# Most boring slow movement?



## Mal (Jan 1, 2016)

My nomination:

Haydn Symphony No. 55 (‘The Schoolmaster’) The nickname comes from the second movement, which sounds like a schoolmaster remonstrating with a schoolboy - and that really is as boring as you think it might be. To rub it in, the next movement sounds like the geriatric schoolmaster is giving the schoolboy a very slow, bad dance lesson. All this after an excellent first movement - the excited schoolboy having the best game of hide amd seek ever. The final movement isn't bad - schoolboy walking briskly home along the riverbank, relived to have escaped the silly old duffer.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

No response so far, can't think of any also, I do like the slow movements.


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## Mal (Jan 1, 2016)

Pugg said:


> No response so far, can't think of any also, I do like the slow movements.


You like all slow movements of every symphony you have ever heard by any performer?


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

The slow movement of the hour hand in an analog clock is pretty boring to watch.


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## Mal (Jan 1, 2016)

Symphony No. 101 (‘The Clock’)

The slow movement simulates the tick-tocking of a grandfather clock. This sounds as if it should be really boring, but it's one of the most magical and beautiful movements in music. I especially like it when the grandfather clock appears to achieve lift off, and escape velocity, half way through. Tick "Haydn is stultifyingly boring", tock "Haydn is excitingly beautiful"...


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I used to get a bit bored of Mozart's slow movements when I was 10 years old but not now. I don't find the two Haydn slow movements mentioned so far to be boring at all and suspect they are suggested on the basis of poor performances. Other than that I can't think of music that I love despite a boring slow movement.


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## Mal (Jan 1, 2016)

Enthusiast said:


> I used to get a bit bored of Mozart's slow movements when I was 10 years old but not now. I don't find the two Haydn slow movements mentioned so far to be boring at all ...


As I said, I don't find "The Clock" boring at all, but I find "The schoolmaster" rather boring - at least in Marriner's version. What about the "kiddie" symphonies, probably written by Mozart's dad. Don't you find them boring?


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## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

I find threads who's only purpose is to disparage classical music boring.


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## Mal (Jan 1, 2016)

Why do you think this thread is meant to disparage classical music?


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

The "Silentium" movement of Arvo Part's Tabula Rasa, perhaps. I used to use it as a sleep aid.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Schumann's 2nd movement romanze of his Symphony #4. At least one of the most uninteresting for me.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Schumann's 2nd movement romanze of his Symphony No.4. At least one of the most uninteresting for me.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

It has to go to ASLSP - As SLow aS Possible by Cage


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

No mention of 4′33″ yet .


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Pugg said:


> No mention of 4′33″ yet .


No not yet hey, what time signature does you think it is? - now that you have brought it up................


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## Mal (Jan 1, 2016)

Pugg said:


> No mention of 4′33″ yet .


They played part of that in BBC Radio 4 yesterday, it was interesting... in context...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07z3bzn

"Michael examines whether it's actually possible to find complete stillness and peace. He says, "Even the two minute silence broadcast every year on 11th November is not completely silent, since it contains all the incipient and suppressed noise of people, breathing, coughing, shifting from foot to foot, a silence broken by the active effort to maintain it."

We hear John Cage's 4'33" as Michael tries to prove the impossibility of silence..."


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Pugg said:


> No response so far....


Did you have to wake the thread up? :lol:


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Definitely this one:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_Slow_as_Possible


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

Pugg said:


> No mention of 4′33″ yet .


Well, this is not necessarily a slow movement. 
It depends upon yourself.
I use to think of it as a rather fast movement.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Most of those short, slow "filler" movements by Handel and Vivaldi before the next fast section of concertos.


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## Scott in PA (Aug 13, 2016)

I love Mahler, but the one work I have difficulty reconciling to is the Third. I find the final (slow) movement dull. It doesn’t sound naturally slow, it sounds like a melody purposely performed in slow motion. Maybe he should have added a ‘nicht schleppend’.

Interesting that during his lifetime, this work was probably Mahler’s most popular with audiences, while they had difficulty with his Fifth and Sixth (works I love).


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Scott in PA said:


> I love Mahler, but the one work I have difficulty reconciling to is the Third. I find the final (slow) movement dull. It doesn't sound naturally slow, it sounds like a melody purposely performed in slow motion. Maybe he should have added a 'nicht schleppend'.
> 
> Interesting that during his lifetime, this work was probably Mahler's most popular with audiences, while they had difficulty with his Fifth and Sixth (works I love).


It's a masterpiece, pure and simple.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Pugg said:


> It's a masterpiece, pure and simple.


Not quite simple, but a masterpiece most definitely! :tiphat:


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Scott in PA said:


> I love Mahler, but the one work I have difficulty reconciling to is the Third. I find the final (slow) movement dull. It doesn't sound naturally slow, it sounds like a melody purposely performed in slow motion. Maybe he should have added a 'nicht schleppend'.


Just imagine if Celibidache had conducted it!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Blancrocher said:


> Just imagine if Celibidache had conducted it!


Or Knappertsbusch.


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

hpowders said:


> Most of those short, slow "filler" movements by Handel and Vivaldi before the next fast section of concertos.


I suppose they were meant for the performers to improvise upon the usually formulaic cadences.
So it is probably a performer-job to give them life.


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## BoggyB (May 6, 2016)

Beethoven's violin concerto and Brahms's first piano concerto spring to mind. I sometimes fantasize about replacing the former movement with one of the two romances. What a concerto that would make!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Scott in PA said:


> I love Mahler, but the one work I have difficulty reconciling to is the Third. I find the final (slow) movement dull. It doesn't sound naturally slow, it sounds like a melody purposely performed in slow motion. Maybe he should have added a 'nicht schleppend'.
> 
> Interesting that during his lifetime, this work was probably Mahler's most popular with audiences, while they had difficulty with his Fifth and Sixth (works I love).


I heard Boulez do it live with the NY Philharmonic and he held this mammoth score together as well as can be done, I imagine. I have to admit that the score is too long. No final movement in a symphony should be that long. Haydn got it right!


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## LOLWUT (Oct 12, 2016)

Scott in PA said:


> I love Mahler, but the one work I have difficulty reconciling to is the Third. I find the final (slow) movement dull. It doesn't sound naturally slow, it sounds like a melody purposely performed in slow motion. Maybe he should have added a 'nicht schleppend'.
> 
> Interesting that during his lifetime, this work was probably Mahler's most popular with audiences, while they had difficulty with his Fifth and Sixth (works I love).


How can one say that? For me it is the greatest music of all time. It is the only piece that has consistently brought me to tears every time I have heard it in concert.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

LOLWUT said:


> How can one say that? For me it is the greatest music of all time. It is the only piece that has consistently brought me to tears every time I have heard it in concert.


Let's hope he / she is just joking.


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## Mal (Jan 1, 2016)

BoggyB said:


> Beethoven's violin concerto and Brahms's first piano concerto spring to mind...


I like these two, at least as performed by Schneiderhahn/Jochum and Serkin/Szell


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## njk345 (Feb 14, 2016)

Oh, definitely the 3rd movement of Berlioz's _Symphonie Fantastique_. I skip over it every time just to get to the march in the 4th movement.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Moon Shine Sonata, movement one.

Don't send me all your cards and letters!

Beethoven had written much better sonatas. He even said so!

Now the THIRD movement is an entirely different matter. Astonishing!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I would also second the third movement of Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique. Doesn't do much for me.

However, I do love a lot of slow movements. Many composers are at their very best in adagios and andantes.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

njk345 said:


> Oh, definitely the 3rd movement of Berlioz's _Symphonie Fantastique_. I skip over it every time just to get to the march in the 4th movement.


I thinks this is a bit harsh, but then again each one his or here's taste.


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## pcnog11 (Nov 14, 2016)

If you follow the story line of Symphonie Fantastique, the 3rd movement is not that boring after all. Maybe because of the 2nd movement is a very good piece by itself. The 3rd movement becomes an anti-climax!


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## pcnog11 (Nov 14, 2016)

For me, there is no boring movement, it is just boring interpretations.


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## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)

Marche funebre, Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony. It's such a protracted letdown after the hell-for-leather first movement. I only listen to the second movement out of an occasional sense of obligation. I have a CD that inadvertently omits half of it; but that does seem unfair.

I once read a brave critic who dared suggest it does run a bit long.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

geralmar said:


> Marche funebre, Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony. It's such a protracted letdown after the hell-for-leather first movement. I only listen to the second movement out of an occasional sense of obligation. I have a CD that inadvertently omits half of it; but that does seem unfair.
> 
> I once read a brave critic who dared suggest it does run a bit long.


Interesting. My vote is Beethoven 5, 2nd movement. One of the few Beethoven movements that I can't stand. A complete letdown after the tremendous finale of the famous first movement. Very trivial sounding themes that do absolutely nothing for me. I get what you say about the 3rd but it's still soooo much better than the 5th.


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## pcnog11 (Nov 14, 2016)

In other words, is boring a relative word? Food for thought!


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

To some, it's a worn out expression, but with particular regard to the arts, it has a pretty clear, if not necessarily scientifically verifiable message: There's no accounting for taste.


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## Retrograde Inversion (Nov 27, 2016)

Anything by Hindemith. As Constant Lambert put it:

"...in his slow movements the lack of any genuine motive force or any genuinely lyrical line is pitilessly shown up."


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Retrograde Inversion said:


> Anything by Hindemith. As Constant Lambert put it:
> 
> "...in his slow movements the lack of any genuine motive force or any genuinely lyrical line is pitilessly shown up."


Point

Counterpoint:


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