Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner I can't stand this!

I'm all hands on that. Yap. Agree totally!

I agree, and I'm one of the only people I know who like the Emaj waltz.

Also, earlier I such much of the Chopin sonatas. Let me elaborate. THE 1ST MOVEMENT OF THE 1ST SONATA. YUCK.

DW_mod & chickgrand: There is a wonderful recording of "The Planets" for two pianos on Naxos. It is Holst's own arrangement; well worth hearing.

Regarding my own dislikes: I dislike almost all the music of Chopin. I could live without Grieg's Piano Concerto. Everything I have heard by Wagner, ditto. The "Mighty Handful" were not so mighty, IMO. Much of Elgar's contribution is pretty awful.

David

I could not stand Bach's Christmas Oratorio on Christmas Eve.

I found that the spiritual genius of JSB had turned into a very conformist and heavy celebration.

Maybe I was in a bad mood.

I felt the same though when I heard a cantata performed by the very official St Thomas in Leipzig orcjestra and choir : I felt it was a very stifling experience.

Sometimes, German music can be a bit too german.

I love the Christmas Oratorio, and it should be heard more in light of other Bach choral masterpieces like St. Matthew's passion and the b minor mass.

The magnificat is also wonderfully vibrant and colorful, as Bach always is.

Sometimes a bad performance can mar the experience, but it by no means has to mean the work is bad.

CrashTest,

The fact that I cannot stand a piece at a certain moment is in no way a judgement about its value.
I certainly don't feel qualified to decide which works of Bach are great and which ones are not.
But I could not stand that particular interpretation that day.

I usually have to change channel when Wagner gets in his nationalistic mood. I can't stand it either. Too much of anything can be overwhelming.

I will give Christmas Oratorio a second chance any time but December

I love Bach's Magnificat. I love even more Monteverdi's Magnificat from Vepre della Virgine.
I song in the choir in another lifetime.

I find that the older modes are closer to the soul than the major and minor modes that got stabilized in the 18th century (with the equal temperament ?).

Isn't it the reason why folk music of all parts of the world can be so moving as if it touched a deep part of our roots ?

My dislikes comprise certain musical phenomena, and therefore I tend to dislike the music of a particular composer if much of it contains the features I don't like. Sometimes one or two bars of a piece fill me with delight and the rest goes in one ear and out the other. That's why I like improvising - I can just fill it up with the things I like all the time.

Trouble is, the qualities I like and dislike change over time. Worse than that, they change from one day to the next, even from one hour to the next. I could say that in general I don't like music written to fit notation - regular metrical events, motoric statements. I could say that in general I don't like old fashioned chords, music which uses only half a dozen chord types, music which hangs around one scale all the time.

All this is easy to say but then I might sit down and be enraptured by something I make up on the spur of the moment which turns out to have these features - it's happened before and it will happen again.

Even within a very small category, for example simple tonal melody of restricted type, I can confound myself with my likes and dislikes. I don't like Handel's Messiah at all but I like Schubert's Ave Maria. I find it next to impossible to explain why.

My musical response seems to be a very peculiar thing, and therefore I can only answer the question with vague generalities making no sense to anybody. To a large extent I live in a mystery with regard to this issue.

The like or dislike response is part of the cycle of creative volition. I spend hours experimenting with music and my response to new sounds - always have. I expect the process to continue for my lifetime. I'm not sure that formulating conscious rules about dislikes is likely to do me any good.

I luv the Christmas Oratorio, dunno why any one would dislike anything by Bach...except 1, I hate Bach's Minuet in G. The pcs I dread listening most has got to be ( I'm sure every pianist will agree with this list)
1. Fur Elise
2. Anything by Wagner. His massive opera gives me head splitting headaches.
3. I hate Rondo Alla Turca by Mozart.Too over played and so expectable, Dunno whether it's the same for u guys.
4. Most of Chopin's Polonaise/waltzes. But other than that, I luv most of his output.
5. Debussy's Reverie
6. Beethoven Sym No 5
7. Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu...too over played, of caz unless the version is really great, then I wouldn't mind listening. BTW, I find Slvia Capova's version the best by far.
8. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by Mozart
9. Chopin's Revolutionary Etude...too overplayed. And too many 'unjustified' versions.
10. Chinese Classical Music on the piano...Dun misunderstood me..I'm not a racist.
7.

I cnt stnd psts whre lttrs are ommttd.

I guess the pot smoke makes it harder to find all the keys.

I hadn't thought of that.
Way too cool, man ! Way too cool.

Hey Benedict...I really dun understand why u must put up a front and criticise my posts in such a childish manner. If u think that posting in perfect, solemn English makes u a more 'enlightened' being than me...well then, so be it. Like what I've mentioned earlier on, as we're all profilic pianists...I really dun see the need to put up a front, and try to sound so serious and almighty in my posts.

DW-mod,
Forgive me if I have offended you.
But you must understand that English not being my language, I find it maybe more difficult that your fellow citizens to understand your writing style.

Forgive my intolerance though. This forum being a democratic place, everybody is entitled to his/her opinions and style.

I'll try to be tolerant.
You find my attitude childish. I find your style childish.

Blessed be the children for they shall inherit the earth

Vas-y, Benedict!

Okay...I'm partly wrong also. I shouldn't assume that everyvody is familiar with shorthand typing. I'll try to post in full sentences from now on...but it ain't gonna be easy for me, because I'm a generally lazy person.
As quoted
"You find my attitude childish. I find your style childish.

Blessed be the children for they shall inherit the earth ".
I find this 'pun' of words quite intelligently amusing. So, maybe you're not such a bad person afterall. Sorry if I've offended you in anyway, because English is not my first language. And I've to admit that I felt slightly hurt when you keep picking on my form of expression. Thank You.

Nice to meet you.

I do appreciate your making an effort to write the words fully. I am sure it will be well worth it.

This pianist corner is an extraordinary place where absolutely every person has learnt to respect and appreciate all the different experiences and viewpoints that are expressed.

I wonder if the shorthand style is the one usually used in the chats like MSN ICQ. The pace of this forum is somewhat slower and it often helps to really think things over.
Maybe a chatroom would be a good complement here.

Maybe there is one, and I still haven't discovered it

I also have a problem with people who don't write things out properly. It slows me down when I'm reading, so usually I don't even bother to read it at all. If someone doesn't want to show me the respect of putting their ideas into a form that makes it easy for me to understand, I have no reason to respect those ideas.

I've spent the past week trying to help a fellow tech with little English solve a problem. It has taken a number of messages back and forth to get to the resolution. It might have been resolved in one or two posts if his English were better, but that is not the case. It really points out how much of an imposition it is when someone deliberately avoids the conventions of the language.

BDB:

As a member of the "old school" I really am inclined to agree with you that it is a question of respect. In other words, what comes across is: "Like it my way or s**w you!"

Also, as Benedict pointed out, this is very much an international forum where not every member's native language is English.

This said, I appreciate DW_mod's most recent posts, written in standard English. Thank you.

Regards,

DW_Mod:

Can you give a couple of examples of classical Chinese music for the piano ? I didn't know any existed. I am very fond of classical Chinese music in general, zithers, opera and so on and I recently discovered Tan Dun's music, which I also like very much. However, I hadn't realised there was such a thing as a classical tradition in Chinese piano music.