Klarinet Archive - Posting 000824.txt from 2000/06

From: "Edwin V. Lacy" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Despised music?
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 23:23:10 -0400

On Wed, 21 Jun 2000, John W. Sheridan wrote:

> Is there anything that you would never play again if given the choice?

I have a rather long list of works I would avoid like the plague.

1. Sibelius: Finlandia

2. Smetana: The Mildew (oops, I mean the Moldau) Of the six tone poems
in this cycle, the Moldau is the weakest one, and almost the only one ever
played.

3. Beethoven: Symphony #5. I know this will raise lots of hackles. I
used to like this piece, but after having played it probably hundreds of
times, I now have to consciously try to keep from wretching when I play
it. I once had to play it 8 times in one month.

4. Delius: Florida Suite. This piece doesn't know what it wants to be,
bad classical music or pretentious pop music.

5. Delius: A Walk in the Paradise Garden. See above.

6. Goldmark: Rustic Wedding Symphony

7. Beethoven: Choral Fantasia. A weak warm-up for the Choral Symphony.

8. Chopin: Either of the two piano concertos. The piano part is fine,
but the orchestrations are very weak.

9. Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance March #2. Any one of the other three is
fine.

10. Ferde Grofe: Mississippi Suite. It should be called the "Insipid
Suite."

And the winner is:

A tie between:

11. Franck: Symphony in D Minor, and:

11. Ravel: Bolero.

Well, that should be enough to outrage just about everyone on the list.
Lest anyone be concerned, I have a list at least ten times that long of
pieces about which I am very enthusiastic.

Ed Lacy
el2@-----.edu

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