Great composers that are not your cup of tea

[Robert]

Vivaldi doesn't seem to be my cup of tea.  The only impact his music has on me is that it makes me drowsy.

SWITCH TO COFFEE

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Liszt & Chopin - Too piano-centric, and Liszt's orchestral work is too bombastic.

Schubert - apart from a handful of pieces, I find his mixture of daintiness and long-windedness to be annoying.

Debussy - too static and mellow. Puts me to sleep.

[karlhenning]

Debussy - too static and mellow. Puts me to sleep.

And what's wrong with that? 

[lukeottevanger]

And what's wrong with that? 

Perhaps nothing...but working on the principle that a cup of tea revivifies, being put to sleep is distinctly un-cup-of-teaesque.

[Siedler]

Schumann. I heard his first piano concerto at concert a while ago and found it boring. Manfred overture wasn't much better, I'm afraid.

[marvinbrown]

Vivaldi doesn't seem to be my cup of tea.  The only impact his music has on me is that it makes me drowsy.

  Don I am surprised to hear this, especially from you. J.S. Bach was influenced by Vivaldi.    In fact if you listen to some of Bach's violin conecrtos BWV1042 -BWV1044, some of the music is a variation on Vivaldi's violin concertos and l'estro harmonicos. Granted Bach was a far more accomplished Baroque composer than Vivaldi, but I was shocked when I started listening to Vivaldi and noticed just how similar it was to some of Bach's work.


  marvin 

[Varg]

They are many, but, to keep it short, i'll name only one; Mozart!

[Don]

SWITCH TO COFFEE

How about hot chocolate?

[Don]

  Don I am surprised to hear this, especially from you. J.S. Bach was influenced by Vivaldi.    In fact if you listen to some of Bach's violin conecrtos BWV1042 -BWV1044, some of the music is a variation on Vivaldi's violin concertos and l'estro harmonicos. Granted Bach was a far more accomplished Baroque composer than Vivaldi, but I was shocked when I started listening to Vivaldi and noticed just how similar it was to some of Bach's work.


  marvin 

All I can do is call them as I see them.  For me, any similarities are superficial.

[not edward]

Probably Vivaldi, Handel and Schumann. There are things I like in all three, but overall what I get from them I get more successfully from other composers.

No doubt this will change over time.

[Don]

Probably Vivaldi, Handel and Schumann. There are things I like in all three, but overall what I get from them I get more successfully from other composers.

No doubt this will change over time.

Yes, at some point Vivaldi will probably be the only one left on your list.

[The Mad Hatter]

Same can be said about Shostakovich, you either put the effort and try to understand it, or you won't like it. He didn't write it to please anybody, if you want that kind of music, listen to his film music or jazz suites.

Funny, I love Shostakovich, but I can't stand his jazz suites. They just sound almost...twee...

I don't particuarly like Strauss - his music has always struck me as a little too heavy-handed, and self-assured to the point of arrogance.

Don't much like Vivaldi either - he had moments, but the slight problem that he considered the development section to be an  excuse to write out a circle of fifths. (snore...)

[oyasumi]

Same can be said about Shostakovich, you either put the effort and try to understand it, or you won't like it.

I put absolutely no effort into liking Shostakovich.

[Bogey]

Mahler.  But I will keep trying.

[Robert]

How about hot chocolate?

As long as its GHIRARDELLI, but for one week only we have a special for residence of New Mexico a large can of rich and creamy hot chocolate by Williams-Sonoma....(I am not kidding their Hot Chocolate is out of this world)...

[Steve]

Vivaldi. The least of the baroque masters. I just have never found, beyond my early years of playing, any particular need for him.

[Symphonien]

Vivaldi, Bruckner and Strauss.

Although Bruckner may change as I finish listening to and spend more time with his symphonies, but he just hasn't made an impression on me yet. The 5th I had to turn off midway through the 2nd movement through boredom. I just couldn't concentrate on it. And so far his scherzi, although good, do seem to sound very repetitive and formulaic...

As for Vivaldi and Strauss, Vivaldi just hasn't connected with me and is no where near as interesting as other Baroque composers I'd rather spend time with like Bach and Scarlatti. Strauss is just too annoying, overblown Late Romantic and seems to me to be hiding a lack of any depth behind all that over-orchestration although he does have a few interesting moments. I'd much rather listen to Mahler though.

Oh, and I also dislike all composers who wrote pretty much exclusively for opera like Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, etc since I don't like opera. I can't stand extensive periods of singing...

[val]

There is always something beautiful even in composers that I don't like much.
Liszt, is an example: I find most of his works boring, with lack of structure, too long, with poor motives. But then I love Via Crucis, the piano Sonata, the Dante Symphony, some of the Psalms (in special the 13), La vallée d'Oberman ...

The same with Shostakovitch. He is far from being among my preferred composers, but I love "The nose", the 2nd, 8th and 14th Symphony, the quartets, the viola sonata.

Even Rachmaninov: I love his "Bells" and "The Island of the dead" even if I can't stand his piano music or his concertos.

[Florestan]

Even Rachmaninov: I love his "Bells" and "The Island of the dead" even if I can't stand his piano music or his concertos.

Why?

[Symphonien]

Even Rachmaninov: I love his "Bells" and "The Island of the dead" even if I can't stand his piano music or his concertos.

But those are his best part!

Oh well, I no longer listen to his piano concerti anymore myself since I listened to them way too many times when I first discovered classical music. So it is possible to have too much of a good thing...