The most boring music you've heard

[SymphonicAddict]

Just I noticed this thread. I've seen some (shocking  ) surprises, mainly about Brahms and R. Strauss. Two of my most beloved composers (above all Brahms). I can't definitely find their music boring. It's true Strauss composed some silly works like Panathenaenzug and a bit-less-silly Parergon zur Sinfonia Domestica, as almost all the composers also did, but other works of his are not so, definitely not. An argument people use is that he was selfish because of his apparently evident self-praise in works like Ein Heldenleben. Totally pointless from my point of view. As for Brahms, the creator of one of the most complete and compelling set of chamber works ever penned... If Brahms had written just those works, he would still be one of my favorites with no hesitation. Anyway, tastes are tastes.

Now, what music do I find boring? Most of works by these composers: d'Indy, Schönberg, Ives, Carter, Silvestrov, Messiaen, Boulez. Almost all of the Baroque music with clear exceptions, vanguardist works whose names are the only original thing, the Phillip Glass symphonies, French operettas (mostly by Offenbach), some symphonies by Miaskovsky, lieder and vocal music, incredibly some piano music by Rachmaninov. For now I remember this. More for coming! 

[André]

The most boring musical experience I've ever had was a performance of Rossini's Petite messe solennelle, in the stripped-down version with harmonium.

I don't know if this is good music, bad music, or somewhere in between. I do know I was bored stiff by the whole thing.

It can be boring indeed, but it doesn't have to be that way. Like Berlioz' L'Enfance du Christ, much depends on the interpreters' involvement and artistry. Sometimes it all gels beautifully, sometimes it refuses to get off the ground.

[Karl Henning]

I love Brahms, probably every note (for context). I cannot even conceive of finding Schoenberg "boring." And . . . practically dismissing all the Baroque?

Ah, well ....

[The new erato]

I love Brahms, lieder and Baroque (at least the good stuff). Things I am indifferent to is much Italian opera and Messiaen mostly bores me, though many composers have their longeurs in singular works. Not Brahms and Bach though.

[Florestan]

I love Brahms, lieder and Baroque

Me too.

(at least the good stuff).

When it comes to Baroque --- or even Classical for that matter --- "the good stuff" is an a-posteriori-21-st-Century-notion completely alien to the contemporary (ie, Baroque or Classical) aesthetics. No Baroque or Classical composer --- JS Bach and Haydn and Mozart  included --- ever ccomposed anything for the posterity. |Their only concern was the here and now. It's the much maligned Romanticism --- maligned, that is, by people who emphatically make the case for listening to Baroque or Classical or (some) 20-th century only, to teh exclusion of Romanticism  --- that turned the musical aesthetics upside down and made heroes and geniuses out of mere craftsmen. 

Things I am indifferent to is much Italian opera and Messiaen mostly bores me,

Philistine! 

[Mahlerian]

When it comes to Baroque --- or even Classical for that matter --- "the good stuff" is an a-posteriori-21-st-Century-notion completely alien to the contemporary (ie, Baroque or Classical) aesthetics. No Baroque or Classical composer --- JS Bach and Haydn and Mozart  included --- ever ccomposed anything for the posterity. |Their only concern was the here and now.

I'm wondering why you think Bach compiled a large-scale work that certainly never got a single performance during his lifetime, then.  The argument for the other two names you mentioned seems stronger, though of course they both admired composers of the recent past, including Bach (father and sons) and Handel, and may have fancifully imagined that at least some of their published works would outlive them.

I would agree that all of them probably thought of their works as designed for specific occasions in a way that later composers have not, but to say that they imagined them all as one-time event pieces to be forgotten the day after their performance would surely be going too far in the other direction (not to imply that you said this).

[Florestan]

Bach compiled a large-scale work that certainly never got a single performance during his lifetime, then. 

[Mahlerian]

The B-minor Mass.  There wasn't the slightest chance of its being performed, and while it is mostly comprised of adaptations of other works, it also represents a significant amount of effort on the composer's part.  A bit silly for something that he knew would never be performed in the church or concert hall unless you see it as an artistic/spiritual statement.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

The B-minor Mass.  There wasn't the slightest chance of its being performed,

I would cite also the AoF and WTC as being pieces that he expected to outlive him, due to their pedagogical or "scientific" character (as that term was used in the 18th century).

Also - JSB himself had a good knowledge of older music, going back at least to Palestrina, whose works he even performed a few times. Why wouldn't he expect composers of the future to take an interest in the music of the past, if he was doing precisely that?

[71 dB]

Silvestrov

Calling Silvestrov's music boring makes as little sense as calling sleeping or peace of mind boring. 

[PerfectWagnerite]

The B-minor Mass.  There wasn't the slightest chance of its being performed, and while it is mostly comprised of adaptations of other works, it also represents a significant amount of effort on the composer's part.  A bit silly for something that he knew would never be performed in the church or concert hall unless you see it as an artistic/spiritual statement.

I would also add the St. Mathew's Passion. I try to like it but can't really sit through more than 10 minutes at a time.

[prémont]

I would cite also the AoF and WTC as being pieces that he expected to outlive him, due to their pedagogical or "scientific" character (as that term was used in the 18th century).

Also - JSB himself had a good knowledge of older music, going back at least to Palestrina, whose works he even performed a few times. Why wouldn't he expect composers of the future to take an interest in the music of the past, if he was doing precisely that?

+ 1

[Mahlerian]

I would also add the St. Mathew's Passion. I try to like it but can't really sit through more than 10 minutes at a time.

I wasn't giving my opinion of the Bach Mass in B minor, which I actually love.  I was referring to Florestan's remarks on Bach's supposedly not writing anything meant to survive for posterity.

[prémont]

I would also add the St. Mathew's Passion. I try to like it but can't really sit through more than 10 minutes at a time.

This is what I always experienced with Wagner's operas. 


Each to his own taste.

[Florestan]

I was referring to Florestan's remarks on Bach's supposedly not writing anything meant to survive for posterity.

Precisely. Please show me on the contrary

[Mahlerian]

Precisely. Please show me on the contrary

I did (and Archaic Torso added his own remarks as well).  You decided you didn't want to look, because you haven't given any other rationale for Bach to compile an unperformable work.

[Karl Henning]

Many of Bach's organ works (I rely on premont and Jens, at the least, to correct me if I veer astray) originated as improvisations at the console.  If he did not mean for the scores to outlast the moment of inspiration/use, why record them?

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Many of Bach's organ works (I rely on premont and Jens, at the least, to correct me if I veer astray) originated as improvisations at the console.  If he did not mean for the scores to outlast the moment of inspiration/use, why record them?

Also, why go to the trouble of publishing the keyboard partitas not once but twice?

[BasilValentine]

Just about anything by Bruckner or Boulez for me. B-o-o-o-o-o-ring! 

[PerfectWagnerite]

This is what I always experienced with Wagner's operas. 


Each to his own taste.

There are very few Wagner operas that I listen on long stretches to: Ring, Tristan, Parsifal, that's about it. The others don't strike me as inspired as those three.