Music That You Once Disliked But Now Love

[goldentone]

. . . And why? 

For a long time I never cared for Chopin's fourth Ballade, but now I love it (since a couple of years now I guess) and think it is wonderful.  Not only did I not like it, but I didn't think it was a great piece.  But I don't know how I came to love it.  I remember telling my teacher I didn't like it and she said she didn't like it either.

Sometimes when we hear a piece for the first time played not very well or to our liking, which we then discover was the case later, can be the reason why a piece strikes our musical palate 'blah.'  I believe one such case for me was with Chopin's first Ballade.  The first time I heard it played by Peter Serkin, and I didn't like it, though I knew it was good.  A good while later I heard Ashkenazy's performance and fell in love with it, and one day it will be in my repertoire.

But I wonder what I would have thought of these had I played them before hearing anyone else?

 

[thierry13]

The first time I heard Pictures at an exhibition I hated it ... hey wait, I STILL hate it ! What an horrific piece of music ... For the original question, I tought the first movement of the appassionata sonata by Beethoven was so-so compared to the 2nd and 3rd mvts ... I learned to appreciate it better I guess.

[richard black]

I used to hate country and western music. Now, when I hear a radio announcer mention Johnny Cash, or Garth Brooks, or any of their colleagues, I turn the radio up instead of off. I think it was partly the realisation that C&W musicians have two things - technical ability and a sense of humour - that made me start to warm to it.

[thalbergmad]

I used to hate country and western music.

So did i until i heard Flatt & Scruggs 10 years ago. That started me off on my banjo craze and i have never looked back.

BLUEGRASS RULES.

Thal

[netzow]

I know it's surprising (yeah right) but I used to hate Rach 3  ( can anyone spell L-A-N-G L-A-N-G?) Untill I heard Ashkanazy. Now I love it.

[thalbergmad]

It took me a while to love it as well.

Needed Agerich/Wild before i truly appreciated it.

Thal

[dmc]

The Liszt piano transcription of Sant-Saens' Danse Macabre.  I wouldn't say I disliked it but it didn't do anything for me.  Then I happened to attend a local performance by Jeffrey Siegel when he played it at one of his Keyboard Conversations shows.   Learning the imagery that the piece was intended to convey led me to find a recording by a young Horowitz (1928 I believe).  I was stunned.

And hooked....now its in my iPod and gives me chills.

[arensky]

J.S Bach, Hindemith, Steely Dan.

[thalbergmad]

Steely Dan.

My word that takes me back a few years.

Thal

[cygnusdei]

I didn't care for Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto no. 1 - I don't *love* it now but i see its merits after hearing Pletnev.

[sharon_f]

Scriabin.

[tompilk]

schumann... especially fantasie. it's immediate appeal somehow passed me by for about 2 years...

[kyliec]

Bach Well Tempered Clavier - it took quite a bit of exposure to it for me to start liking it.
Kylie

[pianochick93]

Don't throw things at me or anything, but as short a time as a couple of years ago I didn't like any 'classical' music.

I have now started to become more serious in piano (at that time I was only playing popular songs), and have gained an appreciation and love for classical music. I listen, and I play. Before a few years ago, I dismissed classical music as boring. Now I tell my sister off for saying the same thing, as she hasnt even listened to much.

[richard black]

I used to regard Tchaikovsky as almost beneath contempt (ah! the arrogance of youth!) until I heard the 1956 recording of Mravinsky and the Leningrad Phil doing symphony 5 - then I understood.

[arensky]

My word that takes me back a few years.

Thal

Did (do) you like them? I never felt that they would have a sizable UK following, for some reason. Are they popular there?

[thalbergmad]

They did have a cult following in the 1970's in the UK and one of their tracks did get high up the charts.

I thought the sound weird but intoxicating.

Thal

[jepoy]

schumann...

Agreed. I didn't really get him. I understand his music better now though I still have a hard time interpreting it.

[netzow]

I just remembered, Chopin, as a child I only liked his Polonaises and nothing else.    Boy was I in for a surprise. I think I just liked the loudness at the time.

[dnephi]

Liszt Sonata in B Minor.
Liszt Transcendental Etudes
Barber Sonata
Brahms Concerto #1
Rachmaninoff Concerto #3
Bach: Just about everything

[arensky]

They did have a cult following in the 1970's in the UK and one of their tracks did get high up the charts.

I thought the sound weird but intoxicating.

Thal

I felt they were overly slick and polished and I didn't understand why one would want to do that to Rock, an essentially savage and primal music. Funny, it was the same thing with Hindemith; for me 20th Century classical music was about driving rhythm and searing dissonance; Hindemith seemed tame and traditional and somewhat antiseptic compared to Bartok and Ginastera. I still enjoy them as well but I guess our tastes broaden as we move along. With Steely Dan I finally got the subtle brilliance of their harmonic progressions (and Becker's solos) and their cryptic lyrics.

[indutrial]

I used to regard Tchaikovsky as almost beneath contempt (ah! the arrogance of youth!) until I heard the 1956 recording of Mravinsky and the Leningrad Phil doing symphony 5 - then I understood.

Haha, I see where you're coming from. When a person is young they play at hating something like the Nutcracker (probably because it's beaten to death every Xmas), but when they actually look into it with a more mature point of view, it's like, "holy sh*t, these are some pretty good ideas. I wish I could think up a melody like that." It's all too common for musicians (especially in their adolescent and college years) to feel a need to be territorial about their tastes and distastes (like assholes who don't appreciate music that isn't cutting-edge avant-garde extremist work), but after a while there's really no point and little to be gained by hating on this or that.

I just hope that I never soften up to the point of saying something like, "you know, that Philip Glass guy is pretty good" or worse yet, "oh wow, I want the new Bruce Springsteen album." If I ever turned around and pledged support to a fraudulent scum like him, I'd hope that a loved one would be ready to smack me around and snap me out of it.

[gerryjay]

 i used to dislike brahms completely. and it was rather strange, because i admire his technique at the same time. however, the music was deceptive and boring. 
 until one day, out of nothing, i get a kick in the stomach listening to his four serious songs and since this day i just can't get enough of his music. well, just look at my repertory...

[general disarray]

J.S Bach, Hindemith, Steely Dan.

Ah, Steely Dan.  Pure magic.

Respighi.  Dismissed him for years. 

Mendelssohn.  God, what a master. 

Korngold.  A total post-Romantic God.  Yeah, they say he sounds like "movie music."  Hell, he INVENTED bloody movie music.  And what's wrong with that?     

[ahinton]

I used to hate country and western music.

Me too. Still do. Takes all sorts, though, does it not?!...

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

BLUEGRASS RULES.

But do you adhere to these rules?...

Seriously, I've never yet seen any blue grass (or even trodden in any) and I cannot help but notice that even the very clearest and bluest of skies in summer "don't turn my green grass blue", as it were...

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

It took me a while to love it as well.

Needed Agerich/Wild before i truly appreciated it.

Thal

It took me up until about the second bar of the first piano entry the first time I heard it. I admit that Argerich's recording of it is pretty spectacular, not to mention wild (not to mention Wild, who account of it is certainly also one of the finer ones I've heard); thee have been a good many excellent performances and recordings of this work, which is surely the most ambitious of the four, all of which I have taken to instantly.

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

I used to regard Tchaikovsky as almost beneath contempt (ah! the arrogance of youth!) until I heard the 1956 recording of Mravinsky and the Leningrad Phil doing symphony 5 - then I understood.

And if you didn't understand after that, you almost certainly never would have done!

It's interesting (though not surprising to me) that you and several others here have ascribed their changes of heart with certain music to the experience of different performances of it; of coruse there are many other factors in vlved in such changes, but one should never undermine that of the performance factor.

Whilst slightly off-topic (and continuing your reference to Tchaikovsky), I've never actually felt negative about his work (except perhaps the big piano sonata), but I must admit that my love and respect for his music has deepened immensely over the years.

Best,

Alistair

[swim4ever_22]

I used to think along the lines of, "If it isn't Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, or Rachmaninoff, then I don't like it."


Since then, I've exposed myself to a much broader variety of music... I've rediscovered and have grown fond of Bach, especially the inventions/sinfonias. I've also grown to love Schumann, Schubert, Haydn, Mozart, Scriabin, Ravel, Satie, Clementi, and Scarlatti. What's more is that their works are much more near my level than the works of the above five composers, so I'm enthusiastic and excited to practice the works of these newly rediscovered composers! 

[point of grace]

OF COURSE!!!!!!!!!!
I USED TO HATE BARTOK PIECES!!!! SPECIALLY THE MIKROKOSMOS...
they were horribleeeeeee! a pain in my neck

NOW I LUV HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

=)

[swim4ever_22]

If I must say... there is music that I will always hate. Country, for one. I hate the whiny "misery" sound, and then most of all, rap. Rap isn't music.

[Bob]

I found in the listening classes, when the music was kind of forced down your ears, that I didn't quite like it so much.  Actually, it became more "business" eventually, neither liked nor disliked, just material to memorize. 

But about six months later, those same pieces were a lot nicer.  My ears got deeper into them right away.

For whatever that's worth.

[minor9th]

I used to find Mozart and Haydn (well, the entire classical period, really) boring and insipid. I can't say that I love them, but I do enjoy them now.

[slobone]

I grew up hating Puccini and Tchaikovsky, I guess because they were so popular. Now I really adore Puccini and -- well one out of two ain't bad.

[thalberg]

When I was in high school I didn't like Beethoven.  Isn't that crazy?  Now I not only love him, I'm in awe of him.

[gerryjay]

Isn't that crazy? 

count me in...i was not a great fan of his music either prior to my undergraduate.

[spaciiey]

I disliked anything modern. I thought that the pieces didn't have any tune to it.  That was before I discovered how fun it was to see the reactions on people's faces after playing them. Now, I still think it has no tune, but I like them and think they're fun. =)

[thalberg]

count me in...i was not a great fan of his music either prior to my undergraduate.

now I don't feel so alone.

I disliked anything modern. I thought that the pieces didn't have any tune to it.  That was before I discovered how fun it was to see the reactions on people's faces after playing them. Now, I still think it has no tune, but I like them and think they're fun. =)

YES!!!  I love to play really dissonant stuff for non-musicians just to torture them. 

[gerryjay]

YES!!!  I love to play really dissonant stuff for non-musicians just to torture them. 

don´t ever happen to a child start crying in the middle of a strange dissonant piece while you´re playing? 

[Petter]

I used to disliked everything but now I like everything. Oh the drudgery...

[optima]

1) classical music:   i used to hate Debussy, Satie, Faure   
now i love debussy but i still don't feel anything for all these French - semi modern musicians..

also,as years pass by, i have an appreciation for bach  - especially Toccatas..

i find boring Haydn and Beethoven's early sonatas - Mozart is different, it makes me smile but still  - apart from his operas - his piano pieces do not attract my attention

what i truly ADORE is Scriabin(especially his early works) , Rachmaninnof, Mussorgsky(someone mentioned the "pictures at an exhibition - oh that is not music - it is religion to me!!   anything that is passionate, technically challenging ( i find that part of the pleasure) and dramatic. I haven't played Liszt yet - i want to try it! and of course Chopin  - he was the first to make me cry (yes i have that habit when i truly feel a piece )

2) folk music:  i am from Greece and i used to hate our traditional songs( i don't mean the well - known bouzouki & rebetika), i mean our public songs that go back to the period of the Byzantin Empire) - now i have discovered many little "diamonds" among them  - especially songs about grief or for the funerals sang by women a cappella!! it's beautiful! it may seem bizarre but listen to this:

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3)rap and RnB: few years ago i considered it too"noisy", now, strangely, i find it.. stress relieving!
i could write a whole book about what i like/dislike about specific forms of music... in the end, what  really matters is that i honestly LOVE MUSIC IN GENERAL