# Pieces that went in another direction than you'd hoped for.



## Kajmanen (Jun 30, 2017)

I was listening to Sibelius Tempest Suite No.2 Dance of The Nymphs. Loved the elegant melody that were introduced early on but when you'd think he expand on that theme he just changed the chords to a much less fitting one in my personal opinion.

Starts at 0.27 and the odd change occurs 6-7 secs later.






Now, what pieces do you like but ends up not as you'd hoped for or expected?


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

The big theme in V Williams wasps overture is not fully expanded and resolved in the coda - it is cut dead in its tracks just as it is about to sweep all before it. shame


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I believe that was a minor to major chord change (back to a previously used one), and then goes back to the minor. It happens again around 1:15, except this time it seems to dwell in the minor chord longer. It is a dance, so it is not supposed to get muddled up by expanding too much, and it keeps its rhythm throughout. The change came as a bit of a surprise, and I think it was intended to throw your anticipation off. I've gotten my way sometimes, where the music went the way I wanted it to go, but it actually becomes boring, and less satisfying on repeated listenings


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Tchaikovsky's 1st Piano Concerto starts out with that sweeping melody that made it famous, then it saunters off and never picks it up again.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

In William Waltons "Belshazzar's Feast," the opening of the processional of the gods of metals begin so magisterially, and then devolves into complete banality in half a dozen measures or so. It laughably exempilfies what a fine line can exist between the two.


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

The death of that wonderful cello melody killed Dvořák for me.


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

The most beautiful little passage starts at about 11:35 and then leaves within a couple of minutes. But maybe that's what makes it beautiful: he doesn't grab onto it and exploit it.


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## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

I think this thread is interesting in light of your recent topics. When I was first trying to get my dad into classical music I caught his attention with Haydn's fifths quartet, and so I played him this one as well.






His first impression could be a response to this thread; he liked the dark and aggressive opening, but after those first 15 or so seconds he was disappointed to hear the music start shifting to other emotions. He had similar reactions to some other things that I played him over time. And when I was first exploring classical music I also reacted the exact same way to that exact same piece, and similarly to many other pieces (and still do sometimes. I'm not at all trying to imply that the OP is just listening to Sibelius's piece incorrectly). But eventually Haydn's quartet and many of the other problem-pieces grew on me.

I think it took time for classical music's emphasis on change to grow on me. Much of my favorite videogame/film music, and especially rock/pop, seemed to be about enticing the listener with a single emotion or melody and then just emphasizing that same emotion throughout. Mood shifts would occur, but not to the same extent as they seemed to in classical music, where pieces seemed to become whole other things entirely for long periods; there was a sense of security I enjoyed in music that _didn't_ do that. But the more I kept listening the more development sections started growing on me.

I still tend to go through a betrayal phrase when I discover a new theme or melody that I like and it starts changing when the piece gets going. Part of you wants to just enjoy that phrase over and over again the way it is, but I've gotten over this hurdle and learned to like the changes enough times that I can usually trust that phase to pass and let me love the rest of it. I've felt just like the OP about moments like that in countless pieces and then come to change my mind a little bit later.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I'm not coming up with my own examples at the moment, but I think that Sibelius work in the OP above is charming! I love that it wanders around in unexpected directions. It's like revealing other paths we're not going to be taking. I recall thinking Beethoven did this quite a bit, but I just can't seem to access the specific piece(s).


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Portamento said:


> The death of that wonderful cello melody killed Dvořák for me.


One of my favourite chamber works! But the melody comes back on the piano at 1:30 and then onto the violin, and again on cello at 4:10. If the melody kept with the cello with only slight variation, and without development of other ideas, this wouldn't be a piano quintet, but turn into video game or film music 

Eg. Something like this:


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