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

[EigenUser]

I really can't think of 10 that everybody else loves but I don't, but there definitely is one:

Much as I love Debussy (one of my favorite composers ever), much as I admire Mallarmé, much as I am fascinated by the world of the Ballets Russes, much as "the flute of the faun brought new breath to the art of music" (Pierre Boulez dixit), I really don't enjoy Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. There's something in the pastel shades of the score, and its saccahrine sound-world, that I find off-putting. 

Jeux FTW!

I do find the Faun dull, although very beautiful. I used to like it more. I can't say I don't enjoy it and I wouldn't say I don't like it, but I think I know what you mean.

[Ken B]

For me, that's JS Bach.

Yes, but you are part of a heretical sect nonetheless. 

[ritter]

Jeux FTW!

I do find the Faun dull, although very beautiful. I used to like it more. I can't say I don't enjoy it and I wouldn't say I don't like it, but I think I know what you mean.

Indeed: Jeux all the way!!!!...nothing sacchairine there; a marvel! Yep, I think you know what I mean, EigenUser..

[EigenUser]

Indeed: Jeux all the way!!!!...nothing sacchairine there; a marvel! Yep, I think you know what I mean, EigenUser..

Now I have to listen to Jeux. Not like that's a bad thing...

[DaveF]

Well, 9 pages in and as far as I can see nobody, but nobody, has actually produced a list of 10 popular works they don't like.  (Putting "most of Johann Gambolputty's stuff" doesn't count, surely?)  So here goes - and please all treat me gently; I know what I'm talking about here - these are not things I've heard once and thought "Don't much like that", they are old and intimate enemies, mostly by favourite composers, some of which I've studied for exams, one of which I've played.  Tread softly, for you tread on my nightmares.

Grieg - Piano concerto
Milhaud - Le bœuf sur le toit
Mozart - Piano concerto no.21
Britten - Simple Symphony
Elgar/Payne - Symphony no.3 (well, it was popular at the time)
Dvořák - New World symphony
Berg - Violin concerto
Mozart - Clarinet quintet
Shostakovich - Leningrad symphony
Schumann - 4th symphony

[Jo498]

Maybe it was not the full ten but I named works I do not like, e.g. Madama Butterfly (although admittedly I never made it through the whole thing), the "Leningrad symphony" and the Rococo Variations. But I have not closely studied them either. Neither do I feel the urge to do so.
There are other pieces where I oscillate between distaste and a certain fascination, e.g. the Grieg Concerto. This is like certain cakes which are good for one slice but if you have two you will feel sick.
Similarly with Tchaikovsky's violin concerto and the 4th and 5th symphony. The latter was one of my favorite pieces when I began listening to classical music with 15. I could hardly stand them for years afterwards, then I again had some appreciation and I think I still like a lot about the first 3 movements of the 4th (and also some bits of the 5th). But a few years ago I wanted to compare recordings of the 4th or 5th and I had to cancel the endeavour as I could not bear to listen to two version in one afternoon.

[Wanderer]

Maybe I'll orchestrate it some day.

There's a great idea. I've also always thought that transcribing the gorgeous Sonate-Vocalise for violin and piano would be a very interesting project.

[DaveF]

... the Grieg Concerto. This is like certain cakes which are good for one slice but if you have two you will feel sick.

Oh yes - except for me the first slice makes me sick.

the "Leningrad symphony"...

Utterly baffled by that piece - I can appreciate its importance at the time (although the German besiegers must have had ears like bats when it was played at them, since most of it is so pppp), but it sounds to me like a mix of the crudest poster art and a lot of third-rate lyricism.  I would only think that, though, never say it, certainly not on this forum.

In fact, a lot of my pieces are by favourite composers (DSCH, Schumann, Berg, Mozart, Britten, Elgar) who, for me, are not at their best in them - the Berg concerto, for example, I used to love until I discovered the rest of Berg.  Can't quite forgive it, either, for taking up his limited time when he could have been finishing Lulu.

[Jo498]

I tend to agree with your characterization of DSCH 7 (it is also slightly infuriating that this one and the 5th seem to eclipse superior pieces like the 8th).
But we will never agree on the Schumann piano concerto (while it may also suffer from overfamiliarity I think it is just a far better piece of music than the Grieg or any of Rachmaninoff's (these are for me in the same cream tart category that can only be eaten once a year) etc.) and emphatically not on the Mozart clarinet quintet. Especially the first two movements are an absolute delight, one of the wonders of the musical world.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Can't quite forgive it, either, for taking up his limited time when he could have been finishing Lulu.

But bear in mind that he essentially did finish Lulu, to the point where Friedrich Cerha's job was largely to complete the orchestration of the third act. As George Perle's study of the opera demonstrates, little original composition was required, at most some filling in of a few vocal parts in the ensembles, and the sole reason for the delay in presenting a finished Act Three was Helene Berg's refusal to see the work brought to completion.

As for Berg's "limited time," I strongly doubt he planned to die from that bee sting.

[Christo]

Not at all, and besides I'm not Catholic. Another Pope (Alexander) put it much better:

"'Tis with our judgments as our watches, none
Go just alike, yet each believes his own."

- from "An Essay on Criticism," 1709

Hybris and discernment are rarely found in the same person. Montaigne

[knight66]

OK, guys, joust over now please.

Knight

[knight66]

In terms of the original question, my catch-all list is....

The Mozart symphonies, any and all of them.
Most of Haydn's output apart from The Creation and a couple of masses.
Ravel Mother Goose suite, which seems pointless to me.
The 1812 Overture
Gilbert and Sulliven except for the Mikado
The masterpieces of Janacek are a mystery, esp Cunning Little Vixen which I really detest
Wolf, most of his output apart from a handful of songs, can't get into the Spanish Songbook

I am aware that I am already straying away from popular classics, so to end with...

Berlioz Cellini, a complete dog of a piece
Shosta's quartets which I am happy to believe are masterpieces, but it knots my stomach up to hear them
Puccini, Golden Girl of the West, cut it down to 15 minutes, all atmosphere and not much else.

Mike

[North Star]

In terms of the original question, my catch-all list is....

Ravel Mother Goose suite, which seems pointless to me.

Mike

Do you like the original piano four hands version or the expanded ballet, though, Mike?

[knight66]

I actively look for transcriptions, but did not know of any of this work. It would not have occured to me to look for one. I can imagine, it might work better for me on piano.

Mike

[North Star]

I actively look for transcriptions, but did not know of any of this work. It would not have occured to me to look for one. I can imagine, it might work better for me on piano.

Mike

It certainly works better for me in the original version. (the rest of the Argerich & Pletnev recording is also on YT)
https://www.youtube.com/v/vfPIdFT-UDU https://www.youtube.com/v/eCWC32pPQC4

[Jaakko Keskinen]

More examples

Mahler symphony no. 2 (I still haven't listened to nearly all of his symphonies so there may be more candidates coming up)

Bruckner symphony 8

Verdi: La Traviata (there are parts of it that I like but I still think it's very overrated)

Btw, I've warmed much more to La boheme after a few relistenings. Although I still prefer Fanciulla, Tosca and Turandot.

[knight66]

It certainly works better for me in the original version. (the rest of the Argerich & Pletnev recording is also on YT)
https://www.youtube.com/v/vfPIdFT-UDU https://www.youtube.com/v/eCWC32pPQC4

Thanks, I will give that a try from home.

Mike

[vandermolen]

In terms of the original question, my catch-all list is....

The Mozart symphonies, any and all of them.
Most of Haydn's output apart from The Creation and a couple of masses.
Ravel Mother Goose suite, which seems pointless to me.
The 1812 Overture
Gilbert and Sulliven except for the Mikado
The masterpieces of Janacek are a mystery, esp Cunning Little Vixen which I really detest
Wolf, most of his output apart from a handful of songs, can't get into the Spanish Songbook

I am aware that I am already straying away from popular classics, so to end with...

Berlioz Cellini, a complete dog of a piece
Shosta's quartets which I am happy to believe are masterpieces, but it knots my stomach up to hear them
Puccini, Golden Girl of the West, cut it down to 15 minutes, all atmosphere and not much else.

Mike

Interesting list and largely agree with you apart from Mother Goose, which I find, at least in some places, quite touching.

[Kamisama]

1.   Mahler: "Resurrection" symphony
2.   Britten: War Requiem
3.   Shostakovich: Symphony 13
4.   Shostakovich: Symphony 11
5.   Strauss: Tod und Verklarung
6.   Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto 3
7.   Orff: Carmina Burana
8.   Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky
9.   Liszt: Piano Concerto 1
10.   Shostakovich: Symphony 8