GMG Classical Music Forum

The Music Room => General Classical Music Discussion => Topic started by: Uhor on June 19, 2022, 03:36:09 PM

Title: Composers other people love
Post by: Uhor on June 19, 2022, 03:36:09 PM
This thread is about the composers you actively dislike but other people very much like.

Here is some of mine in no particular order:

Higdon
Delius
Brian
Sorabji
Messiaen
Dittersdorf
Stockhausen
Lachenmann
Shostakovich
Schnittke
Pärt
Gorecki
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: Karl Henning on June 19, 2022, 03:45:51 PM
I don't suppose there are any composers I actively dislike ... so I abstain.
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: Mirror Image on June 19, 2022, 06:44:19 PM
I don't agree with wholly negative tone of this thread. I mean who cares if I dislike a composer's music and someone else loves them? I'm more concerned about composers that I do love.
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: 71 dB on June 19, 2022, 09:51:37 PM
I don't actively dislike. I just don't care much about many composers while actively liking my favorites.

However, I do dislike many common "opinions" among some people who are into classical music, such as:

- "Beethoven is above criticism, because he is Beethoven!"

- "Dittersdorf is nothing compared to Haydn."

- "Nothing interesting happened in Germanic music between Schütz and J. S. Bach."


Quote from: Uhor on June 19, 2022, 03:36:09 PM
This thread is about the composers you actively dislike but other people very much like.

Here is some of mine in no particular order:

Higdon
Delius
Brian
Sorabji
Messiaen
Dittersdorf
Stockhausen
Lachenmann
Shostakovich
Schnittke
Pärt
Gorecki

Perhaps very few people "very much like" all of these composers. How many Lachenmann or Sorabji fans do we have on this board? I don't think I have ever heard those name before.  ??? Sorabji I may have seen, but I have zero knowledge of his (her?) music. I very much like Dittersdorf and Pärt on that list Delius and some Shostakovich is nice too.  :) The little Messiaen and Schnittke I have heard aren't for me and Stockhausen I refuse to explore because his music is so expensive and "exclusive". Higdon, Brian, Sorabji, Lachenmann and Gorecki I haven't explored. Too much music in the World for one lifetime!  :P
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: 71 dB on June 19, 2022, 10:01:16 PM
Quote from: Mirror Image on June 19, 2022, 06:44:19 PM
I don't agree with wholly negative tone of this thread. I mean who cares if I dislike a composer's music and someone else loves them? I'm more concerned about composers that I do love.

Same here!  0:) In the past I was obsessed about people liking the same things I do, but I believe I am wiser and more matured now and I just don't care. You like A, B and C and I like X, Y and Z? Okay, cool.  ;D

Nowadays I am more obsessed about how people think. Are people thinking critically and independently, or are they being led to have certain beliefs? More important than what your opinions are is how did you arrive to them?
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: MusicTurner on June 19, 2022, 10:53:10 PM
Quote from: Uhor on June 19, 2022, 03:36:09 PM
This thread is about the composers you actively dislike but other people very much like.

Here is some of mine in no particular order:

Higdon
Delius
Brian
Sorabji
Messiaen
Dittersdorf
Stockhausen
Lachenmann
Shostakovich
Schnittke
Pärt
Gorecki

Seems to be a rather varied list of personal idiosyncracies, and without a single, re-occurring theme ...

In most cases, exploring composers a bit in depth has often made me revise the too simplified idea I had about them previously, besides my taste often changing as time goes by. Concerning Messiaen and Part, there's obviously a big difference between their early and later works, for example. Delius, Gorecki and Schnittke have huge variation too, and even Dittersdorf (symphonies), Lachenmann, and Stockhausen have a lot of that as well.
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: vandermolen on June 20, 2022, 09:51:41 AM
I don't enjoy the music of Liszt very much!
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: Karl Henning on June 20, 2022, 10:15:02 AM
Quote from: vandermolen on June 20, 2022, 09:51:41 AM
I don't enjoy the music of Liszt very much!

I appreciate the sober, measured remark, which is entirely in character!
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: DizzyD on June 20, 2022, 11:49:36 AM
There are some composers that I don't "dislike" but whose work just doesn't resonate with me as it seems to do with other people. For me it's Berlioz, Saint-Saëns, Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Delius. Maybe some day.
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: Mirror Image on June 20, 2022, 11:57:26 AM
Quote from: 71 dB on June 19, 2022, 10:01:16 PM
Same here!  0:) In the past I was obsessed about people liking the same things I do, but I believe I am wiser and more matured now and I just don't care. You like A, B and C and I like X, Y and Z? Okay, cool.  ;D

Nowadays I am more obsessed about how people think. Are people thinking critically and independently, or are they being led to have certain beliefs? More important than what your opinions are is how did you arrive to them?

Yes, indeed. If you dislike like a composer that I love, who cares. Time should spend listening to music rather worrying about being hip or being a part of some kind of popularity contest.
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: DavidW on June 20, 2022, 12:32:21 PM
Actively dislike??  Why?  If I didn't like something I wouldn't bother with their music.  I wouldn't keep listening building up animosity.
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: DizzyD on June 20, 2022, 12:52:21 PM
Yeah I can't say there are any composers I "actively dislike".
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: Lisztianwagner on June 20, 2022, 01:19:35 PM
Ditto, I can't say there are composers I actively dislike either, instead I would say there are some composers whose music I'm not attracted by, for example Verdi, Rossini or Donizetti. Also, I have no problem if someone doesn't like the composers I love; that's a pity, but de gustibus.
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: 71 dB on June 20, 2022, 02:12:41 PM
Quote from: vandermolen on June 20, 2022, 09:51:41 AM
I don't enjoy the music of Liszt very much!

It took me a long time to get into Liszt, but to be fair, for long I didn't even try.  :P
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: Brian on June 20, 2022, 06:17:49 PM
Einaudi
Boulez
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: Florestan on June 21, 2022, 12:46:57 AM
What does "actively disliking a composer" mean, I wonder?
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: springrite on June 21, 2022, 01:12:26 AM
The only one I can think of is, maybe Bloch. But really, I hardly ever actively dislike any composer's music. There have been many instances where I dislike one composer's music for decades and, one day, suddenly begin to like them. Bruckner is a fine example. So if I do not like a composer's music, it probably has more to do with myself than the composer's music itself. If it's not to my liking, I stay away for a while, or, forever. But you never know.
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: pjme on June 21, 2022, 01:26:54 AM
"actively disliking a composer":

his/her music makes one nervous, neurotic, edgy, angry, irritated, exasperated, irate, vexed, bored, sick.



Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: Florestan on June 21, 2022, 04:24:55 AM
Quote from: pjme on June 21, 2022, 01:26:54 AM
"actively disliking a composer":

his/her music makes one nervous, neurotic, edgy, angry, irritated, exasperated, irate, vexed, bored, sick.

I don't know. All that seems to me rather like *passive* reactions to the music --- and in my case, for instance, it can happen only once or twice, after which I stop listening to that composer's music altogether and never look back.

No, I think "actively" disliking a composer means starting threads about them and losing no opportunity to bash them --- which is absurd. One should focus on music one likes and ignore music one dislikes.
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: Karl Henning on June 21, 2022, 05:42:19 AM
Quote from: springrite on June 21, 2022, 01:12:26 AM
The only one I can think of is, maybe Bloch. But really, I hardly ever actively dislike any composer's music. There have been many instances where I dislike one composer's music for decades and, one day, suddenly begin to like them. Bruckner is a fine example. So if I do not like a composer's music, it probably has more to do with myself than the composer's music itself. If it's not to my liking, I stay away for a while, or, forever. But you never know.

Funny to think it now, but at first the symphonies of both Nielsen and Vaughan Williams left me cold. Musical dislike is not forever.
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: Todd on June 21, 2022, 05:45:29 AM
Quote from: Brian on June 20, 2022, 06:17:49 PMBoulez

Even Pli selon pli?

I don't know if I actively dislike any composer.  Sorabji may come closest, but I don't actively dislike his work so much as find its absurdity amusing. 
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: DavidW on June 21, 2022, 07:48:56 AM
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on June 21, 2022, 05:42:19 AM
Funny to think it now, but at first the symphonies of both Nielsen and Vaughan Williams left me cold. Musical dislike is not forever.

I would think that it would be... the Antartica symphony that would leave you cold.  Badum ching! 8)
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: Mirror Image on June 21, 2022, 11:09:27 AM
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on June 21, 2022, 05:42:19 AM
Funny to think it now, but at first the symphonies of both Nielsen and Vaughan Williams left me cold. Musical dislike is not forever.

Quite true. I was rather indifferent to Penderecki, Gubaidulina and Schnittke at various points. Proud to say this has past!
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: Karl Henning on June 21, 2022, 11:45:26 AM
Quote from: DavidW on June 21, 2022, 07:48:56 AM
I would think that it would be... the Antartica symphony that would leave you cold.  Badum ching! 8)

(* chortle *)
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: vandermolen on June 21, 2022, 12:12:34 PM
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on June 20, 2022, 10:15:02 AM
I appreciate the sober, measured remark, which is entirely in character!
8)
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: vandermolen on June 21, 2022, 12:14:09 PM
Quote from: springrite on June 21, 2022, 01:12:26 AM
The only one I can think of is, maybe Bloch.
WHAT!!!!
;D
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: MusicTurner on June 21, 2022, 10:50:15 PM
Maybe Augustyn Bloch ?  ;)
Title: Re: Composers other people love
Post by: Karl Henning on June 22, 2022, 03:27:49 AM
Quote from: MusicTurner on June 21, 2022, 10:50:15 PM
Maybe Augustyn Bloch ?  ;)

(* chortle *)