Poor works by truly great composers? (Or awful performances by great musicians?)?

Bernal - perhaps the reason why Mozart's Requiem is 'uneven' is because he didn't write most if (look it up if you don't know what I'm talking about).

Some of my candidates to answer this question:

Adams - Common Tones in Simple Time

Beethoven - Ritterballett

Beethoven - Wellingtons Sieg (Battle Symphony)

Beethoven - Christ on the Mount of Olives (tedious)

Berlioz - Lélio

Haydn - Symphony No 79 (the only poor one I can remember the number of right now)

Mozart - Flute and Harp Concerto

Rakhmaninov - Piano Concerto No 4

Shostakovich - Cello Sonata (in my opinion)

Shostakovich - Piano Sonata No 2

Shostakovich - Song of the Forests

Shostakovich - Symphony No 3

Shostakovich - Symphony No 12

Strauss (R) - Josephslegende

Vivaldi - Sinfonia in G for Strings RV149

Wagner - Almost everything before 'Rienzi'

Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture (really, it is poor - he even thought so)

It is safe to assume that great composers of any genre in music are great composers . We also have to differentiate the type of music we are alluding too. Classical. Jazz Pop and many others but we will use these 3 as a broad general main styles as each one is separate. . In Classical I will include all the years from 1650 to 1920 . This was a time long before recorded music and the great composers flourished mainly in Europe and yes most were very precocious at young ages . All great composers were skilled at at least 1 instrument and most composers during this period were also virtuosos , Not all great instrumentalists were great composers but all were musically educated and knew how to read and write music that is 100% . These great composers wrote everything down as they were composing often changes were made but the written note was everything , Some composers were not so neat and wrote quickly so copyists were born . Music was written to be published and available for others to play and learn. If these composers did not write it down . Gershwin considered to be 1 of Americas greatest composers was not a true classic composer. He was in semiclassical Jazz and pop . His Rhapsody in Blue was written in orchestral score by Ferdie Grofe as Gershwin could not

Hi Kalibasa,

This is an interesting question, for sure.

The same thing happens in literature - occasionally a wonderful writer will produce a dud - even geniuses have off-days! But then, these opinions are really only subjective...

Only yesterday, a woman came into my bookshop with the latest Ian Rankin novel, and raved on about how she HATED it! (Personally, I loved it.)

Sometimes writers get lazy - uninspired, even - and composers undoubtedly do, too. Again, talking of crime writers, Patricia Cornwell used to write terrific novels - but she found a formula that worked for a while and evidently slackened off - consequently, she's nowhere as popular as she used to be. I'm sure that even Agatha Christie (that wonderful old war-horse of crime fiction) produced a novel that was a little less than brilliant - but I'm yet to discover it!

But back to music...again, I stress, a "dud" composition or performance can only ever be a subjective thing.

I know I've mentioned this work recently, but for me, Mozart's Flute and Harp Concerto is so wishy-washy - such poncey, boring drivel - to be blunt, I think it totally lacks balls - not even a wonderful flute player like Jean-Pierre Rampal can inject enough testosterone into this work to excite me! It's the only Mozart work I really can't stand.

Actually, I think I read somewhere ages ago that Mozart didn't particularly like the flute nor the harp, so maybe this was his revenge - though I think in this instance, he may well have cut off his nose to spite his cheeky face...

Cheers,

Hafwen x

I guess it's because when a great composer "misses", that only means that the music is average quality. And some people, including myself, can still be very fond of these average level pieces.

Remember that there were no CD's back then. So if you write and publish something bad, it has a lesser chance of being preserved.

The difference between preforming and writing music is that. Music is a process. If you make a mistake, erase it. If a mistake escapes you, then your publisher will tell you to fix it. If you make a mistake on a performance, it's done. Unless you reshoot the scene, which is time-consuming and costly.

I'm probably going to be shot for saying this, but my very least favorite refined piece of music...ever...in the history of ever...and i really mean EVER...is Fur Friggin' Elise by Beethoven. I know, I know, everyone on the planet, other than me, seem to either love this piece or not mind it, but call me crazy, it is the bane of my existance. Now, it's not that I think it's musically the absolute worst piece ever...because there are a few pieces that are worse (*cough cough* Anthony and Cleopatra)...but I've been playing piano since I was two. At every freaking recital or competition I went to, there were always at least 50 children, somewhere in the building, playing this piece.

My solution to this? I now teach piano...and if any of my students utter the name of said piece, I treat it as Macbeth in the theatre...and then I give them a lecture on picking original pieces for contest.

I think "William Tell" was a glaring miss for Rossini. Granted it's a very long opera, and rarely performed; but to be honest about it, I know of nothing in it, from it, worth listening to other that the overture which is played to death.

Speaking of "misses" - Puccini I think wins the prize with his "Girl from the Golden West": talk about a relatively inferior opera?

What about Barber's "Anthony and Cleopatra"? You couldn't pay me enough to sit thru a performance.

And probably worst of all, a piece composed by my musical idol, Richard Wagner: "American Centennial March"(couldn't even find a video of it on You Tube).

Wagner himself is quoted as stating, "the only impressive thing about it, was my fee". The march was commissioned by the city of Philadelphia: amount paid Wagner? $5,000.

Alberich

Hello!

Although I love Ravel, I think his "La Valse" for solo piano is not a very good piece.

Now about performers... Well, everyone has good days and bad days. I heard once Richter playing Brahms' Variations on a Theme by Paganini, not very well, but unfortunately, I don't find the performance on youtube.

And listen to Horowitz playing a study by Scriabin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPTe1xMB9Uk

All the best!

I think the Mozart Requiem is an irregular work. After the magnificent Dies Irae the Tuba Mirum sounds really weak, not like the trumpet that might wake up the dead.

I like your question. it brings back to mind some of the Chopin pieces recorded by Rubinstein. They were so uneven when comes to artistry yet he sold in millions and never got really criticized for it.

It isnt classical but Sumi Jo and Dmitri Hvorostovsky's performance of "Tonight" is terrible!

And Sumi Jo singing Vivaldi! I love her voice, and she is a great singer, BUT "sposa son disprezzata" (I know its not actually vivalidi!) and "Agitata Da Due Venti" are awful. She has a very weak voice when singing below middle C, and any notes below F4 do not have any richness.

IN terms of composers:

Berlioz' operatic atempts are pretty bad, at least when compared to his orchestral work.

Bachs most famous piece is actually one of his worst! I am talking about Tocatta and Fugue in D minor (although he probably didnt write it)