Extremely annoying pieces of classical music

[Anna]

I can only think of two pieces of music which I find intensely annoying - The Sabre Dance and The Flight of the Bumblebee

Some composers I prefer not to hear (Liszt, Grainger, Delius, Bax) but they don't annoy me, just bore me. Well, I suppose Liszt does annoy a bit as well as bore .........

[Thomas Roth]

Dear Waldhorn and Chris, my list was written when I was in a non-musical and grumpy mood. I take it all back. By the way, the new Martinu Symphony set from Belohlavek on Onyx is sensational!

[scottycelt]

I hate to admit this but most British composers bore me to death ... no wonder Elgar was called 'The English Brahms'.

I love many of the usual ones that others seem to detest ... Bolero, Capriccio Espagnol, Sorcerer's Apprentice, Turangalila, Symphonie Fantastique ... and I even quite like Brahms's German Requiem ... hmm, there's nowt as queer as folk, that's for sure.

[ahinton]

I hate to admit this but most British composers bore me to death

Does that include most Scottish ones, scotty? (or shouldn't I ask?) (or both?). And which ones are the exceptions? (or shouldn't I ask?)

[Mr Pee]

I hate to admit this but most British composers bore me to death ... no wonder Elgar was called 'The English Brahms'.

I love many of the usual ones that others seem to detest ... Bolero, Capriccio Espagnol, Sorcerer's Apprentice, Turangalila, Symphonie Fantastique ... and I even quite like Brahms's German Requiem ... hmm, there's nowt as queer as folk, that's for sure.

He''s much better than Brahms!!!

As for your list of loves- well, Berlioz bores me to death, without fail, whilst also annoying me intensely.

Cappricio and Sorcerer- OK once in a while, but you wouldn't take them to a desert island- would you??

And the Ondes Martinot in Tranga-lilo - otherwise known as an ambulance siren- loses its novelty value very quickly, I find.

But my most annoying piece of classical music ever, would have to be the 1812 Overture. And I quite like Tchaikovsky most of the time.

Talk about having an off day. What WAS he thinking??

[scottycelt]

Does that include most Scottish ones, scotty? (or shouldn't I ask?) (or both?). And which ones are the exceptions? (or shouldn't I ask?)

Has Scotland ever produced a truly notable composer, ahinton?

I'm told Robert Carver is one but I'm not really 'into' early music, tbh. As for the modern day, MacMillan is approachable for sure but whether his music will stand the test of time only time will tell.

Yes, you are perfectly free to ask any question you like to me, ahinton ... I know my place on this forum.

[ahinton]

Has Scotland ever produced a truly notable composer, ahinton?

Now that wouldn't be a question and its answer, would it? No, of course not!...

As you were...

[Serial_Apologist]

Now that wouldn't be a question and its answer, would it? No, of course not!...

As you were...

That can only be described as a hint.

[vinteuil]

... well, for starters - Respighi, Weill, Piazzola, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Delius, Bax, Vaughan Williams, Shostakovitch, Prokofiev...

And of course those completely beneath contempt - the Einaudis and other noodlers...

[mangerton]

Has Scotland ever produced a truly notable composer, ahinton?

I'm told Robert Carver is one but I'm not really 'into' early music, tbh.

He certainly was! He wrote a wonderful 19 part motet "O bone Jesu", and a number of mass settings. Others from that era include David Peebles, Robert Johnson and William Kinloche. More recently, there was Thomas Erskine, 6th Earl of Kellie, who was born in 1732 - a Fifer like me - and from the 19th century Hamish MacCunn. Scotty has mentioned Macmillan, and could also have mentioned Thea Musgrave and Judith Weir, among others.

So there's a few. There were of course others, though possibly not as many as other countries have produced. On the other hand, Scots have been busy in many other walks of life inventing or discovering marmalade, bicycles, pneumatic tyres, tar macadam, television, telephones, radar, electromagnetic radiation, anaesthetics, penicillin and even founding the Bank of England.

[Mr Pee]

On the other hand, Scots have been busy in many other walks of life inventing or discovering marmalade, bicycles, pneumatic tyres, tar macadam, television, telephones, radar, electromagnetic radiation, anaesthetics, penicillin and even founding the Bank of England.

And the Scottish Bagpipes, which renders all their other achievements meaningless. Some crimes should never be forgiven.

[Nick Armstrong]

And the Scottish Bagpipes, which renders all their other achievements meaningless. Some crimes should never be forgiven.

One of the Bard's greatest:


".... and others, when the bagpipe sings i' th' nose,
Cannot contain their urine." (Merchant of Venice)

[ahinton]

That can only be described as a hint.

on - the contrary, it could be described as a very silly and specious response!

[ahinton]

He certainly was! He wrote a wonderful 19 part motet "O bone Jesu", and a number of mass settings. Others from that era include David Peebles, Robert Johnson and William Kinloche. More recently, there was Thomas Erskine, 6th Earl of Kellie, who was born in 1732 - a Fifer like me - and from the 19th century Hamish MacCunn. Scotty has mentioned Macmillan, and could also have mentioned Thea Musgrave and Judith Weir, among others.

He could have mentioned Ronald Stevenson and James Dillon, too - but he didn't.

So there's a few. There were of course others, though possibly not as many as other countries have produced. On the other hand, Scots have been busy in many other walks of life inventing or discovering marmalade, bicycles, pneumatic tyres, tar macadam, television, telephones, radar, electromagnetic radiation, anaesthetics, penicillin and even founding the Bank of England.

You forgot raspberries and whisky!

[scottycelt]

...and even founding the Bank of England.

... while we're at it, you uncharacteristically omitted to mention both the US and Imperial Russian Navies, mangerton ...