the old BBC SO version with Sargent and that lovely tam tam smash in the left channel ! ( Actually a gong, I think )
Maybe the dance of the Ouled Nails is a precursor of minimalism?
What does trouble me is that there is so much Holst which we hardly hear at all.

I rather like the work, having had the old Sargent 10" LP years ago. I was going to query your 'left channel' until I checked to find that though my mono version appeared in 1958 there was indeed a stereo version issued three years later. I was short changed! I do see that I can download the later version from Amazon for less than £3. That's progress, and I might well do that, though the LP would have only cost me £1.10s.5d.