Great composers whom you like a few works of, but who usually bore you.

[Monsieur Croche]

Years ago, on a non music forum, a thread developed for videos of concertos in performance.  I posted a video of a piano concerto by Hummel, and was immediately confronted by a complaint: the complainer thought the piano's entrance was delayed too long.  The mere idea that a soloist might not make a quick and flashy entrance was, for that person, sufficient to condemn the concerto to his audio wastebin.

I'm thinkin' that one was not at all accustomed to the introductory unfolding of the double exposition as found in nearly every classical era piano concerto, lol.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

One of the things I don't like about 19th century concertos are that often the soloist begins from the very start, putting the orchestra in the background almost immediately. However, there are some cases, like Liszt's 2nd piano concerto, where the composer breaks the rules of form so much that it feels more like 'anything goes.' The piano doesn't come in right away....but it's typically near the beginning when it is heard for the first time......no orchestral exposition anyway.

[Florestan]

The mere idea that a soloist might not make a quick and flashy entrance was, for that person, sufficient to condemn the concerto to his audio wastebin.

One of the things I don't like about 19th century concertos are that often the soloist begins from the very start, putting the orchestra in the background almost immediately.

Two extreme positions, for sure. 

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Two extreme positions, for sure. 

lol......and in the end my favourite concertos are from the 20th and 21st centuries where basically anything goes.

[Christo]

Richard Strauss. Love his Eulenspiegel, but cannot bear much else. 

[(poco) Sforzando]

Vaughan Williams. I like the Tallis Fantasy and the 4th Symphony, but nothing else I can think of.

Britten. The Young Person's Guide is a nifty little piece, but other than Peter Grimes, the Sinfonia da Requiem, the War Requiem, and parts of the Dream and Budd, I do not much care for this composer.

R Strauss. I like some of the early tone poems, the 4 Last Songs, Elektra, and Rosenkavalier when I'm in the mood and parts of Frau, but the later operas are totally bloated and indigestible. Sitting through Capriccio at the Met one evening was a nightmare.

Stockhausen. Some of the early works are of an extraordinary genius, pieces like Punkte, Refrain, Momente, Mikrophonie II, Gesang der Jünglinde (to my mind the most successful piece of electronic music ever), and above all Gruppen. I cannot share a good friend of mine's enthusiasm for Carré. But the later navel-gazing stuff seems to me to lack the compositional rigor and care of the early pieces, even though I like some of it from time to time. The Klang cycle I heard at the Met Museum a few months ago was enjoyable, but not a patch on the great early stuff.

Mendelssohn. At his best, incomparable: the Octet, MND Overture, Italian Symphony, Violin Concerto. Much of the rest seems facile and dull, and no words would help the Lieder ohne Worte. Above all I hate the religious Kitsch like Elijah, which I had to accompany as a teenager in summer music camp and have not recovered from since.

[Simula]

For me many many many composers fit this category. The more interesting question would be, Great composers whom you like almost all their work except for a few pieces?   

[Jo498]

For most of my favorite composers I usually like most of their works (of course with huge oeuvres I often have not heard everything). E.g. Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler.
I am not equally fond of everything but I usually do not find many pieces boring, even less irritating or offensive. Even with a composer I would not name as a huge favorite, e.g. Mendelssohn, I don't share the verdict that most of his pieces are "facile and dull". I am not the greatest fan of Elias and Paulus either but I think they contain some impressive music. For such works I like less, I'd usually rather say pleasant, entertaining or inobtrusive

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I was going to say Elgar based on only really enjoying his cello concerto and introduction and allegro for strings but I realise I haven't explored much else of his anyway.

[(poco) Sforzando]

pleasant, entertaining or inobtrusive

Which is not that different from facile and dull

[(poco) Sforzando]

I was going to say Elgar based on only really enjoying his cello concerto and introduction and allegro for strings but I realise I haven't explored much else of his anyway.

I dislike some of his stuff intensely (run away from 71dB here), such as the symphonies and the Snooze of Gerontius, but there are also some fine works - the violin sonata, string quintet being among the best IMO. And the Cockaigne overture is great fun. The tone poem In the South is possibly the best Richard Strauss tone poem that Richard Strauss never wrote.

[James]

Stockhausen. Some of the early works are of an extraordinary genius, pieces like Punkte, Refrain, Momente, Mikrophonie II, Gesang der Jünglinde (to my mind the most successful piece of electronic music ever), and above all Gruppen. I cannot share a good friend of mine's enthusiasm for Carré. But the later navel-gazing stuff seems to me to lack the compositional rigor and care of the early pieces, even though I like some of it from time to time. The Klang cycle I heard at the Met Museum a few months ago was enjoyable, but not a patch on the great early stuff.

Of all the composers of the 2nd half of the 20th century, Stockhausen's body of work is the most absorbing & penetrating to my mind. Towering imagination and boldness. It's forensically rigorous, yet comes off incredibly free - which is a unique blend. The Klavierstucke. Kontakte. Zeitmaße. Gruppen .. being at the zenith (for me). LICHT, musically, is a thing of genius imo, though not without flaws.

[...]

Most of the truly great composers bore me to pieces, particularly those of the Classical era.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Of all the composers of the 2nd half of the 20th century, Stockhausen's body of work is the most absorbing & penetrating to my mind. Towering imagination and boldness. It's forensically rigorous, yet comes off incredibly free - which is a unique blend. The Klavierstucke. Kontakte. Zeitmaße. Gruppen .. being at the zenith (for me).

Well, those are some of the pieces at the zenith for me too. Though I have no clue what "forensically" means in this context.

[Karl Henning]

. . . Though I have no clue what "forensically" means in this context.

Must contribute to the uniqueness.

[Simula]

Of all the composers of the 2nd half of the 20th century, Stockhausen's body of work is the most absorbing & penetrating to my mind. Towering imagination and boldness. It's forensically rigorous, yet comes off incredibly free...

High praise. I'm impressed, James I'll bet you're a pretty damn interesting person. Even though I don't like the music of Stockhausen I know that many of the things you say are true. Schnittke would also agree with much of what you said.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

High praise. I'm impressed, James I'll bet you're a pretty damn interesting person. Even though I don't like the music of Stockhausen I know that many of the things you say are true. Schnittke would also agree with much of what you said.

First impressions of James are always.....interesting to read.

[Jo498]

Further above I mentioned Liszt, R. Strauss and Prokofiev.
While not exactly fitting the characterization "usually bore me", a few other candidates where I have mixed reactions, even after years, sometimes decades of listening to their music:

Tchaikovsky: I quite like the balletts (although it is not really my genre), the 1st and 6th symphonies and the 4th and 5th once in a while. But parts of them, e.g. finales of 4 and 5 border on overblown "film music" and the Mozartiana suite and the Rococo variations I cannot stand, they must be among the worst kitsch perpertrated by a major composer. The violin concerto is also too sugary for me and the 2nd and 3rd piano concerti are boring.

Shostakovich: Now, his oeuvre is huge, so I do not claim to know everything and my knowledge of the pieces I have heard is often superficial. But I heartily dislike the Leningrad symphony, actually don't much care for about half of his symphonies. But I love the violin concertos and a lot of the chamber music (although some pieces can also tend to boring)

Stravinsky: Again, I have huge respect for this composer who probably was overall the most important of the 20th century. I don't much care for Firebird and can't really get into several of the thornier works (like Les noces or lots of the late stuff). But I like and admire Petrouchka, Le Sacre, the three neoclassical symphonies, L'histoire du soldat and several other pieces. Although, overall I never feel such an emotional attachment even for the pieces I like than for e.g. some of Bartok's or Berg's Lyric Suite. I guess that is one of Stravinsky's features, not a bug...

[Jo498]

Which is not that different from facile and dull

I did not mean pleasant and entertaining euphemistically! I hardly know the dreaded "songs without words", so I might be missing some of the more facile stuff by Mendelssohn. Other pieces, e.g. the piano concerti don't claim to be much more than facile and brilliant fun and I have no problems enjoying them for what they are.
My list of Mendelssohn favorites is also considerably longer than yours... overall I tend to think of him as a little underrated although the famous pieces are justly famous, I don't think some of the others are that far behind (e.g. I find the two string quintets almost as good as the octet), despite some being mainly pleasant not soul searching or highly innovative.

[Madiel]

First impressions of James are always.....interesting to read.

*chortle*

[Karl Henning]

I could not possibly have an opinion . . . .