Great composers whom you like a few works of, but who usually bore you.

[The new erato]

I would not name as a huge favorite, e.g. Mendelssohn, I don't share the verdict that most of his pieces are "facile and dull". I am not the greatest fan of Elias and Paulus either but I think they contain some impressive music. For such works I like less, I'd usually rather say pleasant, entertaining or inobtrusive

Some of Mendelssohn seems slightly facile in the sense that things came (too) easily to him - and the material could use some more resistance if I can make myself clear. But his string quartets, particularly the two first and the last, are definitely not facile. The first two are very clever, the last one heart-wrenching.

[Jo498]

No doubt. I'd add the trios as well.
But what I meant to say is that even somewhat facile, brilliant pieces like some of the op.44 quartets or maybe the cello sonatas are very good pieces worthwhile listening to and while I would not put them with the best of Mendelssohn they are not negligible either.

I don't know the oratorios too well but I once heard Paulus in concert and while I found the "soprano evangelist" sometimes grating and some pieces sentimental I think there are also some very impressive pieces there (starting with the ouverture on the "Wachet auf"-choral tune)

[Karl Henning]

It surprised me, how well I came to like the piano concerti.

[(poco) Sforzando]

If you guys are trying to be legalistic and back me into a corner by saying this or that Mendelssohn piece is up there with the Octet or Hebrides Overture, the answer is I'm not going through his entire catalogue in my mind when writing a casual comment on the Internet. I don't know those quintets and would want to get right on them. I certainly would add the first two quartets and D minor trio to my 5-star list. The Variations Serieuses are magnificent too. But I don't care for the G minor piano concerto, I find the Scotch Symphony dull, and every time I take down the Lieder ohne Worte to try a dozen at the piano I am decidedly underwhelmed. And with something like that sugary "He watching over Israel" from Elijah, I'm amazed He can keep His eyes open.

[Karl Henning]

And with something like that sugary "He watching over Israel" from Elijah, I'm amazed He can keep His eyes open.

Very nicely done.  I'll agree 0:)

If you guys are trying to be legalistic and back me into a corner [....]

Heaven forfend!

[Que]

Richard Strauss. Love his Eulenspiegel, but cannot bear much else. 

His operas (or rather: vocals works, to include his (orchestral) songs) are absolutely first rate. 
The rest is either pretty boring or mildy engaging at best....

Q

[Karl Henning]

... something like that sugary "He watching over Israel" from Elijah ....

I sang in the chorus for Elijah while at Wooster.  Normally, my having participated in a live performance of a work like this inclines me to like it for a long while afterward (the Verdi Requiem, e.g.)  But I have never felt any need to go back for more Elijah.

[(poco) Sforzando]

I sang in the chorus for Elijah while at Wooster.  Normally, my having participated in a live performance of a work like this inclines me to like it for a long while afterward (the Verdi Requiem, e.g.)  But I have never felt any need to go back for more Elijah.

Neither have I, and I accompanied it at a music camp 50 years ago. Though Bernstein was scheduled to do it with the NYP in 1991, but for obvious reasons he had to bail out.

[Daverz]

Shostakovich: Now, his oeuvre is huge, so I do not claim to know everything and my knowledge of the pieces I have heard is often superficial. But I heartily dislike the Leningrad symphony, actually don't much care for about half of his symphonies.

Well that still leaves about 7 of them.

Apart from a lot of film music and some of the kitschier symphonies and cantata-like works, I'd say his quality level is very high.

[Daverz]

Yes, him. Also maybe Mendelssohn.

He was a terribly inconsistent composer, but certainly he wrote more than a few lovable things.   

[Daverz]

haydn - i like his piano sonatas, quartets, and concertos, but dont bother me with all those symphonies! [i have to admit ive never heard his vocal music so idk about that]

Try the Mass in Time of War (Paukenmesse).

berlioz - apart from the fantastique ive heard 5 or 6 other works and not one stuck

I suggest the Romeo & Juliet orchestral music (Giulini/Chicago), then maybe the full thing (Munch stereo recording).  Also Le nuit d'ete, if you're not averse to vocal music.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Ok I think I can truly say that Peter Ablinger is the one composer that I feel I haven't found much I enjoy apart from Speaking Piano. I am sad

[Daverz]

I now rarely find the leisure and mental attitude to listen to a full Mahler symphony but of all the "lengthy" symphonies (say Bruckner, Mahler, Elgar, Shostakovitch, maybe a few more) I usually find Mahler the least long-winded and most diverse. Admittedly, the sheer length of some movements (3,i, 2,v, 6,iv and 9,i (although this is one of the greatest symphonic movements I know)) can be tiring.

I still have a problem with the "back half" of Symphony No. 2.  I feel like I get lost.  I think I finally managed to get used to the finale of Symphony No. 3, which often seems interminable (wait, he's wasn't wrapping up?  He's going to keep going?... Certainly he's wrapping this up now?...)  Otherwise, I don't get the complaints about Mahler being long winded.

[Daverz]

Prokofieff:  [...] Balletts are too long for me to listen without watching

The best ballets hold up as audio-only experiences.  I'd put Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet and Cinderella in that category.

[(poco) Sforzando]

The best ballets hold up as audio-only experiences.  I'd put Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet and Cinderella in that category.

They're magnificent staged, too. American Ballet Theater has a great Romeo (though New York City Ballet's version is much inferior).

[Androcles]

Richard Strauss - I only like Metamorphosen for strings. The earlier symphonic poems seem to lack real intensity and for me lose out to Mahler and even Schoenberg for me (Pelleas und Melisande). The operas (for me at least) lose out big time to Wagner on the one hand and Hindemith on the other.

Bela Bartok - I like the String Quartets, but not much else. He seems to me perfectly suited to the genre, but somewhat dry in his orchestral writing.

Peteris Vasks - The Violin Concerto 'Distant Light' is a masterpiece. I'm not convinced by much else I've heard.

[Mirror Image]

Richard Strauss - I only like Metamorphosen for strings. The earlier symphonic poems seem to lack real intensity and for me lose out to Mahler and even Schoenberg for me (Pelleas und Melisande). The operas (for me at least) lose out big time to Wagner on the one hand and Hindemith on the other.

Bela Bartok - I like the String Quartets, but not much else. He seems to me perfectly suited to the genre, but somewhat dry in his orchestral writing.

Peteris Vasks - The Violin Concerto 'Distant Light' is a masterpiece. I'm not convinced by much else I've heard.

You think Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle or The Miraculous Mandarin, for example, are 'dry'? Oh boy.

[Jo498]

I think Bartok's string quartets (while undoubtedly great) are among the tougher nuts to crack (and among them I find 1-3 tougher than 4-6). The piano concerti, the concerto for orchestra and several other orchestral works I find much more approachable.

[Jo498]

I find the Scotch Symphony dull

Fair enough but that's just your taste. I think it would be hard to argue that the Scottish is objectively or obviously a clearly weaker piece than the Italian. It does not sound facile or shallow to me and personally I don't have a strong preference for either (very slightly for the Italian maybe because of the brilliant first and last movements).

I think Mendelssohn is a fairly consistent composer (in style, not in absolute quality). Some things might be facile/routine or somewhat shallowly brilliant (he admitted that much about the piano concertos himself) but his classicist style seems quite recognizable also in less successful works.

[hpowders]

Liszt, Debussy, Vivaldi, Scarlatti.