# Worst orchestral pieces (in your opinion)



## atmplayspiano

What are the WORST pieces of orchestral music that you've ever heard?
-No, atonal doesn't necessarily mean bad.
-This is just for fun; of course calling something "the worst" is subjective.
Come up with some awful ideas!:lol:


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## Mahlerian

I've always loathed this one...


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## KenOC

To me, the worst pieces are those that cause me to buy yet more recordings of them that I don't really need...at all. Beethoven is a prime offender.


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## hpowders

Beethoven's Wellington's Victory. Uninspired.


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## Cheyenne

Mahlerian said:


> I've always loathed this one...


Ha, 'loathed' is the wrong word! -- it is so uninspired, so utterly destitute of imagination, of any value whatsoever, that is can hardly inspire such passionate emotions! I top my hat to anyone that can get through it. Wellington's Victory is very passable in that regard; it can at least keep your attention -- it is banal but brief.


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## atmplayspiano

Yes! Keep the questionable inspiration coming! Yes, Wellington's Victory is pretty bad, I once heard a version with real gunshots. It was awful. However, Beethoven can **** better than anybody can think.


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## EdwardBast

I took the question to mean works one might be subjected to more or less by accident because some orchestra programmed them amid more worthy fare. _Penthesilea_ by Hugo Wolf is really bad. I had to excuse myself from the hall near the end because I could no longer restrain my impulse to laugh out loud.


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## atmplayspiano

Mahlerian said:


> I've always loathed this one...


Oh, god. That was basically every Strauss climax piled on top of each other. Such saccharine writing makes me sick after 14 minutes. Somebody should do a Concert from Hell including this, Wellington's Victory, and the god-awful American Centennial music by Wagner.


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## brotagonist

I have spent so much time seeking out great music and rejecting other music that didn't appeal (frequently unfairly, only to realize to my astonishment years later how wonderful it really is), that I couldn't name anything.

Of course, there are several composers I am not (currently) drawn to, but it would be unfair to call their works the worst pieces on that basis alone.


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## dgee

Light Cavalry, Dance of the Hours, 1812, Bolero, Schubert 9, Shos 7 and Dante Symphony all sound like crud to me - maybe not "worst" but I don't want to have to hear any of them ever again


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## Alfacharger

Is it a joke? A parody of Mahler? Who knows, but I nominate Otto Klemperer's Second Symphony.


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## scratchgolf

dgee said:


> Light Cavalry, Dance of the Hours, 1812, Bolero, Schubert 9, Shos 7 and Dante Symphony all sound like crud to me - maybe not "worst" but I don't want to have to hear any of them ever again


Dear lord. I'm listening to Schubert 9 as we speak. One of my favorite pieces on earth. I completely agree with you on Shostakovich 7 and Bolero though. Bolero makes me want to commit slow suicide with dull nail clippers.


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## Arsakes

hpowders said:


> Beethoven's Wellington's Victory. Uninspired.


I like military themed overtures. Even those belong to Wagner.


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## Arsakes

From those I know better... Symphonies of Brahms 2, Korsakov 3, Dvorak 4, Mahler 10, Bruckner 9 and Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto. + first 24 Mozart symphonies!


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## violadude

Arsakes said:


> From those I know better... Symphonies of Brahms 2, Korsakov 3, Dvorak 4, Mahler 10, Bruckner 9 and Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto. + first 24 Mozart symphonies!


Wow! There's some really great worst orchestral works in that list!


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## omega

Langgaard's late symphonies. How could the genius who wrote _The Music of the Spheres_ fall into mediocrity with such pompous, purposeless, noisy symphonies?
I've never paid great attention to Tchaikovsk's _1812 Ouverture_. Some people seem to assume it's one of the best works of classical music. I think it is terribly monotonous, and it ends like a big "show-off" session, with lots of noise but no real substance...

By the way, is it human to dislike Mahler's 10th ?


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## Haydn man

1812 overture is my pet hate
It seems bloated and clumsy to me


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## Richannes Wrahms

omega said:


> By the way, is it human to dislike Mahler's 10th ?


Well, if the 9th is the final goodbye to life then the 10th might be death itself*. A lot of humans are afraid of it, but as one gets tired of the endless repetition of motifs in the 9th...

*all this is of course romanticized nonsense proper of a bbc music programme...


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## Rach d minor

My least favorite is any symphony by Dimitri Shostakovich especially no.5 the last movement of which I'm playing in school. (Sometimes I feel like my ears are bleeding)


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## dgee

Rach d minor said:


> My least favorite is any symphony by Dimitri Shostakovich especially no.5 the last movement of which I'm playing in school. (Sometimes I feel like my ears are bleeding)


Well, the end of 5 is oddly crummy, but he had a sort of purpose. Look it up on google! Anyway, that endless D major will be a bit tough on most ears - if your playing career progresses you will play symphonies with much more nuanced finales


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## Rach d minor

I understand Shostakovich's purpose but that doesn't mean I have to like his music
(I actually find dissonance to be physically painful and Shostakovich has a lot if it)


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## dgee

Rach d minor said:


> I understand Shostakovich's purpose but that doesn't mean I have to like his music
> (I actually find dissonance to be physically painful and Shostakovich has a lot if it)


Ouch! If Shostakovich makes you feel yucky you should probably quit playing. The professional scene has no room for players who cant handle something as elementary as the finale of shos 5!


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## Rach d minor

It's school orchestra I can't/don't want to quit, besides we're also playing some very nice pieces


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## Rach d minor

At the risk of sounding immodest, I am a very capable violinist as well and I have the skill to play most anything an orchestra would come across including Shostakovich I just don't like listening to it


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## Vaneyes

hp beat me to it, but I'll add LvB's Choral Fantasy, Dvorak Piano Concerto. :tiphat::tiphat:


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## hpowders

Vaneyes said:


> hp beat me to it, but I'll add LvB's Choral Fantasy, Dvorak Piano Concerto. :tiphat::tiphat:


Yes. The Choral Fantasy is simply awful. What a disgraceful hodgepodge, given the source.


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## MagneticGhost

There are some superb works being listed as rubbish here.
I adore Shosty's 5th from beginning to end. 
And the 1812 is as tasty and nutritious-free as a big mac. Yes, I wouldn't want one everyday, but as a treat it's great. Great feelgood tunes and all.
And the Adagio of Mahler's 10th is my favourite Adagio ever written.


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## Varick

Mahlerian said:


> I've always loathed this one...


Yes, this piece makes me cry too. Oops, sorry, wrong thread!

V


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## brotagonist

I don't know if it is the worst piece ever, but the piece that has come to represent and sound (the verb, to sound) classical music at its worst south of the border: Philip Glass' _Koyaanisqatsi_. I first heard it in the '70s, I believe, when it first came out. Ever since, whenever I hear that sound (the noun this time)--typical in compositions by Philip Glass, John Adams, Steve Reich to a lesser degree, and others--I am instantly turned off.


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## arpeggio

*J. William Middendorf*

J. William Middendorf _Symphony No. ?_.

I can not remember which one but he composed a bunch of them. I remember playing it and it was awful.


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## Bradius

I really like Koyanisquatsi. After I first heard it, I was so impressed, I rented the movie. Liked that too.


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