The worst

[Delicious Manager]

For me, it's that most overplayed and overrated of violin concertos - that wretched, ever-present Bruch Violin Concerto No 1. I'm proud to say that in 30 years in the business, I've never programmed it ONCE!

[Peter1953]

I still haven't heard anything beautiful by Nielsen. I'm not going to give it another try. It's over.

[chill319]

Above all, I dislike medleys of classical music played with a rock backbeat.

[Kriton]

I detest the Schumann piano concerto and have done for years.

I love the Schumann piano concerto. I hate the Grieg piano concerto. I do not care much for Grieg anyway, but his concerto... oh, that's just too horrible...

[eschiss1]

I have heard a few works I like by Offenbach and von Suppé.  (I might enjoy the latter's uncharacteristic early Requiem if I heard it.) Very few.

[Alan Howe]

I still haven't heard anything beautiful by Nielsen. I'm not going to give it another try. It's over.

Please try Nielsen's 1st Symphony!

[Pengelli]

I prefer the Schumann,too. The Grieg is quite good fun,and I can't say I dislike it,but the Schumann just seems more subtle and heartfelt. In fact,I love it! The Grieg is all pyrotechnics,and it also reminds me of that,slightly overrated, Eric Morecambe sketch,which is possibly the best thing about it. Grieg's 'Peer Gynt' has the same effect. Good fun,but not something I want to return to to much. The same goes for the Bruch Concerto. Yet,I can play some of the couplings,Mendelssohn & Brahms,over & over again & never get tired of them.

[Mark Thomas]

I am very fond of the Grieg Piano Concerto's slow movement, but generally I think that he's a greatly overrated composer who had the happy luck of being able to write good tunes. There is little else in his output which has much originality.

[Pengelli]

Remember the old Nescafe ad? Grieg seems full of 'pop' tunes,with no real depth. 'Hall of the Mountain King' is almost laughably graphic. Elgar did the same kind of thing in his, 'the Wagon( Passes)',from his 'Nursery Suite',only much more poetically. What a difference!
Beecham manages to make Grieg more enjoyable.

[Pengelli]

In my humble opinion,Bax's 'Winter Legends' knocks spots off the Grieg!

[Alan Howe]

Grieg's most original music is surely in his solo piano works, especially the Lyric Pieces. I love the PC; it's just that, for it to remain fresh, you can't listen to it very often.

[Amphissa]

 
Not sure if it is really "romantic" but Carmina Burana (esp O Fortuna) is near the top of my list of music I hope to never hear again.

But the music that maxes out my barf-o-meter is Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture and Marche Slave. I get dry heaves just thinking about having to listen to these overplayed monstrosities.  The thought of having to listen to both in one sitting -- just slit my wrists please.

[Kriton]

I love the PC; it's just that, for it to remain fresh, you can't listen to it very often.

Well, the works that go by the label "good" in my book, are those compositions that sound better every time I listen to them. I didn't care much for the Grieg concerto when I first heard it, and it gets worse with every hearing. The Schumann I could enjoy everyday - no expiration date on that one! Remains as "fresh" as it was 170 years ago...

The sad thing is that I must own at least 10 recordings of that horrible Grieg concerto, because it's so often coupled with the Schumann concerto...

[JimL]

I've held out on this topic for a while because I'm loath to 'hate' anything.  Yes, Bruch VC 1 is overplayed, but I find it a wonderfully ingenious piece whose only fault is driving its successors out of the market through no fault of its own.  This can be emended by more violinists insisting on playing Bruch VCs 2 & 3 or the Serenade or Konzertstuck, not just thinking they're going out on a limb by playing the Scottish Fantasy!  I infinitely prefer the Schumann PC over the Grieg, but I don't fault the Grieg for that.  What mystifies me is why they are so often paired in recordings, coming as they do, from two such different wellsprings of creativity.  The Grieg concerto was composed as a virtuoso showpiece from the get-go, sharing its provenance with the concertos of Liszt, Scharwenka, Rubinstein et al.  The Schumann work has more focus on poetic utterances, and its genius lies in how it manages to reconcile the virtuosic and expressive impulses.  I guess the fact that they are similarly proportioned and structured, and the fact that they share the same key made them a natural pairing in the minds of so many record label executives back in the day.  That, perhaps, and the fact that they are contrasting works that amply show off a pianist's bravura and emotive technique.

As far as having a 'worst' piece, is concerned I haven't found anything unsung that I consider really "bad".  If I find something bad in music it's generally because it is so overplayed that it obscures other music.  I could say that about Mahler's S 1, Dukas' Sorcerer's Apprentice, Ravel's Bolero, and any number of other works worthy of occasional performance that end up dominating the repertory.  Again, through no fault of their own.

[eschiss1]

I love the PC; it's just that, for it to remain fresh, you can't listen to it very often.

Well, the works that go by the label "good" in my book, are those compositions that sound better every time I listen to them. I didn't care much for the Grieg concerto when I first heard it, and it gets worse with every hearing. The Schumann I could enjoy everyday - no expiration date on that one! Remains as "fresh" as it was 170 years ago...

The sad thing is that I must own at least 10 recordings of that horrible Grieg concerto, because it's so often coupled with the Schumann concerto...

Getting better every time I hear it would describe much of Liszt for me, a composer I barely enjoyed at all because, I think, of non-musical preconceptions as to what he meant his music to mean - Alan Walker's writing (especially) having done much to clear up those misconceptions I have a much easier time listening to the music, the best of which I enjoy increasingly.