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

[North Star]

Scarlatti.

Antonio or Domenico? 

[Eli]

JS Bach

[Brian]

About 50% of my Stravinsky listening is Petrushka or the piano suite therefrom. This is not to pass judgment on Stravinsky or denigrate him - just observing a fact about my own habits.

[hpowders]

Antonio or Domenico? 

I was referring to the dude who created one keyboard sonata with 600 or so variations-Domenico.

Without Domenico Scarlatti and Antonio Vivaldi, classical public radio in the US would cease to exist.

[Ken B]

Liszt, Debussy, Vivaldi, Scarlatti.

Three out of four ain't bad!

Have you heard Scott Ross in Scarlatti?
Liszt wrote a lot of boilerplate, but also some truly magnificent stuff.
Seriously, La Mer is dullish music, much worshipped here. But it's the best of his orchestral music.

[arpeggio]

I really do not like to admit that there are great composers that I do not understand.

I think it was Twain who said, "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."

[Ken B]

Lots of composers really. I like 99% of Bach, but with, say, Mozart there aren't more than about 200 masterpieces. That leaves hundreds of clunkers. I will say I have never disliked a single thing by Josquin, only a fraction of whose music has been recorded.

[Parsifal]

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

Ironically, Til Eulenspiegel is one work of Strauss that I have never really enjoyed. Don Juan and Tod und Verklaren (spelled wrong, I assume) are my favorites among his orchestral works.

[trazom]

Mendelssohn. I do enjoy the more magical and fiery inventiveness of his works from his teenage years like the octet, the Midsummer Night's Dream Overture, and then there's one or more of the symphonies,concert overtures, and the two piano trios. Everything else, including the concerti and solo keyboard works, I have a hard time connecting with, often finding it fussy or meandering, and being someone who loves the High Classical era style, this is music I am "supposed" to get.

[GioCar]

I really do not like to admit that there are great composers that I do not understand.

I think it was Twain who said, "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."

Great!

+ 1

[arpeggio]

Great!

+ 1

Geo,

You probably know I am talking about.  The composer who wrote, "My God why must I die so Young".  Well actually it was the librettist.

I hope you won't snitch on me.

[GioCar]

Geo,

You probably know I am talking about.  The composer who wrote, "My God why must I die so Young".  Well actually it was the librettist.

I hope you won't snitch on me.

Of course I won't, my friend 

I like very much the frankness of your sentence. Sometimes it's mine as well.

[knight66]

Mendelssohn. I do enjoy the more magical and fiery inventiveness of his works from his teenage years like the octet, the Midsummer Night's Dream Overture, and then there's one or more of the symphonies,concert overtures, and the two piano trios. Everything else, including the concerti and solo keyboard works, I have a hard time connecting with, often finding it fussy or meandering, and being someone who loves the High Classical era style, this is music I am "supposed" to get.

Ditto, Elijah has moments, but vast padding and St Paul...You have hit the nail on the head for me.

Mike

[hpowders]

Three out of four ain't bad!

Have you heard Scott Ross in Scarlatti?
Liszt wrote a lot of boilerplate, but also some truly magnificent stuff.
Seriously, La Mer is dullish music, much worshipped here. But it's the best of his orchestral music.

I can only take Scarlatti in very small measures. He's a bit too C Majorish for me. At that rare time when I am in the mood,  I find Kenneth Weiss on harpsichord to be very fine.

I believe Scott Ross recorded every single one of the Scarlatti Sonatas. An amazing feat!

Thanks for the recommendation!! 

[PerfectWagnerite]

Our good friend Sforzando might have mentioned some good ones but for me:

Tchaikovksy: everything else I disliked - some quite a bit, other than the 5th Symphony and Manfred.
Weber (is there a more overrated composer?): Really really like Invitation to the Dance (piano or orchestrated), and some overtures, but really can't stand anything else. The man is a 1 hit wonder if there ever was one as nothing other than Der Freischutz is even considered even remotely first
rated.
Richard Strauss: ambivalent about him as my feelings change...Right now I like Metamorphorsis for 23 Solo Strings and pretty much nothing else.

[Jo498]

I do not have the impression that Weber is overrated; he is usually rated not that highly but rather a one-hit-wonder (like Bizet) and if anything, this seems slightly underrated to me because there are a few more very good pieces that are frequently performed. E.g. the clarinet quintet and the clarinet concertos, especially the f minor (probably the second most famous clarinet concerto) and the f minor concert piece for piano. And Euryanthe and Oberon are problematic as drama but contain some wonderful music.

[hpowders]

Yes. Weber is surely NOT over-rated.

Like William Schuman, it is rare to find ANY performances of Weber's music these days!

[Mister Sharpe]

Three out of four ain't bad!

Have you heard Scott Ross in Scarlatti?
Liszt wrote a lot of boilerplate, but also some truly magnificent stuff.
Seriously, La Mer is dullish music, much worshipped here. But it's the best of his orchestral music.

Aww, Ken, I was hoping you'd Sea the Light, but noooo. 

[PerfectWagnerite]

especially the f minor (probably the second most famous clarinet concerto) and the f minor concert piece for piano. And Euryanthe and Oberon are problematic as drama but contain some wonderful music.

That my friend is stretching it quite a bit but there really isn't an abundance of Clarinet concertos out there so ok.

[Simula]

Mozart, Mozart, Mozart!