Pieces that people think suck, but are actually very lovable

[thesuineg]

like everything by mozart.
like fur elise. have you heard it play well before instead of by 3 year old asian girls on youtube?

[stoudemirestat]

The correct answer () to this question is a lot of Liszt, the main contender being the Dante Symphony. All the widespread criticism's of this work are so easily shrugged off by the few people with a able mind who actually try to study this work, with an objective mindset, like they would any other symphony by a great composer. That being said, the one criticism I do agree with is the one that deems the work somewhat  unbalanced due to Liszt's decision to heed Wagner's advice and not depict Paradise in music - often the piece can seem inconclusive (depends on what mood i'm in). Still, I think it's one of Liszt's masterpieces, and agree with James Huneker who called it "the summit of his creative power and the ripest fruit of that style of programme music." Well, to an extent. What Liszt wrote certainly isn't inferior to this description, it's just what he didn't write that is very unfortunate and, IMO, leaves the work unfinished, and one of Liszt's top 10 works rather than his very finest.

[outin]

I need some clarification...are we talking about normal people or people at PS?

Because I think most of the music I love suck if I ask an average person. Every time I try to play (from a record, not myself) a piano piece that I REALLY like to someone I get comments like "that's funeral music"

[zezhyrule]

Every time I try to play (from a record, not myself) a piano piece that I REALLY like to someone I get comments like "that's funeral music"

For me it's either "that's relaxing I guess" or "that's annoying, can you turn it down" 

[redbaron]

Most of the piano works of Sibelius, Dvorak and Tchaikovsky which are infrequently played and so often derided as being poorly written and inferior to their composer's orchestral works. Works by Liszt such as La Campanella and the Mephisto Waltz are much better than they are often made out to be. Personally I think La Campanella is dazzlingly effective and hypnotic when played by a skilled pianist. There are also many pieces which people accuse of being overplayed, as if that somehow diminishes them as music. I'm thinking of Brahms Rhapsody in G minor, Rachmaninov Prelude in G minor and Balakirev's Islamey. All of these are brilliant.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

like everything by mozart.
like fur elise. have you heard it play well before instead of by 3 year old asian girls on youtube?

Most of everything by Mozart.

And Fur Elise does suck.

And who says that 3 year old Asians can't play well?  just because a lot of them are prodigies and started really young doesn't mean they lack musicianship.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

I think La Campanella is dazzlingly effective and hypnotic when played by a skilled pianist.

I remember someone posted a video of some girl playing La Campanella on piano street and it was BY FAR the best I heard.  Yundi Li, Kissin, Cziffra, didn't even come close.

[asuhayda]

I feel like I should sue the creator of this thread for copyright infringement! haha j/k

[perprocrastinate]

Everything written by Alkan.

[chopianologue]

Charles Valentin Alkan. His pieces may be impossible to play, but i'm a fan of his harmony...
Le preux

Le Chemin de fer

[thesuineg]

OMG The G minor rhapsody.
And that one slow intermezzo
love

played the g minor rhapsody for a masterclass actually haha. Practiced 1 hour before the masterclass for the first time in a month. I believe it went wonderfully for my low musical standards.

[musikalischer_wirbelwind_280]

Everything written by Alkan.

I'll most definitely second that
I so adore his 'Chanson de la folle au bord de la mer'!

[stoudemirestat]

Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies.

[redbaron]

Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words and Scriabin's Etude Op 2, No 1

[emrysmerlin]

Alkan's early etudes, most of which are only played by computer softwares. They're very cheery to say the least.

Some of the sorabji stuff isn't bad, though some are just too long.

And the Chopin-Godowsky etudes...they are by no means inferior to the originals.

[ahinton]

Some of the sorabji stuff isn't bad, though some are just too long.

"Too long" for what, exactly? (and which ones?)...

And the Chopin-Godowsky etudes...they are by no means inferior to the originals.

No, they certainly aren't - and that, surely, is an astonishing achievement in itself!...

Best,

Alistair