Top10 compositions that you don't like but everyone else does

[Maestro267]

1-10. Any 10 works from before Beethoven. Your Bachs, your Haydns, your Handels, your Mozarts, and the like. Beethoven was the start of music getting good and interesting.

[Que]

1-10. Any 10 works from before Beethoven. Your Bachs, your Haydns, your Handels, your Mozarts, and the like. Beethoven was the start of music getting good and interesting.

To cover the time BVB (before Van Beethoven) , better add a zero (or two).... 

[Jo498]

The first movement of Beethoven's 5th symphony - no, I don't hate it, but I do think it's a bit overrated. To me the really really really good stuff comes in the final movement. 

It's the other way round. The last movement would be shallpw and overblown (and it still somewhat is) except as a triumphant closure after a long and arduous way.
I hardly ever listen to the symphony anymore (I listened to it almost every day for two months or so when I was 16) but the first movement still is amazing in its density and sweep with hardly any moment of easing the tension.

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

It's the other way round. The last movement would be shallpw and overblown (and it still somewhat is) except as a triumphant closure after a long and arduous way.
I hardly ever listen to the symphony anymore (I listened to it almost every day for two months or so when I was 16) but the first movement still is amazing in its density and sweep with hardly any moment of easing the tension.

I have the same reaction. High points are the first movement and scherzo. The coda of the final movement, which repeatedly seems like it is about to end, then goes on, is a hoot, though.

[Jo498]

I think the finale is often judged too severely. It serves a function, being bot a resolution and triumph and also being a polar opposite to the tightly knit first movement, both in its breadth and the multitude of themes. And with the three or so codas on top of each other, it is a little extreme but it seems Beethoven realized it and in later similarly triumphant sections he was more concise.

[Florestan]

Speaking of Beethoven, as of late I can't stand any longer his odd-numbered symphonies (the Seventh used to be my favorite symphony ever 30 years ago, now it grates on my nerves big time --- each time they announce it on radio I change the station; the Third and the Fifth strike me as shallow, bombastic, self-serving in-your-face heroism, and the Ninth I can take only in the guise of the Choral Fantasy) and I have only a mild tolerance for the even-numbered ones (the Pastoral and the Eighth excepted --- meaning they are the only Beethoven symphonies which I really enjoy).

Imho any of his piano trios, vioiln sonatas and string quartets is vastly superior to any of his symphonies.

Still on topic, I strongly dislike Brahms's First Symphony and i find it hugely overrated. One waits and wiats and waits for something to happen, and for a good tune to pop up and when it finally comes it turns out to be a parody of Beethoven's Ode to Joy theme. I'm all the way with Tchaikovsky on it:

Yesterday Kotek and I studied the new symphony [No. 1] by Brahms, a composer who in Germany is praised to the skies. I do not understand his charm. In my view [his music is] dark, cold, and full of pretensions to depth without real depth.


Applied to the First Symphony, the criticism is spot on.

As with Beethoven, I think any of Brahms' chamber music works is vastly superior to any of his symphonies.

[Florestan]

Beethoven was the start of music getting good and interesting more and more overblown, conceited and boring, an affair for stiff and still audiences pretending they have the time of their life.

Fixed. 

[DaveF]

Shostakovich - Symphony No. 7

I expressed the same opinion earlier in this thread, and am happy to confess to a change of opinion, having recently played in a performance of it.  Yes, the first movement is pretty terrible, the slow movement not as good as several others elsewhere in the symphonies (apart from perhaps the Mahlerian bit in the middle, which just shows up that DSCH wasn't such a good orchestrator as Mahler), but all of the scherzo, and the finale up to the point where the strings start that 7/4 ostinato (fig. 177) seem to me now to be as good as anything he ever composed.  But then, according to the rules of this thread, if I'd still disliked it then you couldn't also have had it 

[Brian]

1. Beethoven's Violin Concerto
2. Brahms' First Piano Concerto
3. Brahms' First Symphony
4. Mahler's Fifth (except the adagietto, best heard separately or arranged as a choral work on that one Accentus CD)
5. Bach's St John Passion
6. Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
TIE-7. Bartok's six string quartets

Three years and I still don't like any of these. Might as well add a few more:

8. Schumann's Piano Concerto
9. Brahms' Second Piano Concerto
10. Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto

Also I hate Für Elise.

I now enjoy the Debussy and some performances of Rach PC2 and Brahms Symphony No. 1.

So:
1. Beethoven's Violin Concerto
2. Brahms' First Piano Concerto
3. Berg's Violin Concerto
4. Mahler's Fifth (except the adagietto, best heard separately or arranged as a choral work on that one Accentus CD)
5. Bach's St John Passion
6. Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto
TIE-7. Bartok's six string quartets
8. Schumann's Piano Concerto
9. Brahms' Second Piano Concerto
10. dare I say it ... good lord this is gonna make some people mad ... Mozart's Requiem

[Ken B]

Speaking of Beethoven, as of late I can't stand any longer his odd-numbered symphonies (the Seventh used to be my favorite symphony ever 30 years ago, now it grates on my nerves big time --- each time they announce it on radio I change the station; the Third and the Fifth strike me as shallow, bombastic, self-serving in-your-face heroism, and the Ninth I can take only in the guise of the Choral Fantasy) and I have only a mild tolerance for the even-numbered ones (the Pastoral and the Eighth excepted --- meaning they are the only Beethoven symphonies which I really enjoy).

Imho any of his piano trios, vioiln sonatas and string quartets is vastly superior to any of his symphonies.

Monster. Everyone not practicing bestiality knows the odd symphonies are better, especially number 8. 8 was an odd number in Beethoven's time, and I favour Historically Informed Numbering.

9 was, naturally, an even number.

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

I now enjoy the Debussy and some performances of Rach PC2 and Brahms Symphony No. 1.

So:
1. Beethoven's Violin Concerto
2. Brahms' First Piano Concerto
3. Berg's Violin Concerto
4. Mahler's Fifth (except the adagietto, best heard separately or arranged as a choral work on that one Accentus CD)
5. Bach's St John Passion
6. Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto
TIE-7. Bartok's six string quartets
8. Schumann's Piano Concerto
9. Brahms' Second Piano Concerto
10. dare I say it ... good lord this is gonna make some people mad ... Mozart's Requiem

Brahms PC2, really? Beethoven PC3? That's the best one.

But I think there may be more controversy in "everyone else likes" than in "don't like."

[Ken B]

Have I posted on this thread?

Bach Musical Offering
This is the only Bach I don't really like.

Debussy La Mer
Of course it's a cheat including this, since most people don't like it that much.

Ravel orchestration of Pictures
I prefer the piano version, not that it's terrible.

Schubert Trout Quintet
Probably the only Schubert I don't like

[Brahmsian]

The only one off the top of my head that I can think of 'disliking' of a very popular piece would be:

Handel - Messiah

[Ken B]

The only one off the top of my head that I can think of 'disliking' of a very popular piece would be:

Handel - Messiah

I hated it until Iheardgood HIP performances. Try the Andrew Parrott.

[Daverz]

Brahms PC2, really? Beethoven PC3? That's the best one.

But I think there may be more controversy in "everyone else likes" than in "don't like."

Dislike of either of the Brahms PCs is not unusual, often on structural grounds. 

Debussy La Mer
Of course it's a cheat including this, since most people don't like it that much.

First I've heard of this. 

[amw]

Pianists also tend to dislike them—especially No. 2, which has been described as a concerto for two right hands, and harder than Rach 3. Definitely not the most pianistically written pieces in any case though, which is odd since Brahms played them himself and was perfectly competent at writing solo piano music—maybe he felt that you needed extremely thick piano writing to cut through an orchestra on the weaker pianos of his time?

[Alek Hidell]

Have I posted on this thread?

Bach Musical Offering
This is the only Bach I don't really like.

Ditto - at least of the Bach I've heard so far. I heard the Opfer for the first time recently (don't know how I managed to omit it for so long), in Jordi Savall's rendering, and was like, "Meh." Sounded like warmed-over Bach to me.

My thread-duty selection: Mahler's Ninth.

It's not that I hate it. In fact, I love the first movement. I just don't get anything out of the two inner movements - especially the third, with those high, screeching strings. The final movement is o-kay, but there are better slow movements in Mahler for me (such as the final movement of the Third). Nor does it move me. That may be in part because I don't buy that sentimental pap about how the symphony is Mahler's "farewell" (really? Then what was the Tenth supposed to be?). I keep trying to like it, because so many people do and because I love all the others (well, except maybe the Eighth), but so far it hasn't happened.

[mc ukrneal]

Speaking of Beethoven, as of late I can't stand any longer his odd-numbered symphonies (the Seventh used to be my favorite symphony ever 30 years ago, now it grates on my nerves big time --- each time they announce it on radio I change the station; the Third and the Fifth strike me as shallow, bombastic, self-serving in-your-face heroism, and the Ninth I can take only in the guise of the Choral Fantasy) and I have only a mild tolerance for the even-numbered ones (the Pastoral and the Eighth excepted --- meaning they are the only Beethoven symphonies which I really enjoy).

Imho any of his piano trios, vioiln sonatas and string quartets is vastly superior to any of his symphonies.

Still on topic, I strongly dislike Brahms's First Symphony and i find it hugely overrated. One waits and wiats and waits for something to happen, and for a good tune to pop up and when it finally comes it turns out to be a parody of Beethoven's Ode to Joy theme. I'm all the way with Tchaikovsky on it:

Yesterday Kotek and I studied the new symphony [No. 1] by Brahms, a composer who in Germany is praised to the skies. I do not understand his charm. In my view [his music is] dark, cold, and full of pretensions to depth without real depth.


Applied to the First Symphony, the criticism is spot on.

As with Beethoven, I think any of Brahms' chamber music works is vastly superior to any of his symphonies.

Hilarious. I too like Beethoven's 6th best. But I always have and still do (perhaps even more than I used to). I must admit though, I rarely listen to the symphonies and I find it keeps them fresh for when I do listen to them.

That said, I don't even understand your comment on Brahms 1. It smacks you in the face with something happening in the opening bar!! And good tunes too! On the other hand, it is too often (lately to me anyway) played in a slow, overheavy approach with no lightness or zip. So on that part I could agree.

[Ken B]

Hilarious. I too like Beethoven's 6th best. But I always have and still do (perhaps even more than I used to). I must admit though, I rarely listen to the symphonies and I find it keeps them fresh for when I do listen to them.

That said, I don't even understand your comment on Brahms 1. It smacks you in the face with something happening in the opening bar!! And good tunes too! On the other hand, it is too often (lately to me anyway) played in a slow, overheavy approach with no lightness or zip. So on that part I could agree.

Andrei just needs to be told Brahms composed it whilst traveling in Romania. Then he'll love it. 😉

[springrite]

Andrei just needs to be told Brahms composed it whilst traveling in Romania. Then he'll love it. 😉

Born Johannes Brahmanescu, Brahms IS Romanian!