Classical Music Torture?

[Monsieur Croche]

OK, I got it. To say something is awful is not the same as trashing it. Clear as a bell.

Sardonic, ^that^ was, I assume.

To say only you don't care for it, it is not to your taste, maybe even put forth what your preference is so others understand why your opinion is what it is, uh, yeah.

Saying only it is awful is just another form of wholesale trashing... might make the person who said it feel real good, while it does nothing, or if anything, and is yet again, inflammatory.

[Monsieur Croche]

Based on what some guy has already posted in this thread, is it safe to say he is currently having some kind of masochist phase?

Well, someone has to do it, and it really is not in any way pleasant to have to step outside of yourself to call out a falsehood you know just about everyone in the room knows is a false, including the author of the falsehood.

(I suppose there are actually people who get off on filling exactly that role. I don't think I know any, though.)

[Simula]

Reich music for 18 would be pretty brutal torture for purgatory. My guess is that even the most devoted fan of this piece would nearly crack if he or she merely tried to play it for one full day.

[Monsieur Croche]

Reich music for 18 would be pretty brutal torture for purgatory. My guess is that even the most devoted fan of this piece would nearly crack if he or she merely tried to play it for one full day.

I've set Music for 18 Musicians on repeat play and let it run a good number of times through. Ditto for Feldman 's Piano and String Quartet.

...absolutely no problemo.

[some guy]

Odd that no one's mentioned Satie's Vexations yet in this regard.

I have listened several times to complete (or "complete") performances of this. It becomes absolutely addictive after awhile.

So yeah. Also absolutely no problemo.

I also attended a shortened version of Feldman's second string quartet, which took four hours. Riveting. And also too short.

What I found torturous was the music of ***. I successfully expunged this composer's earworms, but if I were to hear any of ***'s pieces again, I don't think I'd be able to get rid of those. It took a great deal of effort, mostly of the "play in your head something else to drown the dreck out" variety, which is not easy. Not for me, anyway. But I did it. I cannot recall a single note by ***, and I hope I can keep it that way.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Welcome to the lame world of the resurrected walking dead who continue to make futile jabs at the same old and obvious target which it is patently clear they do not at all understand.

What is not to understand about 4'33"? It really just seems to be very much based on the Zen Buddhist idea of 'ma' - the space between the notes, an extension the ambient sound in the performance space before the pianist actually plays anything. It's a very simple, meditative idea.

[some guy]

Well, "seems to be" is not quite the same as "is."

It is, first and foremost, about intention. And the sounds that occur are not sounds that the composer intends.

So it is also about acceptance. About accepting unintentional sounds as having validity, even musical validity.

That's what there is to understand about it.

That and $2.10 will get you a coffee grande at Starbucks.

BTW, don't ever shop at Starbucks. 

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

BTW, don't ever shop at Starbucks. 

I live in Melbourne, Australia. Starbucks gets so few customers that some of them have to be closed down. We are all coffee snobs here.

[some guy]

Just one more reason to admire the Australians!!

Starbucks having to close some of their shops down? Best news I've heard all week. 

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I personally love the sound of a Starbucks being closed down. It is music to my ears.

[Karl Henning]

Reich music for 18 would be pretty brutal torture for purgatory. My guess is that even the most devoted fan of this piece would nearly crack if he or she merely tried to play it for one full day.

Think that wouldn't be true of Eine kleine Nachtmusik?

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[Sergeant Rock]

Saying only it is awful is just another form of wholesale trashing...

And the king of wholesale trashing is...?   

I assume this is not about those 'bad to egregious' second and third tier composers...like Gabriel Pierné's Piano Concerto?

The first thing that popped into my mind is J.S. Bach -- all Bach and nothing but Bach -- a sort of ultimate Teutonic Torture, for which a few other different candidates like Wagner or Bruckner could well fit the bill.

I mean, is it as grievously 'orrible as are the symphonies of Bax, Rubbra, or Vagn Holmboe?

[Karl Henning]

I personally love the sound of a Starbucks being closed down. It is music to my ears.

OTOH, thanks to Starbucks, we enjoy the phrase "designer coffee."

[Simula]

Odd that no one's mentioned Satie's Vexations yet in this regard.

I've never heard this piece, but I will now.

[(poco) Sforzando]

I've never heard this piece, but I will now.

Budget at least 840 minutes.

[Mirror Image]

I personally love the sound of a Starbucks being closed down. It is music to my ears.

To put things into perspective: I suppose you love the sound of people losing their jobs and having to find other employment as well?

[Simula]

To put things into perspective: I suppose you love the sound of people losing their jobs and having to find other employment as well?

This sounds exactly like something the old man in your profile picture would say.

[Mirror Image]

This sounds exactly like something the old man in your profile picture would say.

And your point?

[Simula]

And your point?

Nothing, I just don't want you to take off your belt and start hitting me.

[Mirror Image]

Xenakis is another composer that would be pure torture after about 15 minutes. I mean some of his works are pretty cool sounding, but, overall, I couldn't stomach listening to him for a long period.