Unpopular Opinions

[Jo498]

I love the Eroica finale, even as a teenager more than 30 years ago I found this less difficult than the long first movement and funeral march. It's a unique piece and I think it works well in practice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vZ1I122JNo

[vers la flamme]

Didn't some Art Rock bands in the 1970s (ab)use Beethoven and Mussorgsky? They probably used a Hammond or similar contraption.

I had a similar thought; I know Rick Wakeman plays the scherzo of Brahms's 4th on some kind of electric keyboard for the album Fragile by his old band Yes, but I don't think it's a Hammond.

[Brian]

I stop listening to the Eroica after the funeral march most of the time. I am very much not one of the enlightened souls who understands the finale.

Welcome to GMG! Good unpopular opinion to start with.

For my part, I think the finale is a lot of fun, but I do acknowledge that after the first half of the symphony, it is weird to have a fun finale.

[DavidW]

It is like a slap in the face after the funeral march to suddenly jump into the finale.  I imagine that there is a pause between movements when played live.  At least the local orchestra here pauses between movement except when they are expected to immediately jump in to the next.

[Brian]

It is like a slap in the face after the funeral march to suddenly jump into the finale.  I imagine that there is a pause between movements when played live.

There's even a whole scherzo between them!

[amw]

I stop listening to the Eroica after the funeral march most of the time. I am very much not one of the enlightened souls who understands the finale.

I only like the first and third movements of the Eroica. Not a fan of the funeral march and finale, the latter in particular always feeling four or five minutes longer than it should be.

[DavidW]

There's even a whole scherzo between them!

oops I mean into the scherzo not the finale.

[Symphonic Addict]

Scriabin's orchestral music is much more engaging and interesting than his solo piano music.

[Carlo Gesualdo]

Mozart according to Hollywood movie was  on pot and hash, that why the actor whom play Mozart In brilliant movie Amadeus was laughting almost everytime  , Mozart was a stoner?

Johann Sebastian Bach was hook on cacao, the man love Chocolate it was is drug, this would explain why he was overweight? 

These were my unpopular opinions? 

[steve ridgway]

Johann Sebastian Bach was hook on cacao, the man love Chocolate it was is drug, this would explain why he was overweight?

Not if it was near 100% cocoa back then rather than the cheap sugary stuff.

[Jo498]

I thought for Bach it was tobacco and coffee? Or did he poke fun at the coffee drinkers because he preferred either hot chocolate (in the 18th century, "chocolate" would always be the drink, there was no bar chocolate until the late 19th century or so) or rather wine?

[Biffo]

Mozart according to Hollywood movie was  on pot and hash, that why the actor whom play Mozart In brilliant movie Amadeus was laughting almost everytime  , Mozart was a stoner?

Johann Sebastian Bach was hook on cacao, the man love Chocolate it was is drug, this would explain why he was overweight? 

These were my unpopular opinions? 

I presume you mean Amadeus - it is a highly entertaining movie but don't expect to learn anything factual about Mozart or Salieri from it.

[DavidW]

I seem to remember from a biography that he enjoyed spending his mornings drinking coffee and playing on his little clavichord.

Also Bach was known for huge amounts of walking and not just in his youth.  Bach was not actually corpulent, that is a myth.  It is also much harder for lower or middle class people to become overweight back then anyway.  They didn't have access to abundant junk food like we do now.

[Jo498]

On the portrait of the elderly Bach in the 1740s he does look portly. Not as huge as Handel or Scarlatti had supposedly become but not slim either.
They didn't have abundant junk food as we do but unlike the middle ages, the 18th century did have sugary foods and Bach was solidly middle class so sweet cakes, lots of butter etc. would have probably been among the modest luxuries a Lutheran cantor could afford and indulge in.

[Artem]

Would a person back in Bach time want to look bigger in a painting as a sign of upper class?

[Uhor]

Idk how popular are these two takes:

Messiaen demonstrates that knowledge has nothing to do with having a consistent taste.

Boulez better works are, with the exception of Notations for orchestra, neither the early nor the late but the middle (Le Marteau sans maître (1957) - Messagesquisse(1976))

[vers la flamme]

Messiaen demonstrates that knowledge has nothing to do with having a consistent taste.

Care to elaborate on this?

[Uhor]

Basically, and this is my perception obviously, the same guy that gave us sublime pieces like the Quartet for the end of time also gave us the vulgar Turangalila and many pieces that contain both extremes.

[vers la flamme]

Basically, and this is my perception obviously, the same guy that gave us sublime pieces like the Quartet for the end of time also gave us the vulgar Turangalila and many pieces that contain both extremes.

Ah, I see. It's true, he left behind a pretty diverse and varied body of work. What does this have to do with knowledge though?

[T. D.]

Ah, I see. It's true, he left behind a pretty diverse and varied body of work. What does this have to do with knowledge though?

I may be inappropriately butting in, but...

I believe that Messiaen's oeuvre, influence, roster of students, ..., are evidence of his knowledge.
OTOH, one can find quotes by Morton Feldman and Pierre Boulez, for instance, alluding to examples where O. M.'s music exhibits poor taste.

Disclosure: I agree that Quatuor pour la fin du temps is sublime, but also am not fond of Turangalîla-Symphonie (among a few other works), which does strike me as lacking taste in some sense.