The most boring music you've heard

[karlhenning]

Lots of us are ready to embrace their Inner Dittersdorf, I think, now . . . .

[btpaul674]

rap

dj

I disagree. I love rap.

All music can be boring to me depending on my current mood or patience.

[andy]

Then it succeeds admirably. I was going stir-crazy in my seat at a recent Steve Reich concert.

I can see where people would find minimalism boring. I find it borings at times... ok most of them time. I really enjoy listening to it while driving though, and that's about the only time I don't find it boring. But it's perfect driving music.

[Sean]

Minimalist can be boring as any other style, sure sometimes it's so repetitive that your head almost explodes, but you have to be in the right mood

I've been listening to a lot of Steve Reich latelly as a matter of fact and i'm enjoing it!
That triple quartet rules my world.

Please be advised of Six pianos, 24 absolutely gripping kick-ass minutes of minimalism.

[Tancata]

I can find most music boring when I'm not in the right mood for it.

There's some music that consistently makes me feel dirty, though. Some modern musicals and some of the really calculated pop does that  .

[The Emperor]

Please be advised of Six pianos, 24 absolutely gripping kick-ass minutes of minimalism.

i have that here, i should put it on my mp3 player for tommorow at work

[Josquin des Prez]

Minimalist can be boring as any other style, sure sometimes it's so repetitive that your head almost explodes, but you have to be in the right mood

There's nothing inherently wrong with minimalism per-se, both as an aesthetic principle and compositional technique, the problem are contemporary composers and their gimmicky approach to composition that makes them focus on one single technique exclusively, and in the case of minimalism the results are pure insanity.

However, when used as a simple compositional tool among a wider technical vocabulary it can be quite good.

[Kullervo]

However, when used as a simple compositional tool among a wider technical vocabulary it can be quite good.

As composers like Louis Andriessen and Per Nørgård have shown to great effect.

[jurajjak]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Guonod.  Even in his own day, he was infamous for being boring.  

One could also mention the dozens of hack 17th and 18th court composers--whose music is still played on classical radio stations, for some reason--but that probably goes without saying.

Others I find boring: Glinka (I very much want to like him, but find nothing interesting to latch onto); Adolphe Adam; Gabriel Faure; Handel; Spohr; some Brahms (though not all, certainly); Elliott Carter...many, many others...


Andrew

[hornteacher]

There's nothing inherently wrong with minimalism per-se, both as an aesthetic principle and compositional technique, the problem are contemporary composers and their gimmicky approach to composition that makes them focus on one single technique exclusively, and in the case of minimalism the results are pure insanity.

However, when used as a simple compositional tool among a wider technical vocabulary it can be quite good.

Very good point.

[LVB_opus.125]

The most boring music I've ever heard is what plays in the background at grocery stores. I'm not talking about 'classic' muzak. I'm talking about the Muzak radio stations for businesses that contains selections from old and new pop 'stars'. Since I work at a store, I get to hear songs by 'American Idols', cheesy 70's music where everyone sounds like either the Bee Gees, Phil Collins, or Chicago, "smooth" jazz that has noting at all to do with jazz, "crossover" country that is just your standard pop, and even boyband type singers. Every song is sentimental in a forced way, has the same recursive structure as if no other way of writing existed other than verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus! This music is boring not only for the intellect, but also to the senses. I DEFY anyone to write it off as mere entertainment. It's TORTURE!

[LVB_opus.125]

Speaking of minimalism, I've always felt that Brian Eno adapted minimalism into his ambient music and turned it away from academic and into the sensual, creating paplable landscapes that takes the listener into realms of the other worldly. Brian Eno is the one artist that can be repetitive as hell, starkly minimal, and rarely boring. But to some people, it's just the same, and has nothing on more traditional music that is full of attention grabbing changes.

[marvinbrown]

I have tried, tried, tried to like Liszt. I really have. I buy recordings of Liszt's music and listen to them with wrapt attention. Alas, light has not yet dawned. Too many notes for me.

  Thats how I feel about Mahler. 

  marvin

  PS: its hopeless, with the sole exception of Symphony No.2  I am really having problems enjoying Mahler music. I do not know what else I can do? 

[bhodges]

   PS: its hopeless, with the sole exception of Symphony No.2  I am really having problems enjoying Mahler music. I do not know what else I can do? 

What you can do is...not worry about it too much!  Enjoyment of Mahler is not essential to a full musical life, so try some other composers, and come back to him another time.  There are thousands of other people who have written (or are writing) music, begging for your attention! 

--Bruce

[marvinbrown]

What you can do is...not worry about it too much!  Enjoyment of Mahler is not essential to a full musical life, so try some other composers, and come back to him another time.  There are thousands of other people who have written (or are writing) music, begging for your attention! 

--Bruce

Thanks Bruce.

[m_gigena]

  Thats how I feel about Mahler. 

  marvin

And that's how I feel about Bruckner


(excepting the 7th symphony)


Manuel

[mahlertitan]

  Thats how I feel about Mahler. 

  marvin

  PS: its hopeless, with the sole exception of Symphony No.2  I am really having problems enjoying Mahler music. I do not know what else I can do? 

do you like Bruckner?

[karlhenning]

The most boring music I've heard? Not completely sure, but it was likely something by Elgar 

[BachQ]

The most boring music I've heard? Not completely sure, but it was likely something by Elgar 

(no need for the smiley emoticon when you're factually correct, Karl ..........)

[quintett op.57]

Sometimes boredom comes from the listener's inability to recognize and/or appreciate nuance.

Or from the efforts the listener's not ready to make.
I assume some composers are listened more carefully because of their reputation.

That would explain why so many people find Brahms boring.

or Haydn