Well I certainly celebrate Easter. (And I got paid nicely for that church service. )

I don't think there was a serious problem here. It was more of a learning experience. I was just frustrated by a performance which caused me to question Schubert's genius. This does happen: I've heard performances of Wagner operas which have disappointed me so much.

But think too, of the great Franz Liszt: hard to think of another composer who can be so sabotaged by inept performances.

it's no cure, i think!

btw, i got bored learning Schubert Impromptu in Gb major before and never seemed to be able to finish it, and finally my teacher told me to drop it. but maybe it's not as boring as that minute waltz, i guess.

My thanks to carey from Phoenix for suggesting more than a cursory study of the works of Schubert ... but as the grand old saying goes ... you can lead a horse to water but ...

Good to hear that fan made a lot of lolly doing his accompanying stint at the Easter service ... wonder if Schubert’s Ave Maria ascended the rafters?

PS Kind regards to Jim Webb for his "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" ... which has got nothing to do with the price of cheese ... sorry chaps.

I thought the most boring music on the planet was compositions by Philip Glass

Philip Glass gave a recital of (his?) piano music here this past Saturday. I don't know what he played because I didn't go. I wonder if I missed a stellar opportunity to hear one of the great composers of our time - or not?

Regards,

Someone gave me a CD of his, needless to say it was very repetitious. It just didn't speak to me.

LOL, that was the first thing I thought of when I read the title of this thread. The next thing was Yanni.

I love a lot of Schubert: the late sonatas, the quintet, the piano trios. But my single favorite Schubert piece is the Gb impromptu. To each his own.

The Eb impromptu holds a specific, personal, intense symbolic meaning for me: It was in trying to play this piece, teeth gritted, arm tensed and determined to play it fast no matter what, that I injured my arm 10 years ago. One day, perhaps, with proper guidance, when I've re-developed my technique with supple, smooth control, I will learn it the right away.

-Jason

Yes, Schubert's music requires definite musical skills to pull off since there is a lot of repetition. Schumann's music is very similar in this respect. There is nothing and I mean NOTHING in the world worse then sitting through an unimaginative performance of Kreisleriana. It is one of those pieces (as are many of the Schubert sonatas) that needs an inspired, absolutely first class interpretation. Anything less is just disastrous.

I quickly checked if someone had mentioned it because I wanted to mention it myself... It IS boring...

Boring = new age/minimalist

Cage just gave me an idea for a painting....

Minimalist painting has been done. This beauty cost my government 1.8 million.

By no means does new age equate with minimalism !

-Jason

The last time I heard any Yanni I fell asleep so quickly that I don't recall if it was boring or not.

Well yes and no- though I basically understand where you're coming from. When I was a student I saw a performance of Satyagraha. I fully admit I wasn't expecting to like it, but somehow it worked. It had a cumulative affect on me which is hard to describe, though I don't know that it could have worked a second time for me.

What has worked for me, however, is Glass's soundtrack to Powaqqatsi. I cannot recommend this music highly enough, and if you think you will never like Glass, then please give this a try!

I bought a used CD of his because someone here at PW kept raving about him. It had some lovely moments but, as you say, it was very repetitious. He's off my list.

Schubert - I run hot and cold. I'm very fond of his 5th Symphony and you can't beat the Fantasie in F minor for 4 hands - very poignant. I love Impromptu #3 opus 90. Much of the rest: yawn.

When I was in high school in the early 1960s, my folks gave me an Angel recording of Richter playing the Wanderer Fantasy and the A Major Sonata Opus 120. Absolutely beautiful performances of two great piano compositions. Almost 50 years later I still have that LP - and I've listened to it hundreds of times (scratches and all). Richter's interpretations of these works made an indelible impression on me...and inspired me to further pursue my piano studies in college. Ten years later I played the Fantasy myself in recital (a personal goal).

All of the great composers wrote occasional "clunkers" - but when they struck gold....WOW !!!

Well I came to my present devotion to Schubert rather late (except for the Lieder - those I've always loved), within the last 15 years or so. But the string quintet? The late sonatas? Winterreise? Boring??? Very sad.

[edit to add:]carey - ah, that Richter recording of the Wanderer!!

I was thinking of a BLANK canvas.... Just kidding... But who knows, maybe this has really already been done too. Nothing surprises me more these days....

It was done long ago, in 1951, by Robert Rauschenberg. Rauschenberg's "White" paintings were a catalyst for Cage to write his famous piece.

Kyle Gann's new book on 4'33" came out just a couple of weeks ago, and it looks interesting.

My government did the same thing about 30 years ago with this painting that cost $1 million dollars, and everyone thought they were crazy. The papers had a field day talking about the excess of the government and the national gallery. The painting in question was once called Blue Poles by a fellow named Jackson Pollock. As it turns out the piece is probably worth in excess of $60 million dollars, and it is a stunning piece, which I was fortunate enough to see again on the weekend. All in all, I think that your government could well have made a wise investment!

M

AND disgusting? Try anything by Ornette Coleman. He makes my colon clench. And then twice over because he has actually sold albums without bothering to compose a melody!

Now, now- tut tut! Coleman has been an extremely influential saxophonist, yet I'll be the first to admit that his music isn't for everyone. Sometimes I just don't 'get' where he's coming from, but if the time and mood are right... wow.

That's funny. And what does composing a melody have to do with anything, anyway?

I don't know much of Coleman's output, but a couple of videos of him on YouTube that I came across were so exciting and inspiring to me that I started thinking of trying to compose some music (classical, not jazz) that was directly influenced by what he and his band were doing.

Oh, Ornette Coleman is fantastic. His album Song X (with Pat Metheny) was very influential to me.

One thing I've learned on this forum: someone saying "I really like X" is more useful, and carries more information, than someone saying "I really don't like X". It makes sense, because we usually know a lot more about what we like than what we don't like.

-Jason

Man if you don't like Ornette, try Cecil Taylor. I shudder to think how your ears will react to that!

I googled that painting and it looks considerably more complicated than a huge red stripe. Well, maybe some artists can enlighten me. But IMO the only reason why our red stripe would ever appreciate would be the notoriety that it got from the amount of money we spent on it. There's even a book published about it.

The equivalent in musical terms would be charging everyone full price tickets to hear Murray Perahia, and then he sits down and plays 4'33" and leaves. No encore. Sure, it's a famous artist and all...but it's still just a red stripe.

Fortunately, that will never happen and not just because it's a bit far-fetched, but because Perahia doesn't/won't play anything much more "contemporary" than Bartok.

I have met Mr. Perahia (he looks quite different than his album covers- he could use a bit of a fashion make-over) and he struck me as a very humble, honest man. He simply plays music which he finds most congenial and conducive to his immense talent. (A CD some years back of Franck and Liszt suggested that he was experimenting. It wasn't a great CD, IMO.)

Fortunately there are pianists who are more adventurous, and we are all the more richer for that.

Do you remember when some contemporary composer (and I think she was female!) got all bent out of shape when Horowitz had the nerve to programme a Clementi sonata? She wondered why Horowitz was ignoring the music of the present, something along those lines. Horowitz most likely ignored the assault. He knew what he could 'rewrite' best!