# Music you have outgrown



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

There likely has been other threads about this. I can't remember. 

Yesterday I was listening on random mode and a Joaquín Rodrigo piece came up -- the Concierto para un saccarine, or some such. I remember really enjoying this piece when I first came upon it, and I collected all the similar popular Rodrigo works for guitar and orchestra. But now it all seems to me a bit twee as you UK folks say.

Is this a normal progression? If there are any works you have outgrown, are you ever able to return to them or have I lost a big chunk of the repertoire?


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

In a word: Beethoven.

He was my first great musical hero; nowadays I simply can't stand most of his work anymore. I have no idea why. Perhaps it's just a phase.


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

Well, not music I've outgrown, but a pianist I just can't listen to any more: Horowitz. Don't know why, I used to be OK with him, he certainly has the gifts. But these days he sounds so neurotic to me, so mannered, so _je ne sai quoi_. 
Hope this isn't too off-topic.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

In general, no. I still love the warhorses that got me into classical music in the eighties. I also still very much like the pop and rock music I loved when I was 16-30.


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## Guest (Jul 19, 2013)

Considering I'm still very "new" to the classical world, the only piece that's started to wear on me is one of my very first favorites: Corelli's Christmas concerto. Can't even say I've entirely outgrown that yet though.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Ravel's Bolero...as I've gotten older, I find I use it less and less. Maybe I've outgrown it, or maybe I'm shrinking! :lol:


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## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

I second you, millionrainbows. I was obsessed with Bolero as a kid. Then I got bored with it, and I haven't listened to it for years!
Also, I had a strange obsession with the music of Howard Hanson when I was a teenager. I went so far as to try to listen to every single piece he wrote. My grandmother had the score of his second symphony with his autograph on the front page, and I took pictures of it! Well, now...I hardly ever listen to him. It turns out, most of his music isn't really as great as I thought it was at the time.
But I'll still go back and listen to his 4th symphony once in a while. That's a good one.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Not really. I still like some of the music I used to listen to. Maybe just not as much as one time. The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin I used to be obsessed with. Now, not so much but wouldn't mind listening to them occasionally.


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## Eschbeg (Jul 25, 2012)

For me, most Beethoven piano sonatas fall into this category except No. 26, No. 27, and No. 30.

Debussy's _La mer_ used to be one of my favorite pieces in the whole universe, and now it's merely fine.


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

I don't think I've outgrown anything...other than maybe the 15 minutes when Milli Vanilli seemed kind of catchy.

I've grown more into knowing what I like. When I first started really getting into classical music I bought anything and everything. I'm now far more selective. I learned which composers I enjoy listening too and which just don't do much for me.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

I certainly haven't outgrown any classical music. I rarely listen to the music of my youth (rock, soul, pop). It's difficult for me to imagine not enjoying any of the works I now love even if I listen often; however, my listening habits include a huge majority of new or almost new music so I generally don't listen to my favorites often. Maybe if I listened to classical as I did to rock and soul (i.e. single works over and over) certain works would be less pleasurable.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I have grown weary of tons of the '60/'70s rock of my teens... and, more on topic:

Ravel's _Bolero_
Stravinsky's _Le sacre du printemps_ and _Der Feuervogel_
A lot of Stockhausen


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## worov (Oct 12, 2012)

> Well, not music I've outgrown, but a pianist I just can't listen to any more: Horowitz. Don't know why, I used to be OK with him, he certainly has the gifts. But these days he sounds so neurotic to me, so mannered, so je ne sai quoi.
> Hope this isn't too off-topic.


I have the same experience with Gould's recordings of Bach's music. I enjoyed them very much when I discovered them in my early 20's. I was crazy about Gould, I entered into a sort of Gouldomania. Reading Gould biographies, watching some films about him. And some years later, I got bored with him. Now when I listen to his Bach recordings, I don't have the same feeling. It has become too weird, I guess.

I enjoy very much Horowitz's recordings though. Especially his Scarlatti (I'm a Scarlatti fanatic).


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

*Stars and Stripes Forever*

For me it is John Phillips Sousa.

I played in a band when I was in the Army. Badly playing Sousa marches three of four times a week for over two years wreaked Sousa for me for many years.

See also my post: http://www.talkclassical.com/21085-your-ten-favorite-american-5.html#post386351

One of the big Sousa scholars is Keith Brion. He has prepared editions of Sousa's music which are scored the way Sousa performed them. Our band last season performed his edition of _The Thunderer_ and it is quite good. Because of the work of Brion and other Sousa scholars I am rediscovering Sousa. This is one example of HIP that works for me.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I don't think I can say I've outgrown anything truly. Even the Holst's Planets which was one of my first favorites still pleases me, although I avoid it for the sake of overplaying it. Perhaps I've outgrown Mars and Jupiter, but not too much. I'd still love to hear it live if I could one day, along with the other movements.

Last night driving, I heard the Sorceror's Apprentice come on for the umpteenth time on the local classical radio station, and I still love it! I make it into a joke, putting words to it, making funny faces at the really tense sections, etc. :lol:

And I'll always be in Neverland with the Russians! I'll never grow out of them!


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

I doubt that I have outgrown Shostakovitch's symphonies; more likely I've lost the ability to 'resonate' with all that angst and gloom.


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

70s disco music. I was obsessed with that stuff a long time ago


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

Art Rock said:


> In general, no. I still love the warhorses that got me into classical music in the eighties. I also still very much like the pop and rock music I loved when I was 16-30.


Yeh, same with me. If I've liked something for any period of time it's unlikely I'll go completely off it. I want to make music about expanding my taste, not just changing it.


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## Ondine (Aug 24, 2012)

brianvds said:


> In a word: Beethoven.
> 
> He was my first great musical hero; nowadays I simply can't stand most of his work anymore. I have no idea why. Perhaps it's just a phase.


Yes. That's exactly what has happened with me, brianvds. At the moment, is the only one.

It was my very first encounter and experience with classical music. The times of being a teenager.

I remember telling everybody... Oh! listen to this... it's Beethoven! The 'especial' girl that listens to Beethoven.

Now, I just laugh at that.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Some time after I think I've outgrown certain music I only end up rediscovering it.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

I guess I had a small phase with Modernism. Can't believe I bought a Xenakis cd. :uhh: Didn't last long though. And I bought a Coolio album in the 90's. Obviously rap became my most disliked genre since then.


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

I wouldn't say 'outgrown', more like 'put in perspective'.

For me the piece that comes to mind is 1812 Overture and perhaps Tchaikovsy in general. In the earliest days of my classical music listening - we are talking mid-teens, possibly earlier - with the cannons and all, I thought it must be the epitome of classical music and musical expression in general. Now I realize it's more of a one-off bombastic novelty, though just a few weeks ago I happened upon it an open rehearasl of the local orchestra for a July 4 spectacular and it was still a fun listen. For me, and I'm sure for many others, it served as that initial 'hook' into classical music and will always have that sentimental pull.


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## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

Mozart - kid's stuff really


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

bassClef said:


> Mozart - kid's stuff really


If you mean even kids like it, you might have a point there. But the majority of the audience is adults.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

millionrainbows said:


> Ravel's Bolero...as I've gotten older, I find I use it less and less. Maybe I've outgrown it, or maybe I'm shrinking! :lol:


The problem with Bolero is that if you've heard it once, you've heard it a hundred times. 



Ondine said:


> Yes. That's exactly what has happened with me, brianvds. At the moment, is the only one.
> 
> It was my very first encounter and experience with classical music. The times of being a teenager.
> 
> ...


The thing is that I feel a sort of loss and indeed even shame about it. I do not for a moment deny his genius or his stature in music history. But somehow all the stuff he got famous for now seems to me overwrought and self-indulgent. I still enjoy many of his first period works, where there is more music and less Beethoven. All the passion is indeed for teenagers; I just don't have the strength for it anymore.

I have the same problem with blokes like Wagner, Berlioz and Liszt.

Seems like I just don't like it when composers ram too much of themselves into their music. They tend to have egos like a frickin' Zeppelin: huge, but fragile and explosive.

I do go through phases with this stuff though. Perhaps my reverence for the Great B will return in due course.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

I listened to Bach, Mozart and the Beatles a lot when I was a kid (think 5 years old), but these days I find only a few works of Bach and Mozart interest me and I've strongly disliked the Beatles for a very long time.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

neoshredder said:


> If you mean even kids like it, you might have a point there. But the majority of the audience is adults.


I am somewhat in two minds about Mozart. I have, on this very board, confessed to not liking his music very much, but that was an oversimplification. I don't like opera, so I am biased against the poor man. There are many of his works though that to me are quite evergreen.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

brianvds said:


> I am somewhat in two minds about Mozart. I have, on this very board, confessed to not liking his music very much, but that was an oversimplification. I don't like opera, so I am biased against the poor man. There are many of his works though that to me are quite evergreen.


I assume you've heard his Piano Concertos, Symphonies, Piano Sonatas, Violin Sonatas, and etc? I'm not much of an Opera fan either. Mozart did a heck of a lot more than just Operas.


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## Feathers (Feb 18, 2013)

Sometimes I'm not sure if I've outgrown something or I've just grown to like other things relatively more. 

The first thing that I can think of that I've outgrown is Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. When I first heard it, I knew very little classical music (or any music in general), and I thought it was absolutely magnificent. Now, meh.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

neoshredder said:


> I assume you've heard his Piano Concertos, Symphonies, Piano Sonatas, Violin Sonatas, and etc? I'm not much of an Opera fan either. Mozart did a heck of a lot more than just Operas.


Those are precisely the Mozart works that I like, or at least some of it. Also the two symphonies concertante (would that be the correct plural?). I am less enamored of his string quartets - for some reason, classical period string quartets sound kind of "dry and scratchy" to me.


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## Ondine (Aug 24, 2012)

brianvds said:


> I don't like opera,[...]


The same here briandvds, but those of Mozart are really set apart. Give a chance to the Idomeneo. Is my favourite one.

Not being a fan of vocal music -except for medieval polyphony-, Mozart's vocal music is outstanding. His masses, one by one, are monumental and nothing to do with solemnity.


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## TrevBus (Jun 6, 2013)

CHOPIN, CHOPIN and again CHOPIN. Don't know about "outgrown" but just can't really enjoy his music. I'm not sure I ever did.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I hate to say I've outgrown anything; not only does it sound bigheaded, it sounds callous - like chucking an old teddy in the dustbin ... oh well, yes, maybe 'The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy'...


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Ondine said:


> Give a chance to the Idomeneo.


THAT piece! A young man trying to impress beyond his ability. Too much spice... too may notes!

{Bonus points if you know where the above quote is from... :angel: }


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## Jobis (Jun 13, 2013)

brianvds said:


> THAT piece! A young man trying to impress beyond his ability. Too much spice... too may notes!
> 
> {Bonus points if you know where the above quote is from... :angel: }


I'd hope most people on here had seen amadeus.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

I don't outgrow, but I have been known to grow into.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Jobis said:


> I'd hope most people on here had seen amadeus.


I haven't seen Amadeus. I've seen a bunch of his operas though.


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## Geo Dude (May 22, 2013)

bigshot said:


> I don't outgrow, but I have been known to grow into.


That could also be an interesting topic of discussion. You've mentioned growing into Bach in the past; have you grown into any other composers?


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## Guest (Jul 19, 2013)

I've outgrown the hyper complexity of Fernyhough, Barrett, Dillon, et al...I need more melody these days. Dissonance is fine: I just don't want to need a PhD in mathematics to appreciate music!


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Most music from 1750 to 1900. With the exception of Beethoven's late period.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

aleazk said:


> Most music from 1750 to 1900. With the exception of Beethoven's late period.


Beethoven's late period is hard to get into. I find his middle period the most accessible.


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## Garlic (May 3, 2013)

Limp Bizkit
Linkin Park
Blink 182
Coldplay
Eminem

I was very proud of my eclectic taste


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Eminem was one of those artists I loved to hate. Glad you've outgrown that.


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## Garlic (May 3, 2013)

neoshredder said:


> Beethoven's late period is hard to get into. I find his middle period the most accessible.


I found Beethoven's late works much easier to get into than his early or middle period (or Mozart for that matter)


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

Garlic said:


> I found Beethoven's late works much easier to get into than his early or middle period (or Mozart for that matter)


I found this to be my experience as well. I'm grateful, though, that I ultimately came to appreciate the earlier works and composers every bit as much.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Garlic said:


> I found Beethoven's late works much easier to get into than his early or middle period (or Mozart for that matter)


Beethoven's middle period consisted of Symphonies 3-8. I'll take any of those Symphonies over the overhyped Symphony 9. All his String Quartets are tough to get into. But the late ones especially. I just don't get what's so special about his late music. It's a mystery for me I guess. His middle period is Tchaikovsky like. His early period still had the sound of the Classical Era (Haydn and Mozart).


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

I like Beethoven's late quartets, I find them to be highly imaginative and intense. I'm not a fan of the 9th symphony, but then I don't really like Beethoven's orchestral music anyway.


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

The interesting thing is that I haven't outgrown anything. I definitely go through "phases" where I become preoccupied with a specific composer or genre (recently I went through a major Weber obsession), but I haven't discarded any of the music I've liked in the past. My library keeps getting bigger, but I haven't outgrown any of it.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

I've outgrown those little picture-disc records from childhood: "Little Brown Jug," Tubby the Tuba, The Little Firemen, Claude Rains reciting "David and Goliath" at 16 RPM...


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

This: 




I liked them in middle school. Now they just seem like a hip-hoppish boy band. And for some reason, there's this one part where they don't change the background harmony along with the implied harmony in the vocals. It's around 0:57, maybe some of you can pick up on it, or maybe I'm just crazy.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

violadude said:


> This:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I think you're looking for harmony in a piece that is, essentially contrapuntal and rhythmic. Harmonically, it does sound odd.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Geo Dude said:


> That could also be an interesting topic of discussion. You've mentioned growing into Bach in the past; have you grown into any other composers?


Sibelius, Ives, Brahms, chamber music in general. I could probably think of more.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Haven't "grown up" from any of it, my taste in music has simply grown and expanded to include music of other brilliant composers throughout history.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Haven't "grown up" from any of it, my taste in music has simply grown and expanded to include music of other brilliant composers throughout history.


 *Ligeti*? *Mendelssohn*? Hardly mentioned from you nowadays.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

neoshredder said:


> *Ligeti*? *Mendelssohn*? Hardly mentioned from you nowadays.


Doesn't mean I don't still love their music.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Except for my very short "metal", "punk" and "Italo disco" phases in the past, I don't think I've outgrown any other music.


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

DeepR said:


> Except for my very short "metal", "punk" and "Italo disco" phases in the past, I don't think I've outgrown any other music.


I grew to like all those more later while not obviously outgrowing classical.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

"Outgrown" was about the third word I tried in this thread and maybe that isn't what I'm experiencing. It could be just a case of not wanting sweet nostalgic music in this chapter of my life. 

I have never entirely outgrown my rock or pop obsessions from my youth other than the silly ritual posturing of metal. I still love a good doomy power chord though.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

I love nostalgia, I never let go of old memories and old music I used to listen to years and years ago. Listening to Mozart's horn concertos brings back a flood of memories from when I was about 8 years old. They were the first pieces of music I really began to understand and listen to attentively, they were my favourite pieces of music at the time and I still like listening to them!


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