Pieces everyone else likes but you

Not a big fan of The Beatles. Don't like most classicism. Hate some mainstream music.

Don't like a lot of mainstream music.

Don't like:

- Moonlight Sonata (Beethoven)

- Anything by Thomas Ades (EXCEPT for Asyla)

- Violin Sonata (Corigliano)

- Koln Concert (Keith Jarrett)

- ANYTHING BY PHILIP GLASS OMG. (Sorry.) There's just no interesting harmony or contrapuntal movement. Like Steve Reich uses.

- That being said, I think Reich's "Clapping Music" is the most irritating thing ever aside from "Pendulum Music"

- Ravel's Piano Concerto (except for that MARVELOUS 2nd movement)

- Damn beatboxing flutist.

- Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf".

- Anything by William Bolcom except for his piano rags.

- Fur Elise (Beethoven)

- Flute Concertos (Mozart)

- Piano Variations (Copland)

i see bolero as one of the most influential music pieces ever, as 4.33 or arcana.

it's simply amazing in its concept.

pure, simple, beautiful.

Arcana > Bolero (still pretty good, but Varese beats Ravel ANYDAY).

4:33...interesting. I liked the concept...how it "played out" was rather disappointing.

Abstract music is NOT bad. Sometimes, it's just to let you think. i sometimes find it easier to concentrate when listening to Pauline Oliveros.

Everything by The Beatles.

Yess thank you!

I'd have to say pretty much anything by Hans Zimmer..

though to be fair, I HAVE watched a few films that had music by him where I kind of enjoyed it.

and everyone around seems so gaga over his music. it just doesn't do a single thing for me.. except in those extreme cases, like "The Da Vinci Code" - where it annoys me to the point of putting me off totally from the film.

I'd have to say pretty much anything by Hans Zimmer..

though to be fair, I HAVE watched a few films that had music by him where I kind of enjoyed it.

and everyone around seems so gaga over his music. it just doesn't do a single thing for me.

Yes. Simply yes. I'm glad somebody else shares my views on him.

I revise - PARTIALLY - my stance on Zimmer....

I watched Kung Fu Panda this week.

I thoroughly enjoyed the music.

However, with his past history, all I could do was wonder just HOW much of the music was actually BY Zimmer, and which parts by John Powell?

Pretty much any of the Violin/Viola/whatever concertos by most of the great masters that take too damn long and feature some guy spergin' out on his axe for about 30 minutes while the audience - AND the orchestra - sit in placated boredom.

It's a holdover from when people had nothing better to do than listen to music for hours on end. And had no cars. gently caress.

Anything/everything to some degree by the Beatles. And especially The Beach Boys.

~Kal

Sounds like someone needs to listen to the Berg violin concerto. Or perhaps Bartok's 2nd.

Nah, piano concertos don't bother me - it's odd, but it seems like composers took greater care to make the piano be a part of the orchestra in piano concertos, rather than having big donkey solo sections for inordinate amounts of time.

And the first one you recommended just proved my point..to me...

So now that I can actually do the Elegie justice, I can take Faure's elegie (or Elegy) off my list.

I do have a couple additions, however:

Sibelius Violin Concerto - I really feel like there is a bad ratio of flourish:content. I mean, yeah, it's a romantic concerto, but I feel like the long runs and semi-cadenzas would get in the way of the melodic material, except, there's very little melodic material to make sure nothing interferes with the technical flurries. I state that "everyone" loves this because the last time I stated my opinion on the concerto, my viola teacher overheard and gave me a shrill scalloping.

Dvorak "New World Symphony" - I love Dvorak (especially his chamber music), but there's something I'm not crazy about here, and I'm not sure what. I love the way Dvorak exploits motives, uses orchestral color, drastically changes mood/character quickly, his use of "native" music (such as pentatonic melodies), etc, etc, but I just can't sit through this symphony without getting all squirrely and stuff.

Bach "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" - I don't dislike the original composition, but I dislike all the horrible settings that have been done for it (not saying all settings have been horrible, either).

Mahler "Songs of a Wayfarer" - I generally enjoy Mahler, but this, I'm not too crazy about.

I'm about ready to close this thread.

It is turning into a "hating on" thread.

I am sorely tempted to do some clean-up and delete some of the latest posts.

Please, if you want to have the freedom to post this sort of thread, at least stick to the original intent of the thread.

Anyone posting "I hate Schoenberg and Berg" or I hate Stockhausen and Cage" is not reading the thread title.

Please read:

PIECES EVERYONE ELSE LIKES BUT YOU.

Do not take this is carte blanche to post ignorant rants about which modern composers you dislike.

The original intent of the thread is already borderline offensive.

LOL QcC. But everyone does seem to love Schoenberg and Berg and Webern! And I don't. So it is within original intent.

The original intent is "PIECES everybody else likes but you," not "let's all make sweeping generalizations about composers whose work we probably don't really know that well." For example, if you were to say you didn't like Erwartung or Lulu and explain why, that would be within original intent. Unfounded attacks on a composer's entire body of work just make you sound ignorant.

LOL QcC. But everyone does seem to love Schoenberg and Berg and Webern! And I don't. So it is within original intent.

Um... lolwut

There are plenty of people who don't like Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. It'd be a more accurate statement to say "Everyone loves Beethoven" or "Everyone loves Debussy" or even "Everyone loves Mahler". In fact, I'd say the majority of the YC community has a dislike for these composers.

Don't confuse a person defending a composer from offensive statements made by ignorant kids with "loving" a composer.

Besides, it's one thing to name a piece and give a reason why. It's quite another to make sweeping generalizations about a composer's entire output.

EDIT: To avoid hypocrisy, I think I may have said that I hated everything by Mahler close to the beginning of this thread. I'd like to revise that slightly. I have enjoyed a few isolated movements of Mahler's work before (the first movement of his 2nd, 4th, and the piano reduction of his 7th come to mind). And I have given Mahler PLENTY of chances; I've tried listening to every one of his symphonies at one time or another. Though, in general, his work does bore me.

Holst's Jupiter is a great piece, but it is not the best of the planet's suite imo, its spectacular, but not for Holst really.

Beethoven's ninth, can't say I've ever been a big fan of most of it.

There are plenty of others that qualify to this extent

Oh, yeah, the Four Season's by Vivaldi, he does much cooler stuff, but I still like it.

Maybe the Marriage of Figaro and Mozart's requiem, it has its incredible parts, but it isn't all its cracked up to be(I'm probably going to be attacked for this one)

My parents like Van Morrison.

I can't say I'm a big fan, folk music in general and the entire mello vibe to it, I always get suspicious of people just trying to be cool by listening to "chill" music.

I don't disagree with you on your Mozart generalizations. I think late mozart has an incredible amount of maturity, clarity of form, chromatic harmony, and balanced counterpoint; that being said, I don't enjoy sitting and listening to late Mozart for fun. I enjoy studying his music, and there are several decent counterpoint books that use Mozart as an example, but he's never been my favorite composer for musical entertainment, and he probably never will be. I'm not the biggest opera fan (not saying I don't enjoy opera, but again, I don't usually listen to it 'for fun'), so I can't comment fairly on La nozze or any other opera without showing my lack of understanding on the subject.

To people who show blanket hate for new music: I strongly, STRONGLY recommend you spend as much time exposing yourself, listening to, and studying new music as you do the music you fawn over. I "hated Schoenberg" until I actually started looking at his scores as I was listening and saw how he was developing his motives and using variation of the motive on paper. This made listening much more enjoyable, and now, while I'm not going to start an Arnold Schoenberg fanclub, I find myself exploring his music and flipping through scores when I'm in a rut. The music is much more expressive than many people realize, and his use of developing variations puts Brahams to shame.

There are other sorts of music that I'm not crazy about (and some I downright dislike) but I want to make two things abundantly clear:

1) I don't spend time hating on them. Who really needs to hear my uneducated opinion on x or y?

2) I may dislike the music, but I haven't written it off. There is too much I can learn from other great composers to just ignore their work entirely. I also try to seek out different performances, groups, and directors of pieces I don't enjoy to get different takes on interpretation. For example, I didn't enjoy the Rite of Spring when I first heard it; however, when I had the chance to listen to a version with Boulez conducting, I fell in love. It wasn't the piece itself I didn't enjoy; it was the interpretation, and this is a very important thing to keep in mind when listening to an unfamiliar piece. I think many people could say the same about most of the music of the Second Viennese school, as there are far too many directors who treat Berg and Webern like Stockhausen, ignoring the subtlety the composers used.

I agree with Matt. Go Schoenberg.

The music is much more expressive than many people realize

Very true. It's called expressionism for a reason!

and his use of developing variations puts Brahams to shame.

Now that's debatable. :P

Hmm... let's see... this could easily turn into an extended gripe/generality, but I will run the risk.

W.A. Mozart:

Serenade No. 13 (Eine Kleine)- all string players know why :)

Piano Sonata No. 11

Cosi fan tutte

Die Entf

....

so is there music you do like?

....

so is there music you do like?

Touche...

Well, the pieces that everyone likes but I dislike happen to be the ones that I currently play at any given time.

I hate how I play great music. lol

who I really HATE:

TAYLOR SWIFT

blehhhhhhhhhhhh

good voice, HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE music/lyrics

Debussy's Clair De Lune and Arabesque. They just seem like they have this sort of cheesy, care-free atmosphere about them.

Pachelbel's Canon would be a sickening piece for me, but I actually haven't heard it that many times. I guess I had a sheltered childhood.

I used to HATE Mozart's music with a passion, and would actually scornfully curse it when I heard it. However, I've really warmed up to Mozart's music and I might even put him on my top 10 favorite composers list. Needless to say, I've developed a cautiousness when it comes to judging things (especially music) on my first few exposures to them.

And, to at least partially follow QcC's wishes, I have to say I am severely not amused by pop music; most of it actually makes me shudder. However, if anyone can name 'pop' music that I might like as a flaming classical and moderate world/folk (Asian folk, Indian folk, Slavic folk, other folk) lover, that likes some blues and doesn't mind some jazz, go for it! I would, of course, be open to music that I might like. Theoretically, I might like any music, so again, go for it.

Usually almost anything by Brahms. His orchestration is spectacularly mediocre IMO, which ruins any impact his grandiose orchestral pieces might have had for me.

Beyond that he just seems to lack any significant ability to develop his ideas (which are nice in and of themselves) beyond 8-16 bar phrases. Everything he writes seems to consist of a collection of different ideas separated by broken/transparent transitional material.

His violin concerto first movement is a perfect example of this. It's like he wrote a 7 minute concerto and then repeated it 3 times because Beethoven was making him feel insecure. It drives me crazy how at the end of the third movement the music tapers off into a piano mellowing out and then just to make sure we know that his music is romantic and that it's ending he throws in the "sup Beethoven" forte everything plays 10 second cadence.

Other than that, anything written early on in Mozart's life tend to be impressive for his age and not much else. When we play Mozart Symphony no 1, we arent doing it because of the music.

Ummm.... and to be honest there is plenty of Bach that I dont care much for. He himself said that anyone could do what he did if they followed the proper steps. He described his act of composing as more of a craft than an art, which is I guess how I feel about a large portion of his music. There's some really cool stuff he did, but plenty of it is easily replicated.

That's what comes to mind.