# Worst couplings?



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

We're all familiar with "couplings" -recordings with two works, often by different composers, that go together well. Bruch's and Mendelssohn's Violin Concertos, Schubert's Unfinished and Beethoven's 5th Symphonies (really!), Mozart's and Beethoven's E-flat Piano Quintets, and so forth.

But what are the worst couplings, recordings no label would ever even think of issuing? I suppose something like Barber's Adagio coupled with *this gem* by Fucik. 

You?


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Vivaldi Four Seasons and Stravinsky Rite of Spring.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Highlights from Richard Strauss' Elektra with the complete Haydn Baryton Trios.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

A nice disk might offer Ralph Vaughan Williams' _The Lark Ascending_ with Prokofiev's _Toccata_, Opus 11, and Mosolov's _Iron Foundry_ coupled with the Barber _Adagio_. I'd enjoy it!


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## Schoenberg (Oct 15, 2018)

One of the early Bartok Mikrokosmos pieces coupled together with a large work, perhaps a Beethoven symphony or a large (non-piano, non Bartok) concerto, such as the Tchaikovsky violin concerto.

This would be a horrible coupling as there would be no overlap between the players, as the pianist would only be playing in the microkosmos piece so there would be almost no relation between the two pieces, and it would just feel as if they just threw in the mikrokosmos piece as a way to fill the cd. And as well a single one of the Bartok Mikrokosmos pieces would feel really out of place by itself, as they are too short by themselves to have a place on a recording or a performance, generally you have a recording or performance of the whole thing or many of them together.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Couchie said:


> Highlights from Richard Strauss' Elektra with the complete Haydn Baryton Trios.


I assume the Baryton Trios will be played in between each of those "highlights".


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## Aleksandr Rachkofiev (Apr 7, 2019)

Off the top of my head Mahler's Resurrection symphony followed by Kabalevsky's Komedianti would be a mismatch of epic proportions :devil:


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

KenOC said:


> I assume the Baryton Trios will be played in between each of those "highlights".


It could work like ginger cleansing the palate inbetween pieces of sushi I suppose.


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## paulbest (Apr 18, 2019)

I am not happy when anything from Ravel is paired with another composer.

and here is one I feel is off balance


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Schoenberg paired with existence itself was an ill choice.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

paulbest said:


> and here is one I feel is off balance
> 
> View attachment 120096


Two fine and contrasting works. I like the pairing.


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## Schoenberg (Oct 15, 2018)

Couchie said:


> Schoenberg paired with existence itself was an ill choice.


I know my posts may not be of high quality, but they're surely not that bad?


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Offenbach's "Gaite Parisienne" followed by Penderecki's "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima."

Or maybe reverse the order.


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## NLAdriaan (Feb 6, 2019)

Wagners Parsifal with Bach's Hohe Messe

Wagners Ring with Mahlers Kindertotenlieder

Any Wagner piece with Schoenberg's Survivor from Warsaw


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Wagner's Parsifal and Holst's Perfect Fool

Milhaud's La Creation du Monde and Wagner's Gotterdammerung

Strauss' Alpensinfonie and Moussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

Bach B minor Mass and 'Papa Don't Preach' by Madonna. You didn't say it _HAD_ to be classical pairings Ken...
This does make sense as a pairing though, because the B minor Mass is terrible to dance to.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

This is a real one that has always baffled me even though I like both works.

View attachment 120098


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## paulbest (Apr 18, 2019)

starthrower said:


> Two fine and contrasting works. I like the pairing.


Contrasting,,,or complete opposites?
Much more PERFECT pairing would be either 
Berg's Or 
Elliott carter's
Violin Concerto with 
Schoenberg.

More practical, enjoyable, more logical.

I feel I am buying halfa cd, as I'll never listen to the longest work on the cd. 
Best to keep oranges with oranges,,,and ,,lemons with,,,,oranges are sweet and delicious,,,try eating lemon whole....


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

paulbest said:


> I am not happy when anything from Ravel is paired with another composer.
> 
> and here is one I feel is off balance
> 
> View attachment 120096


This is an excellent pairing IMO. Fantastic performances of both. I listen to the CD straight through sometimes.

One thing I like about Ms. Hahn's CD programming is that she's often introducing listeners to a more experimental work that they would otherwise never purchase. For example, maybe a classical newbie buys the CD, loves the Sibelius concerto, then keeps the CD playing, sits through the Schoenberg, perhaps not liking it terribly much at first, but entranced enough with Hilary's playing to continue on. And then repeat from the beginning a couple dozen times over the course of a lifetime. Boom. You have created a new Schoenberg fan.

This may not be a realistic situation of course, but we can dream :lol: in any case, for those like me who ARE a fan of the Sibelius as well as the Schoenberg, it's quite an enjoyable pairing. I would not call the two pieces complete opposites.


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## paulbest (Apr 18, 2019)

I think that was her intention in the coupling. She was attempting to introduce Schoenberg to a crowd that may have stubborn, biased, resistence to Schoenberg/2nd Viennese sounds. 


So with that in mind, a good call on her part. But then I can just hear the romantic crowd wimper *ohh any other concerto would have been fine, ,,,just NOT that strange composers concerto....,,oh had she included the Stravinsky concerto, match made in heaven...*


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

paulbest said:


> I think that was her intention in the coupling. She was attempting to introduce Schoenberg to a crowd that may have stubborn, biased, resistence to Schoenberg/2nd Viennese sounds.
> 
> So with that in mind, a good call on her part. But then I can just hear the romantic crowd wimper *ohh any other concerto would have been fine, ,,,just NOT that strange composers concerto....,,oh had she included the Stravinsky concerto, match made in heaven...*


Yeah, perhaps that is closer to the truth.

Incidentally, I think the Sibelius has much more in common with the Schoenberg than Stravinsky's great, Neoclassical violin concerto. In fact, Stravinsky + Schoenberg wouldn't be a bad pairing either. I have a CD with Alban Berg's excellent violin concerto coupled with Stravinsky's VC and I think it's a great pairing.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

The ones that drive me nuts are recordings of Baroque and Classical era music, where they intersperse late 20th century, atonal music, e.g.:

















It's not that I'm averse to contemporary music. But if I'm in the mood for Bach, I don't want to hear it interrupted by music that is of a completely different era and sensibility. And if I want to hear a late 20th century work, I probably don't want to have to wade through an hour of baroque music.


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## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

Debussy _Clair de Lune_ and Leifs _Hekla._

Kind regards, :tiphat:

George


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Pachabel's Canon with Varese's Octandre.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

I have had a Brahms Fourth that was filled out with the Overture to Die Meistersinger.


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## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)




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## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)




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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

paulbest said:


> and here is one I feel is off balance
> 
> View attachment 120096


Really? This was a Grammy winner for Best Classical Recording. I love the pairing, but everyone has their own preference though.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

The two previous make zero sense... :lol: oddly, that's not the first I've heard of Beethoven's 9th and Schoenberg's Survivor being programmed together. I actually really like that work, but isn't that a little anticlimactic(/depressing)?


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

KenOC said:


> But what are the worst couplings...


Donald and Ivanka?


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## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)

Olias said:


> Donald and Ivanka?


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

The absolute _worst_ coupling?

Any two pieces by Philip Glass. I mean, isn't it bad enough to have to listen to the first one, let alone having a follow up. Yikes!

Track 1






and Track 2






….


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Mozart’s and Beethoven’s E-flat Piano Quintets.

A coupling I hate to see.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

stomanek said:


> Mozart's and Beethoven's E-flat Piano Quintets.
> 
> A coupling I hate to see.


That seems a fairly common coupling. What gripes you about it?


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

Bach and Gubaidulina. In the liner notes it's stated that there's a spiritual connection. But still, I find the coupling a bit too much. Though I like both individually. Bach Am and E major violin concerti coupled with Gubaidulina's second violin concerto In Tempus Praesens


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

KenOC said:


> That seems a fairly common coupling. What gripes you about it?


Disparity between the two.

An early unremarkable piece by Beethoven and one of Mozart's best works.

There might be some sense if the superior work was Beethoven's and Mozart's was included to show what it was modelled on.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

stomanek said:


> Disparity between the two.
> 
> An early unremarkable piece by Beethoven and one of Mozart's best works.
> 
> There might be some sense if the superior work was Beethoven's and Mozart's was included to show what it was modelled on.


Sorry, can't really agree with you on this. While many might consider Mozart's quintet written a dozen years prior the greater work, that's not to say Beethoven's is chopped liver. In fact it was well-received at the time, with one reviewer speaking of both quintets and saying it would be a hundred years before such an excellent pair of works would be seen again.

The popularity of Beethoven's quintet is suggested by his own transcription of it as a piano quartet (piano and string trio). And it certainly had staying power. About 1809, thirteen years after it was written, Artaria published an unauthorized transcription as a string quartet.

And, in fact, Beethoven's quintet remains popular today, as does Mozart's.


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