Unpopular Opinions

Started by The Six, November 11, 2011, 10:32:51 AM

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Brahmsian

Quote from: knight66 on January 13, 2021, 01:17:44 AM
Wagner's Siegfried is a bum numbing bore.

It may be an equally or greater unpopular opinion that Siegfried has always been my favourite of The Ring.  :D

Biffo

Quote from: knight66 on January 13, 2021, 02:52:42 AM
Biffo, I think it is horses for courses for Parsifal, you may make more headway with Karajan than with Solti. Some think Karajan erred on the side of prioritising tonal beauty, but I enjoy the performance a lot. My first choice is Kubelik, but I am not suggesting yet a third set to you when you have two.

If you have Streaming, then Abbado produced a Wagner disc which had about half an hour of Parsifal in a suite, just the orchestra, it might be a way into listening to more of it. The first time I heard it it really made me sit up. It avoids the bleeding chunks category. It also has some Tannhauser and Tristan on it.

Mike

Thanks for your response. I am a great admirer of Kubelik but don't think I will risk another complete recording until I have tried Karajan and I need to be in the right frame of mind for the complete work.

I have a disc of Kempe conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in the Prelude and Good Friday Music - it is absolutely ravishing. I also have the Abbado disc you mentioned  but haven't heard it for a while - possibly time to revisit both discs.

knight66

Quote from: Biffo on January 13, 2021, 03:28:10 AM
Thanks for your response. I am a great admirer of Kubelik but don't think I will risk another complete recording until I have tried Karajan and I need to be in the right frame of mind for the complete work.

I have a disc of Kempe conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in the Prelude and Good Friday Music - it is absolutely ravishing. I also have the Abbado disc you mentioned  but haven't heard it for a while - possibly time to revisit both discs.

Listening to bits and then expanding that to scenes or acts was how I got into some of Wagner!s work. As a method it words ok for Opera, but it has never occurred to me to listen to one movement of a Mahler or Bruckner Symphony. I swallowed them whole. I hope you enjoy the Abbado.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Brahmsian

While I have some exceptions, I am satisfied with one recording of a work.

Time on this earth and money (but mostly time) are also factors.

If your collection is so large that you cannot listen to all the recordings within a year (not to mention repeated listening) I feel it is too much music.

Madiel

Quote from: OrchestralNut on January 13, 2021, 05:15:28 AM
While I have some exceptions, I am satisfied with one recording of a work.

Time on this earth and money (but mostly time) are also factors.

If your collection is so large that you cannot listen to all the recordings within a year (not to mention repeated listening) I feel it is too much music.

The popularity of this opinion on GMG might not be representative of the wider public.  :laugh:
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Brian

Quote from: Jo498 on January 12, 2021, 11:21:36 PM
"Blue Rondo à la Turk" is a more gripping and more interesting piece than "Take Five" (I am not really a Jazz person, so maybe this is not even unpopular)
The live "Take Five" performances are all better than the studio one, which was recorded when they were still lacking the needed confidence and swagger to play it with more feeling.

I also like Time Further Out, as an album, more than Time Out.

Jo498

Quote from: OrchestralNut on January 13, 2021, 05:15:28 AM
While I have some exceptions, I am satisfied with one recording of a work.

Time on this earth and money (but mostly time) are also factors.

If your collection is so large that you cannot listen to all the recordings within a year (not to mention repeated listening) I feel it is too much music.
Very reasonable.
I'd argue that as long as it is theoretically possible to play all recordings within one year (i.e. playing time < 8760 hours) it's o.k. :D
It's cheating of course because one has to sleep, but even 16 hours/day gives almost 6000 hours (corresponding to roughly 6000 CDs, I think I am still a little bit below that). Admittedly a more realistic value for listening is probably 20 discs per week (2 each workday and 10 on the weekend and holidays), giving around 1000 discs.
I once estimated that around 1000 discs would be the minimum for me if I wanted to own all the music important to me. Of course this was before the age of streaming and youtube. (But I think this is also cheating a bit. One cannot simply assume that these options will always be possible, we only needed a historically small relapse to the technical infrastructure of 25 year ago to render youtube and streaming almost impossible.)


Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

AlberichUndHagen

I've always liked both Siegfried and Parsifal but out of Siegfried's 3 acts I actually like the 3rd act least - which must also be unpopular opinion.

Brahmsian

Quote from: AlberichUndHagen on January 14, 2021, 09:41:49 AM
I've always liked both Siegfried and Parsifal but out of Siegfried's 3 acts I actually like the 3rd act least - which must also be unpopular opinion.

Even though I like Siegfried, I do like act 3 the least, similar to you. I like the 2nd act the most.

AlberichUndHagen


Madiel

I had to go check, because I've only seen the Ring cycle once.

But Siegfried and Brunnhilde singing love at each other bored me witless.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Karl Henning

Quote from: Madiel on January 14, 2021, 11:04:08 AM
I had to go check, because I've only seen the Ring cycle once.

But Siegfried and Brunnhilde singing love at each other bored me witless.

Time to loop in:

https://www.youtube.com/v/8wbi9q-tV8Q
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Florestan

#2852
Quote from: Madiel on January 14, 2021, 11:04:08 AM
I had to go check, because I've only seen the Ring cycle once.

But Siegfried and Brunnhilde singing love at each other bored me witless.

Wagner is THE most overrated bore in the whole history of Western music.

Hier stehe ich. Ich kann nicht anders.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Karl Henning

Quote from: Florestan on January 14, 2021, 11:16:40 AM
Wagner is THE most overrated bore in the whole history of Western music.

Hier stehe ich. Ich kann nicht anders.

All in all, I don't think this qualifies as an "unpopular opinion"  8)
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

LKB

Quote from: Florestan on January 14, 2021, 11:16:40 AM
Wagner is THE most overrated bore in the whole history of Western music.

???
:(
:'(...

  ;),

LKB
Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen...

amw

There should be more recordings of Renaissance & early Baroque music on modern piano.

MusicTurner

#2856
Quote from: amw on January 16, 2021, 04:01:11 PM
There should be more recordings of Renaissance & early Baroque music on modern piano.

Very much so, cf. for example Pienaar playing Gibbons ... there'd be many options for a creative approach in such works.

Brahmsian

The A major second string quartet has become my current favourite of Shostakovich's string quartets.

Symphonic Addict

Bach's solo organ works are better than the ones for harpsichord.
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

foxandpeng

Quote from: OrchestralNut on January 19, 2021, 06:19:53 AM
The A major second string quartet has become my current favourite of Shostakovich's string quartets.

I share your opinion. Does that disqualify it as unpopular?

SQs #2, and #10 in that order, followed by the rest.
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people ... then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour — such is my idea of happiness"

Tolstoy