Music you never want to hear again

I was reading an article ages ago on some classical music and arts website about some of the author's music that they would never want to hear again. I can't remember what all the pieces they wrote about but I am pretty sure Für Elise was on the list.

Any way the music I would like never to hear again would be any of the boring as hell elevator Muzak by the Greek composer Yanni. I read in a review of one of his CD's that his music would 'ooze out of the walls of elevators descending into hell.' I heard some of his Muzak on YouTube and I think I am scarred for life with the sound of his pop classical rubbish.

Now I would like to hear from all you guys on what music (or Muzak) you would never want to hear again.

I also do not want to hear the famous Scène from Swan Lake. I think that the melodic structure is very bland and the use of chords is extremely predictable.

I don't want to hear you talking about not wanting to hear things again.

And I like Yanni. Deal with it. You have to admit, this is pretty awesome:

That's okay. You can ignore this thread if you want to. I just heard John Rutter's 'All things bright and beautiful' on the radio so I turned it off. The thing I can't stand about John Rutter is his pop sounding syncopations in his very classical sounding music that make it all seem like tasteless mush.

John Adam's 9/11. Kinda boring.

You mean Steve Reich's WTC 9/11?

Yanni piece Tokke - c'mon that is not awesome. My God I'd rather listen to Smetana any day of the week.

This is just a pastiche of "light" pop.

Let's make a comparison

Smetana String Quartet

Versus your Yanni

Elevator 'muzak' bugs me to death, I could certainly do without it. Large amounts of other 'pop' music bug me also.

You mean Steve Reich's WTC 9/11?

No. John Adams wrote a 9/11 too.

AND YES. Muzak is horrible! When I first heard it I nearly threw up.

I don't want to hear ever again, Rimsky Korsakow's Sherezada and Capriccio Español.

How has no one said Bolero yet?

Sorry man, I think that piece falls squarely under the "so bad it's good" category :laugh: And it does have a certain zany charm on top of that.

Also, that John Rutter theme (never heard of him before) was awful indeed, Froggy. I sincerely hope all his music isn't like that.

Lemme think ... what do I never want to hear again as long as I live? ...

NEVER. AGAIN.

EVER.

Every time I ever think of it, I start to laugh so hard I can't even think. That, to me, falls squarely on the "so bad it's bad" category.

But again, for my own consolation, I must again veer into the "so bad it's good" category.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeuqbhdOlXY&feature=related

Screechy and hard on the ears, yet strangely epic. Her original audition was the best.

No. John Adams wrote a 9/11 too.

AND YES. Muzak is horrible! When I first heard it I nearly threw up.

John Adams wrote 'On the Transmigration of Souls', which you're right, isn't his best work.

I don't like to say I 'hate' any type of music or even composer. That would make me not want to listen to it at all, and if I've never listened to a piece I can't really say I don't like it, right?

I didn't say Bolero was 'bad' or 'good'. I said I never want to hear it again.

You're welcome to listen to the entire 15 minutes of it, no objections here.

Errr... ok. That's oddly specific of you to say that, but I think I understand what you mean.

And yes, the length of that piece, for what it is, is pretty ridiculous, hehheh.

How bout this?

I listened to Yanni once and I am not going to listen to anymore of his stuff for the rest of my life.

That and Infernal Dance (from Firebird)

why that Dance ? you were sleeping in the concert when the BassDrum+Piccolo scared you ? :P

I listened to Yanni once and I am not going to listen to anymore of his stuff for the rest of my life.

Why?

Why would I listen to it if I don't like it? There are plenty of other fantastic composers out there, so I don't need to listen to anything I don't like.

One listen of one piece by one composer does not an informed opinion make.

I listen to music I don't like all the time. Why? Because its good for you. It teaches you things, to analyze, to understand, etc.; just because it disagrees with your aesthetic guidelines/worldview doesn't make it not worth listening to. Its like kids and spinach. They may hate to eat it, but its good for them because it builds strong bones and muscles (for example). If your entire diet is candy, your teeth will rot and you'll be drastically overweight. Vary your listening between stuff you like and stuff you don't like. Perhaps try new things, and then savor a nostalgic old thing once in a while.

If someone likes certain pieces/composers it doesn't necessarily mean that it is bad. You like Yanni, I don't. I like Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, but it is possible that you don't. I don't know everything that you listen to but I am sure that the majority of it are things that you like.

Sure, it may be the majority, but it can't be all. You dismiss Yanni simply because. I may not like Hiroshima but I at least understand why I don't and why Pendereki did what he did.

I'm just going to say that this argument is going nowhere. We are not going to convince each other with our ideas so there's not much point in continuing the conversation.

Pachelbel's Canon.

Yes his canon is overplayed and it is usually played badly. I have come across some really good recordings of it though that I liked. It was a baroque ensemble that played with the correct instrumentation of three violins and continuo. The canon was a lot more brisk and joyful and they also included the second part of the work, the seldom played gigue. I don't know why whenever people bother to play it they never include the second movement.

I never want to hear a piece by Mozart or 99% of classical era composers again (really, anything between mid/late-romantic and the Death of Bach just kinda sucks, exception of some Beethoven pieces, like the late quartets, symphonies 7 and 3)

lemme see...

Beethoven's 5th Symphony

DUN DUN DUN DUN!!!!!! (so overplayed, jesus -.-)

Cheesy pop-classical

I had the misfortune a few years back to be at the première of a piece called Vita nuova by a Russian whose name was Vladimir Martynov. God, it was risible - and not for the reason you might assume with contemporary music, a wall of dissonance, but the opposite. It sounded literally as if a ten-year-old had written it with banal little tunes, mindless repetition and silly gimmicks of the choir walking in and out. Worse, he'd managed to persuade Mark Padmore and the London Philharmonic to perform and it was obvious they thought about at much of it as I did and completely wasted their talents. Half the audience left at the interval, and I wish I'd done the same. (Mind you, I might quite like to hear a small section again just to marvel at how excruciatingly bad it really was).

The FT seems to agree with my assessment: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/304e02fa-ff7d-11dd-b3f8-000077b07658.html#axzz1haRAqeFZ

There are lots of pieces I wouldn't care to play or hear: notably the Pachelbel Canon, Boccherini's minuet, the Chariots of Fire theme, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. Most of these are from needless overplaying in wedding quartets for people who think that hearing such trifles as background music for two hours in the year gives them a claim to being 'cultured'.