Pieces of music you're sick of

[ContrapunctusIX]

Inspired by Lance's feelings on Schubert's 9th: I'm wondering if anyone here on CMG has a work or works they simply cannot listen to anymore?

For me it's Beethoven's 5th, the Four Seasons, and Bolero.

[IcedNote]

By my calculations 98.74148% of atonal/non-tonal music. And it's not that I just don't find it enjoyable; it's that I can't stand to listen to it.

-G

[jbuck919]

O GAWWD SheherezAWWWD!

[MarkC]

None at all, whatsoever.

With the possible exception of the Bach-Busoni Chaconne.

I've heard it played constantly at the amateur piano competitions, usually badly.

[Heck148]

Inspired by Lance's feelings on Schubert's 9th: I'm wondering if anyone here on CMG has a work or works they simply cannot listen to anymore?

rachmaninoff sym #2
Tchaik Sym #4
Tchaik Sym #5

total overexposure for me - I've performed these way too often...

[Seán]

Only the Bolero, because of Bo Derek and Dudley Moore in 10, Yuk!

[Auntie Lynn]

Taco Bell

[Wallingford]

I truthfully cannot think of any "formerly" well-like classical work that I'm tired of: it's a matter of the medium of choice (records over radio....also concerts, which I haven't attended for a good three years).

As for pop, then that's a wholly different story: it's an issue of being assaulted with the stuff I grew up hearing, shoved down my throat for the jillionth time. Having developed a musician's ear early on, I memorized these things in little time at all, and often find it hard to conceive why anyone in a public establishment wouldn't go raving mad over music inflicted on them just to get them in a "buying mood."

[Seán]

I truthfully cannot think of any "formerly" well-like classical work that I'm tired of: it's a matter of the medium of choice (records over radio....also concerts, which I haven't attended for a good three years).

As for pop, then that's a wholly different story: it's an issue of being assaulted with the stuff I grew up hearing, shoved down my throat for the jillionth time. Having developed a musician's ear early on, I memorized these things in little time at all, and often find it hard to conceive why anyone in a public establishment wouldn't go raving mad over music inflicted on them just to get them in a "buying mood."

That makes two of us, I hate the stuff, all of it, without exception, it irritates me.

[vavaseur]

Vivaldi's Four Seasons - but only when it's on my telephone while I spend half the day on hold!

Cheers
vavaseur

[Wallingford]

I truthfully cannot think of any "formerly" well-like classical work that I'm tired of: it's a matter of the medium of choice (records over radio....also concerts, which I haven't attended for a good three years).

As for pop, then that's a wholly different story: it's an issue of being assaulted with the stuff I grew up hearing, shoved down my throat for the jillionth time. Having developed a musician's ear early on, I memorized these things in little time at all, and often find it hard to conceive why anyone in a public establishment wouldn't go raving mad over music inflicted on them just to get them in a "buying mood."

That makes two of us, I hate the stuff, all of it, without exception, it irritates me.

I really don't abhor ALL the stuff...I have a personal list of a hundred pop singles that I never tire of: music that's always a guaranteed pick-me-up, something that makes me a little happier than I was before. "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" is on that list--but I always worry when stores or workplaces have it on their DMX for the trillionth time......

[Chalkperson]

Eine Kleine Nachtmusic K 525
Alla Turca in A Minor K 331

[stenka razin]

Honestly, I love Classical Music so much, that I cannot name any 'real' piece of music that I am tired of hearing.....Really.....And that's after almost six decades of serious listening.

[MarkC]

......Alla Turca in A Minor K 331

Well really it depends on the performer, doesn't it?
Like, no way you're sick of this version.....

[Chalkperson]

I would listen to that bloody Scarlatti Recording of his that you all love so much twice rather than watch anybody's Mozart K331 on U-Tube or any other-Tube for that matter...

[MarkC]

(BTW......it's not one Scarlatti recording, it's thousands!!!!)

P.S. That was hyperbole.

[barney]

By my calculations 98.74148% of atonal/non-tonal music. And it's not that I just don't find it enjoyable; it's that I can't stand to listen to it.

-G

You, sir, are a provocateur!

[barney]

Fur elise (also on ring tones and when you are on hold)

Pachelbel's canon (ditto)

Certainly second the nomination's of 4 seasons and bolero.

[MarkC]

Fur elise.....
Pachelbel's canon.....

Golly -- y'all are naming some of my favorite pieces.

[Corlyss_D]

Inspired by Lance's feelings on Schubert's 9th: I'm wondering if anyone here on CMG has a work or works they simply cannot listen to anymore?

Just about every piece of orchestral lit written by Germans and Russians after the death of Haydn.

[Jared]

Eine kleine Nachtmusik... goodness do I hate this now..

followed by:

O fortuna
Pachelbel's Canon
Serenata Noturna
Bolero
Blue Danube

all the things you're likely to hear down a call-centre phone line, to be honest, but EkN has to be No 1.. !

[Jared]

Just about every piece of orchestral lit written by Germans and Russians after the death of Haydn.

well, that kills off about 2/3 of my collection!

[david johnson]

None. There are enough ways to listen that I switch modes when I think I should, and that solves the problem.

dj

[John F]

Beethoven's 5th symphony, except for the first movement and possibly the third.

[MarkC]

Beethoven's 5th symphony, except for the first movement and possibly the third.

That's very funny.

[Imperfect Pitch]

Beethoven's 5th symphony, except for the first movement and possibly the third.

But you can't just stop at the end of the third, it's criminal.

[barney]

Also Happy Birthday to You, except the stravinsky arrangement, which is very witty.

And the American National Anthem (when the Olympics are on, which is about the only time I can stand the Australian anthem, which is awful).

All non-religious Christmas songs, invariably trite and hideous (eg Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer) and increasingly played so no one is offended - except me, who is extremely irritated.

I suppose these don't qualify but, by jingo, I'm sick of them!

[petervk]

The thirds of Philip Glass

[Heck148]

Beethoven's 5th symphony, except for the first movement and possibly the third.

I'll agree - a poor or mediocre recording of Beethoven's 5th symphony, or any familiar symphony for that matter, is tedious, or wose...

If I want to hear LvB 5 I go with one of the really fiery renditions - Reiner, or Toscanini. Szell is good too.

[karlhenning]

None at all, whatsoever.

Pretty much, me, too. Those times in the past when I have found myself wearied of certain pieces, the problem lay in the fact that Boston's classical station had fallen under the direction of a former soft-rock DJ, who pared back their rotation to a much slighter repertory . . . and they would (for instance) play Die Moldau six times a week, whether we needed it or not.

Once I learned to resist the impulse to turn the radio to that dial . . . it was just a matter of resting time, and voilà, none of the warhorses holds any terror for me anymore!

Cheers,
~Karl

[Scott Morrison]

I'm not actually weary of this piece of music, but I'm weary of its being a persistent Uhrwurm since the HD broadcast of Carmen several weeks ago. It's the Card Scene. Oy, everytime I replace it with something else by listening to, say, Schubert (violin sonatinas) or Bartók (some of Mikrokosmos), or Jack Beeson (his delightful opera Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines, which was just reissued on Albany), it waits a few minutes and then sneaks back in. Suggestions?

[Donaldopato]

Pachelbel's Canon in D it was pretty the first time I heard it, tedious the next 2,684,517 times.

[Jack Kelso]

Most of Rossini's overtures
Bizet's "Carmen" Suite
Tschaikowsky's "1812" Overture
Ravel's "Bolero"
Mendelssohn's "Italian" Symphony
Sousa's military marches
Elgar's D Major March, from "Pomp and Circumstance"
Offenbach....in general

Tschüß,
Jack

[karlhenning]

Pachelbel's Canon in D it was pretty the first time I heard it, tedious the next 2,684,517 times.

Oh, that one achieved a very special saturation point, methinks ; )

Cheers,
~Karl

[Donaldopato]

Pachelbel's Canon in D it was pretty the first time I heard it, tedious the next 2,684,517 times.

Oh, that one achieved a very special saturation point, methinks ; )

Cheers,
~Karl

I rarely watch TV, but one time a while back I heard a commercial using the Canon in D as background. Browsing to another channel, I heard a completely different commercial using it as well....

[moldyoldie]

Thanks to Kubrick's great film, there was a time when the famous opening of Also Sprach Zarathustra was heard incessantly in commercials, usually in a parodistic context. It went on for YEARS! I thought to myself, is the ad biz that bereft of original ideas?

Nowadays, since Boorman's great film, O Fortuna has become the new Zarathustra.

However, heard in the context of their respective larger compositions, I'm not really sick of 'em.

[karlhenning]

Thanks to Kubrick's great film, there was a time when the famous opening of Also Sprach Zarathustra was heard incessantly in commercials, usually in a parodistic context. :roll: It went on for YEARS!

On the bright side, there's a brilliant parody in one of Terry Gilliam's animations for the third season (I think it was) of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Cheers,
~Karl

[moldyoldie]

Thanks to Kubrick's great film, there was a time when the famous opening of Also Sprach Zarathustra was heard incessantly in commercials, usually in a parodistic context. It went on for YEARS!

On the bright side, there's a brilliant parody in one of Terry Gilliam's animations for the third season (I think it was) of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Cheers,
~Karl

I was a casual fan, but don't recall it. The show pops up on occasion; I'll have to keep an eye out, thanks.

[maestrob]

None at all, whatsoever.

Pretty much, me, too. Those times in the past when I have found myself wearied of certain pieces, the problem lay in the fact that Boston's classical station had fallen under the direction of a former soft-rock DJ, who pared back their rotation to a much slighter repertory . . . and they would (for instance) play Die Moldau six times a week, whether we needed it or not.

Once I learned to resist the impulse to turn the radio to that dial . . . it was just a matter of resting time, and voilà, none of the warhorses holds any terror for me anymore!

Cheers,
~Karl

Same with me and WQXR.

Now that I haven't listened to the radio in years, I find the only compositions I consciously avoid are Bolero and Eine kleine Nachtmusik.

[Marc]

Thanks to Kubrick's great film, there was a time when the famous opening of Also Sprach Zarathustra was heard incessantly in commercials, usually in a parodistic context. It went on for YEARS! I thought to myself, is the ad biz that bereft of original ideas?

Nowadays, since Boorman's great film, O Fortuna has become the new Zarathustra.

However, heard in the context of their respective larger compositions, I'm not really sick of 'em.

I'm not, either. Check this out:
http://www.video4viet.com/watchvideo.ht ... thustra%22

[RebLem]

None whatsoever.

For a long time, I was tired of the William Tell Overture, but I haven't heard it in a while, and I'm ready again. And, of course, there are some years when I think there should be a special Academy Award for "The most judicious use of Barber's Adagio for Strings in a Motion Picture." Any piece of music that gets used in a TV commercial can be unlistenable for a while after the commercial stops airing--like Prokofiev's March from The Love for Three Oranges, which has been used to sell many products, or the March of the Hebrew Slaves from Verdi's Nabucco, which was used in a British Airways commercial a while back. But, generally, these things pass and one can listen and enjoy again.

[Cyril Ignatius]

Handel's Messiah

[bombasticDarren]

For me it's Beethoven's 5th, the Four Seasons, and Bolero.

How odd. I was thinking about this on the bus to work this morning. Or more to the point how bored I am specifically of Beethoven's 5th. So I resolved to avoid listening to it for at least 6 months

I never get sick of Bolero though

[ContrapunctusIX]

For me it's Beethoven's 5th, the Four Seasons, and Bolero.

How odd. I was thinking about this on the bus to work this morning. Or more to the point how bored I am specifically of Beethoven's 5th. So I resolved to avoid listening to it for at least 6 months

I never get sick of Bolero though

My growing distaste for the 5th is something that upsets me, as it's one of the first pieces of classical music I really fell in love with. The problem is, I've heard so many performances of it at this point that the only way I can sit through it in one sitting is if it's an absolutely knockout version of it (ie Kleiber, Giulini). Even then, I start to wander during the meandering scherzo (until the fughetta kicks in).

[bombasticDarren]

For me it's Beethoven's 5th, the Four Seasons, and Bolero.

How odd. I was thinking about this on the bus to work this morning. Or more to the point how bored I am specifically of Beethoven's 5th. So I resolved to avoid listening to it for at least 6 months

I never get sick of Bolero though

My growing distaste for the 5th is something that upsets me, as it's one of the first pieces of classical music I really fell in love with. The problem is, I've heard so many performances of it at this point that the only way I can sit through it in one sitting is if it's an absolutely knockout version of it (ie Kleiber, Giulini). Even then, I start to wander during the meandering scherzo (until the fughetta kicks in).

I think you have just pretty well summed up my view

I guess I'll always love it...I just can't bear to hear it for the foreseeable future

[MarkC]

.......My growing distaste for the 5th.....

My God, now it's "distaste."

This version ought to cure you of that. It brings a freshness to the piece, does it not.....

[ContrapunctusIX]

.......My growing distaste for the 5th.....

My God, now it's "distaste."

This version ought to cure you of that. It brings a freshness to the piece, does it not.....

Haha, pretty good. Still got a little tiresome there at the end, even with the commentary.

[hangos]

For Beethoven's 5th with a really fresh approach, try Peter Eotvos's recording - it is as fast and fierce as Szell or Toscanini but has amplified strings (the Ensemble modern is a chamber orchestra)
I know what you mean, however!
Martin

[Corlyss_D]

My growing distaste for the 5th is something that upsets me, as it's one of the first pieces of classical music I really fell in love with.

It's okay, C. People grow. They move on. You don't have to love forever the same confections you loved as a child. Go with the flow. Find something else to love.

[ContrapunctusIX]

My growing distaste for the 5th is something that upsets me, as it's one of the first pieces of classical music I really fell in love with.

It's okay, C. People grow. They move on. You don't have to love forever the same confections you loved as a child. Go with the flow. Find something else to love.

I know that, Corlyss. But the 5th is a great piece of music. What frustrates me about my diminishing appreciation of it is that it's not entirely my fault, though I've probably oversaturated myself with recordings of it. Part of the problem (and not a small part by any means!) is the almost sickening overexposure of it, usually clipped and distorted beyond all recognition in literally hundreds of different advertisements which I've had to endure over the years.