# Unintentionally hilarious/maddening performances of classical music pieces.



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

What are some performances of pieces you have heard (and, preferably, are able to share) that just made you think "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING????"

I'll start out with a classic...A performance of Beethoven's 9th that makes you think...well, did the conductor read the tempo markings at all?....

If you haven't heard this one before, I'd advise making sure you're sitting down and not drinking anything before you press the link.


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## Guest (Sep 6, 2013)

Too late ViolaDude, I already had a glass of rosé in my hand. Jeez, after listening to this I nearly "took the pledge" if you see what I'm driving at. But I see and hear it's real, not a pink elephant in sight! This can't be, it just can't be ....
Nurse! The methadone, and quickly please !!!!


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## Guest (Sep 6, 2013)

I mean, even Celibidache can't match this. Know what I'm sayin'?


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

That is why musicians should start their day with a cup of coffee.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Xenakis' _Aïs_

There is a falsetto voice that appears throughout the work that moans and wails, shrieks and cackles "Ooh ho ho ho ho Aaaah ha ha ha...". This has to be the goofiest work he ever composed. I have the 5CD set of Xenakis' Orchestral Works on Timpani and this abomination starts out the otherwise flawless set.


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## DrKilroy (Sep 29, 2012)

I have just listened to it and yeah, it's pretty weird, even for Xenakis. I would love to see a live performance though. 

Best regards, Dr


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

brotagonist said:


> Xenakis' _Aïs_
> 
> There is a falsetto voice that appears throughout the work that moans and wails, shrieks and cackles "Ooh ho ho ho ho Aaaah ha ha ha...".


cheers for pointing it out, I for one enjoyed it!


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## Revenant (Aug 27, 2013)

A word kept popping into my mind: lethargy.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Gould's tempi with plenty of Bach and Mozart and other things he plays, are often very odd. Either way too fast or painfully slow. Sometimes he gets it just right. Invention #13 is ridiculous, for example.
Invention 13





Mozart k 284


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

> I'll start out with a classic...A performance of Beethoven's 9th that makes you think...well, did the conductor read the tempo markings at all?....


It makes Klemperer's Mahler 7 look positively sprightly!


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Sytse Buwalda sings Vivaldi:






Am I the only one who finds this absolutely terrible?


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

joen_cph said:


> Sytse Buwalda sings Vivaldi:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I think the terribleness comes from the mix more than anything, if the vocals were a bit quieter it might seem less ridiculous.


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

This particularly angry recording of Schönberg's Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte (if you have never heard the piece before, you're in for a surprise anyway):


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## Turangalîla (Jan 29, 2012)

I find this rather disgusting (it's not circus music!):


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Buwalda´s problems with technique and the right notes are also apparent here:


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Cheyenne said:


> This particularly angry recording of Schönberg's Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte (if you have never heard the piece before, you're in for a surprise anyway):


Why do so many people doing melodrama feel the need to ham it up so much? The Columbia recording of Stravinsky's The Flood is marred by an "effeminate" sounding performance of Noah's sons...

I feel A Survivor from Warsaw is a far more effective work, anyway.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Herbert von Karajan conducting anything by Mozart, that is if you find dreadfully overblown beyond all sense of proportion "funny."


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Mahlerian said:


> Why do so many people doing melodrama feel the need to ham it up so much? The Columbia recording of Stravinsky's The Flood is marred by an "effeminate" sounding performance of Noah's sons...
> 
> I feel A Survivor from Warsaw is a far more effective work, anyway.


maybe those particular performers were just tenors?


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## Ondine (Aug 24, 2012)

PetrB said:


> Herbert von Karajan conducting anything by Mozart, that is if you find dreadfully overblown beyond all sense of proportion "funny."


I haven't seen him conducting Mozart and I don't want. Karajan and Mozart don't seem to fit.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

violadude said:


> I'll start out with a classic...A performance of Beethoven's 9th that makes you think...well, did the conductor read the tempo markings at all?....
> 
> If you haven't heard this one before, I'd advise making sure you're sitting down and not drinking anything before you press the link.


"Presto" ...


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Not classical, but still fun to watch/hear...: 



*
Here's the original: 




*omg, I almost fell off the chair laughing with the comments about the video!: "needs﻿ more drugs".


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

CarterJohnsonPiano said:


> I find this rather disgusting (it's not circus music!):


well, no surprises from that particular source, eh?


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

CarterJohnsonPiano said:


> I find this rather disgusting (it's not circus music!):


I almost cried for Chopin when I heard this.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

MAXIMIANNO COBRA, Conductor. I do like that name.

IIRC his music primarily existed for multi-channel'ers, when that was a novelty. Well, it's still a novelty. 

But apart from Max maybe, we should give chance-takers a wider berth...otherwise, we'll be listening to a lot of Adrian Leapers.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Cheyenne said:


> This particularly angry recording of Schönberg's Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte (if you have never heard the piece before, you're in for a surprise anyway):


Iono, I kinda like that performance......


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

clavichorder said:


> Gould's tempi with plenty of Bach and Mozart and other things he plays, are often very odd. Either way too fast or painfully slow. Sometimes he gets it just right. Invention #13 is ridiculous, for example.
> Invention 13


Yikes! One gets the impression he was suffering from diarrhea and in a desperate hurry to go somewhere else...



joen_cph said:


> Sytse Buwalda sings Vivaldi:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I like the tone quality of his voice, but as someone else pointed out, there are problems with intonation which are especially apparent in the other piece posted. Personally I rather like the counter-tenor voice, but I seem to be in the minority there: most people burst out laughing the first time they hear it.

Sometimes it's just the music: I don't like it much when vocal music is full of acrobatics, because even very good singers seem to lose their footing sooner or later, or sound like they are laughing themselves. It can very easily come across ridiculous instead of sublime.

Speaking of weird vocal music, I have on occasion seen bits from traditional Chinese opera on TV, and I usually start laughing my head off about five seconds in. It makes Stockhausen sound conservative by comparison.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

I found it quite disappointing when I heard Boulez's performances from the 70's of Ligeti's Lontano:






The central part of the piece is the massive crescendo starting at 4:50 and the climax at 6:40. In the Boulez sounds like a wet firework. Maybe it's the recording and not the interpretation. But the result is a caricature of the piece...
Compare with this (I guess it's the version by Abbado):






The crescendo starts at 4:00 and the climax at 5:40.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

PetrB said:


> Herbert von Karajan conducting anything by Mozart, that is if you find dreadfully overblown beyond all sense of proportion "funny."


In this case I don´t agree, liking his early EMI recordings of the symphonies & his DG "Don Giovanni", but not the other DG Mozart stuff. These aren´t that different from a lot of other non-HIP performances, except perhaps the "Don Giovanni", which is indeed monumentalized above average.

Harnoncourt´s Concertgebouw Orchestra recordings of the symphonies are much more pompous than Karajan´s and they were considered markedly Beethovenian and thus very controversial in their days.


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## Andreas (Apr 27, 2012)

violadude said:


> What are some performances of pieces you have heard (and, preferably, are able to share) that just made you think "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING????"
> 
> I'll start out with a classic...A performance of Beethoven's 9th that makes you think...well, did the conductor read the tempo markings at all?....
> 
> If you haven't heard this one before, I'd advise making sure you're sitting down and not drinking anything before you press the link.


Wow, thanks for that link! Love it! This Cobra guy seems to be serious about his tempi. The first movement of his Bruckner 9th takes 47 minutes.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Leontyne Price; Carmen, _auf Deutsch_!!!!!


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

PetrB said:


> Leontyne Price; Carmen, _auf Deutsch_!!!!!


There is a big German tradition because after the premier at the Opera Comique which was so-so "Carmen's" success was established in Vienna .


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## Musician (Jul 25, 2013)

When I first listened to this video last year I thought that this has to be his worst rendering of any work.
But then there is his interpretation of the Mendelssohn first piano concerto, when he was younger, this was by far the worst performance of the Mendelssohn concerto by anyone. It was horrendous.

Why can't he stop making those faces, its pathetic. He might have technique but music needs way more then that...



CarterJohnsonPiano said:


> I find this rather disgusting (it's not circus music!):


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## hreichgott (Dec 31, 2012)

Mahlerian said:


> Why do so many people doing melodrama feel the need to ham it up so much?


The answer is in the question


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