LEAST Favorite Composer/Work?

[Rach3]

Some very interesting interpretations of bach's music...

phisycs and that complicate stuff, i think this is a real geniousses music, although his music is based on science.. didn´t Bach did the same?

I don't think Bach was an architect... being methodical and adhering to a consistent theory of counterpoint is not really that 'scientific'. Maybe a bit mathematical...

I remember learning that Bach  basically improvised most of his pieces and then wrote them down afterward

well he was great at improvising ('a musical offering'...)

never was. his music was VERY VERY VErY religious. He was obcessed with god, trinity, etc.

Except when it was purely secular. Like his long tenure as Kapellmeister at Cöthen (they were protestants there i think), where he wrote the Brandenburg concerti... (sp?)

[Rach3]

I don't like Ives for some reason. There are several compositions which I dislike somewhat irrationally, such as the brahms g minor quartet, the beethoven op. 2/3 sonata (it's not that good anyway), and rachmaninoff's second concerto.

[Toivot]

(especially Bartok(The Mikrokosmos is painful to hear)

EXACTLY!! I HATE this book 

[thalbergmad]

I HATE HATE HATE HATE the pictures at an exhibition. It's the only piece I know of this composer, but I HATEEEE IT!!!

I'm ready, everyone kill me now, I've said what I wanted 

Agreed a 1,000 times.

[Rach3]

I HATE HATE HATE HATE the pictures at an exhibition. It's the only piece I know of this composer, but I HATEEEE IT!!!

I'm ready, everyone kill me now, I've said what I wanted  Grin

I think the orchestrated version is somewhat better.

-Rach3

[nanabush]

GAAA I ABSOLUTELY hate the first movement of sonata pathetique, it's so slow and depressing and disturbing at the same time... a girl played it really well at a concert, and there was not much applause, I knew it was played well, but It just doesn't sound good at all!!!  But that is the only thing that beethoven wrote that I do not like, I appreciate the work, I do not like it though..

[musik_man]

GAAA I ABSOLUTELY hate the first movement of sonata pathetique, it's so slow and depressing and disturbing at the same time... a girl played it really well at a concert, and there was not much applause, I knew it was played well, but It just doesn't sound good at all!!! But that is the only thing that beethoven wrote that I do not like, I appreciate the work, I do not like it though..

The Allegro con Brio part isn't that slow.



Any piece composed by anyone with the last name Strauss will probably drive me mad.

all baroque composers
all classical
most romantic (early romantic)

 

[DarkWind]

Even Richard Strauss? Or are you only referring to the Waltz writing Strauss family?

[musik_man]

Even Richard (though less than all the waltz hacks.)  His music is way too busy for me.  The only thing I've heard by him that I liked was the Horn Concerto.

[thorn]

I HATE Bach with a passion, and Handel, and Haydn, and Shostakovich.

Least favourite work: Moonlight Sonata- because it's overrated

[pianonut]

anyone heard or tried alexandre tcherepnin's bagatelles chinoises op. 51, #3?

[dlu]

I HATE Bach with a passion, and Handel, and Haydn, and Shostakovich.

Least favourite work: Moonlight Sonata- because it's overrated

i don't think it's overrated...just overplayed....

And why Bach, Handel, and Haydn (I know Shostakovich is not for everyone...I love his second sonata...)? What of these composers have you played? Etc.

[freddychopin]

I hate Mozart. In fact I hate the whole first school of Vienna. Almost everything in 1750-1800. I love some Barok before 1750 and I love almost all after 1800. Romantism/Impressionism

[ligurian]

Ahhh yes, the people who hate Mozart. You know I hated mozart for a while until around my 15th birthday (I'm still 15 btw), when I realized he actually WAS a great composer. Yes my friend, perhaps your just a late boomer...
Anyway, in terms of my LEAST favorite composers, here are a few: Liszt, Rachmoninoff, Tchaikowsky, and perhaps that whole slew of mediocre bombastic dumbass composers of the end of the 20th century. My favs are Bach, Mozart, and Schubert...

[tariswerewolf]

Never really been a fan of Tchaikovsky myself. Or early Haydn. I find them to be "Tonal diarrhea". They go on and on and on for a long time and say next to nothing.

That being said, I DO like Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto and the Serenade for Strings. They are both quite lovely pieces, but his Piano Concerto... Oh dear Lord, shoot me now. It wakes me up for nothing important.

[Teddybear]

- Glass. Whenever I hear his music I start thinking this guy can't be serious.
- Tchaikovsky. Small portions I can tolerate, but otherwise NO. (The ballets are ok.)

- the icky piece by Schubert... you know... I can't even remember its name because I hate it so much
- Shostakovich PCs are wonderful, but a lot of his music is so constipated 

T

[ludwig]

I think some people should be banned from listening to music :p I am totally shocked 

[Derek]

Probably Schoenburg. Its not the dissonance that bothers me---its simply the lack of musicality (speaking of his works for piano here.)  I don't even consider John Cage a composer so I can't say he's my least favorite.

[Lance Morrison]

Probably Schoenburg. Its not the dissonance that bothers me---its simply the lack of musicality (speaking of his works for piano here.)  I don't even consider John Cage a composer so I can't say he's my least favorite.

lack of musicality? i'd be quicker to say that about the goldberg variations than Arnold's small oeuvre of piano pieces....but that's just my stupid opinion. The man was writing ground-breaking musik unlike anything before it.....and no piano work, other than late Beethoven,  affects me as deeply as the 3 pieces of 1909 do

[Derek]

It may have been groundbreaking, but music isn't about breaking ground, its about giving listeners and the composer himself pleasure or satisfaction of some emotional or intellectual sort.  I suppose it could be argued there is interesting organization to schoenburg's material, but it seems so far removed from a genuine intuitive process for creative music that it really loses something.

It seems to me if one were to use pieces of feces and arrange them in a geometric pattern, retrograde and inverted and all that, you'd have a similar artistic effect to schoenburg. Its organized, and thats interesting and all, but its just smelly and ugly to begin with anyway, so who cares?

Bach's Goldberg variations on the other hand, are stunningly gorgeous, especially the aria and a couple of my favorite variations. I pity anyone who can't appreciate these gems.

To be fair however, I have had days where I got a certain intellectual satisfaction from schoenburg's piano works. Its not something I'd listen to every day, though, thats for certain.

[musicsdarkangel]

I hate Handel, and a lot of Haydn, although I really like some Haydn.

[rachmaninoff_969]

GLASS SUCKS ASS!  I saw him as the 54th greatest composer of all time somewhere...I nearly puked!

[stevie]

 

[emmdoubleew]

well i just HATE liszt's ballade no. 2
the most boring musical piece ever, such an annoying piece!

Hahhah, completely disagree.

I adore Chopin, but I despise  his concertos :-/.

[nanabush]

I don't like Haydn or Handel, and alot of Mozart ( I appreciate the genious of his music, but I am never inclined to listen to it)

Beethoven Moonlight Sonata, Rachmaninoff Prelude C# - (cuz I hear it everywhere), Chopin 2nd prelude, ugh, Feux follets is getting on my nerves lol, so is Mazeppa.

[ahinton]

I think the orchestrated version is somewhat better.

-Rach3

There are many versions of Musorgsky's Pictures, including more than one for orchestra (although it is obviously the best known - the Ravel - to which you refer here). To my ears, the best of all is that which Elgar Howarth wrote for the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble.

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

I think you said that just to anger me . Anyways, I like everything, and modern stuff is really cool. However, Xenakis' Herma just plain sucks.

It does nothing of the sort; nor does it blow, for that matter. You just don't like it, that's all - and that's fair enough in itself.

The supposedly inevitable problem with a thread like this is that it risks inviting contributions from people who either can't or won't distinguish - or indeed even be prepared to recognise that there will be differences - between pieces that happen to be among their least favourite and pieces that are not good. Xenakis was one of the most significant composers of the 20th century. Shostakovich was another (which I thought I'd mention in case it be assumed that few if any people would say that of both).

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

Like the spelling!!!!!!
You, my friend, need to visit your local psychiatrist.

Why? What's the local psychiatrist done to deserve to suffer such an unpleasant consultation?

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

Very true. I think giving a flawless performance of it would be nearly impossible, but on the bright side, no one could tell if you screwed up. However, after reading Jonathan Powell's post in the O.C. thread, it would seem that the piece actually isn't ridiculously hard, at least for a pianist of Powell's caliber, since he learned it in four months. And Sorabji himself was a top-drawer pianist. I think the O.C is more a lesson in prolonged focus, much like Satie's "Vexations".

To be honest, OC is very difficult indeed to perform as it should be performed - let's not be persuaded otherwise. The fact that Jonathan Powell can still take it in his stride, along with many other works by Sorabji, Finnissy, Ferneyhough, etc, which bristle with difficulties of various kind is surely a testament to his prowess. You are right, however, to state that OC is not "ridiculously" hard. Its technical demands are immense but not unrealistic and preparing it for performance just takes ample patience, very well-developed reflexes, vast resources of intellectual and physical stamina and a thorough prior grounding in Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Alkan, Liszt, Busoni, Godowsky, etc. To what extent Sorabji was a "top-drawer" pianist may be open to speculation, especially as there are no recordings of his performances in the 1930s when he played Sonata 4, OC, Toccata 2, etc. in public - and he certainly did not continue a practice regimen into later life - but he knew very well what he was doing and why when writing for his own instrument.

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

I don't think Sorabji was trying to impress anyone. The guy was a recluse, and from what I understand, a little mental. He even "banned" public performances of his works for decades (there were some "unauthorized" performances of his work during that time). If he was trying to impress people, I don't think he would have gone to such lengths to prevent his works from reaching the public's ears.

No he wasn't, yes he was, no he wasn't, no he didn't and no he wouldn't - in that order. As many people know, he preferred to veto public performances of his work for some 40 years because he didn't want to risk misrepresentation; he did not impose an outright "ban" on public hearings of his music as such.

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

Sorabji. OC. Who was he trying to impress? Look how it affected Ogdon. And don't start with the I don't understand it s**t. I do understand it. And it's flat out ridiculous. Why can't anyone perform it? because sorabji is an insecure composer who decided to put bravura before musical worth.

your friend
Rob

No friend of mine, it would seem! But let's not worry about that, since it's not really the crucial part of the post. You do not state how it affected Ogdon - nor even how you believe, rightly or wrongly, that it did so. I can tell you from a position of knowledge that it affected him deeply and that it was one of just a very small handful of piano works that he felt was absolutely essential for him to play - and that he'd felt this ever since first encountering it courtesy of Peter Maxwell davies in the mid-1950s, so it was a major preoccupation of his for more than three decades of his short life. You claim that you "understand" the work, yet you then sow plainly that you do not. It is not ridiculous, "flat out" or otherwise and your question as to why no one can perform it has long since been negated by those five pianists - most especially Jonathan Powell - who have to date done just that. You may dislike OC - and that is, of course, your prerogative - but, since I assume you to be aware that Sorabji wrote many other piano works besides this one, may I counsel you to listen to Gulistan or Le Jardin Parfumé before making bald statements about his being a "composer who decided to put bravura before musical worth" - whatever that means?

Best,

Alistair

[rapmasterb]

I abhor Schumann and Debussy - it really gets to me when  people start raving about them their music is just terrible!!

[pianalex]

i find mendelsohn a bit dull on the solo piano front, although i love some of the chamber and orchestral pieces. weber - don't like it.   

[superstition2]

Least favorite composers I have discs of:

Cage (fake composer)
Tippett
Silver (banal)
Korngold (symphony)
Moeran (symphony)
Thalberg (piano concerto)
Bartok (piano concertos)
Dukas (piano sonata)
Beach (banal)
Schumann, Clara
Stenhammer
MacDowell (piano concerto)
Syzmanowski

Least favorite discs I've heard (other than those by composers listed above):

Glass - Music in Twelve Parts
Shostakovich - 7th symphony (Gergiev)
Shostakovich - Piano concertos
Tchaikovsky - Piano concerto #1 played by Argerich (I like the piece, but not her performance)
Ravel - Piano concerto played by Argerich
Beethoven sonatas - played by Ashkenazy (he's not my choice for Beethoven)
Dvorak - symphony Nos. 7 and 8 played by the Cleveland Orchestra

Worst performances/performers:

Ponti
Ioudenitch
Ogdon
Sitzius
Scherbakov
MacGlachlan

Some other pieces I don't like:

Berlioz, symphony fantastique!
Dvorak, piano concerto
Messiaen, quartet for the end of time
Messiaen, St. Francois d'Assise
most things by Schumann
10th symphony of Shostakovich
Beethoven's A flat sonata, Op. 110
Prokofiev, piano concerto #4 for the left hand
Brahms, piano concerto No. 1
Rachmaninov, Variations on a Theme of Corelli
Rachmaninov, The Rock

[Waldszenen]

I abhor Schumann and Debussy - it really gets to me when  people start raving about them their music is just terrible!!

Funny, cause most people regard Schumann and Debussy as two of the best piano composers.

[infectedmushroom]

I dislike the Sonata in B minor, by Liszt. It's one of the few pieces of Liszt, wich I heard, that I don't like. I gave it some chances and I listened to it quite a lot of times (I even saw Yundi Li performing it live once), but I just don't like it.


My least favorite composer is probably Johann Strauss, cause I dislike Waltzes.

[superstition2]

Funny, cause most people regard Schumann and Debussy as two of the best piano composers.

Schumann is controversial, actually. There are quite a few, myself included, who don't like most of his work. Gould said his music was bad. The only Schumann I can think of that I enjoyed was Horowitz playing one of the Scenes of Childhood in his Moscow video. The 1st sonata's first movement sounded at least marginally interesting when I previewed a performance via Amazon, though.

[superstition2]

I dislike the Sonata in B minor, by Liszt. It's one of the few pieces of Liszt, wich I heard, that I don't like. I gave it some chances and I listened to it quite a lot of times (I even saw Yundi Li performing it live once), but I just don't like it.

Which recording(s) do you have? I don't like Brendel's or Richter's, but Horowitz' is great, and Argerich's isn't bad, either.

[soliloquy]

I hate:

Bach, Brahms, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Bruckner, Wagner, Ives, Copland, Grieg, Mussorgsky and Mendelssohn.

[elevateme]

wagner.. rubbish

[panic]

It's not my least favorite work but I thought I'd throw it out there - no matter how many original derivations and variations he does, I cannot sit and listen to a four-note pattern repeating for an hour and a quarter as is required of the listener in Stevenson's Passacaglia on DSCH. Yeah, nice creativity with it, but how about choosing a pattern that lasts longer than three seconds next time.

[da jake]

I hate:

Bach, Brahms, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Bruckner, Wagner, Ives, Copland, Grieg, Mussorgsky and Mendelssohn.

What a shame.

[panic]

That actually is pretty lamentable.

Who DO you like, soliloquy?

[mikey6]

I hate:

Bach, Brahms, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Bruckner, Wagner, Ives, Copland, Grieg, Mussorgsky and Mendelssohn.

Ok, you either don't like classical music or you don't like good classical music coz you pretty much knocked out all the masters there.  which leads me to the point of why are you on a piano forum devoted to classical music?

[Waldszenen]

Schumann is controversial, actually. There are quite a few, myself included, who don't like most of his work. Gould said his music was bad. The only Schumann I can think of that I enjoyed was Horowitz playing one of the Scenes of Childhood in his Moscow video. The 1st sonata's first movement sounded at least marginally interesting when I previewed a performance via Amazon, though.

Schumann IS controversial, that's true. You either love him, or hate him, and I belong to the former - he's one of my favourite composers ever. Let the music grow on you and you might enjoy it more, because I didn't understand his music at first.

And don't listen to anything Gould says - he disliked Schumann, most Brahms, Chopin, Schubert, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, a lot of Beethoven, Mozart...

[da jake]

I divided on Schumann.

I think his 3rd Sonata and Symphonic Etudes are masterpieces. I also like the Kreisleriana, 3rd mvt of the Fantasy, 1st mvt of the concerto, and Presto Passionato of the G minor sonata (esp. played by Horowitz).

But I think a lot of the stuff people love that he wrote is basically worthless i.e., Carnaval, Davidbundlercrap, Blumensh*t etc.

[thalbergmad]

I personally do not care for Schumann.

He just don't ring my bell.

Solo works that is. The concerto i Love.

[alfred macdonald iv]

Contemporary : I hate Copland

As for me..Xenakis, for all of the aforemented reasons.

[soliloquy]

That actually is pretty lamentable.

Who DO you like, soliloquy?

Xenakis, Finnissy, Penderecki, Ferneyhough, Boulez, Messiaen, Bartok, Alkan, Liszt, Debussy, Ravel, Scriabin, Roslavets, Sorabji, Dutilleux, Glass, Scelsi, Vine, Ornstein, Scarlatti, Soler, Sciarrino, Chopin, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Britten, Massenet, Nyman, Dillon, Dench, Albeniz, Berg, Webern, Schoenberg, Stockhausen, Barlow, Hoban, Rozsa, Zimmermann (both of them), Takahashi, Takemitsu, Barraque, Danielpour, Corigliano, Hindemith, Barber, Antheil, Rzewski, Keats, Gershwin, Puccini, Leoncavallo, Ligeti, Beethoven, Nancarrow, Leighton, Bolcom, Bortkiewicz, Shimomura, Medtner, Kabalevsky, Rimsky-Korsakov.



To name a few.

[burstroman]

Busoni reminds me of philosophers asking, where am I going and what am I doing here.