A year is not nearly long enough. I am pretty sure that a normal human lifespan is not long enough for me to have pushed the reset button for the Tchaikovsky 1st concerto, for just one of many examples I could give.

Just reading that made me want to seek out some kind of pharmaceutical calming agents.

It was a wonderful concerto, for the first few thousand times I heard it (I am exaggerating the number only a little, I think). Now, through no fault of Mendelssohn, it has become an instrument of torture. And particularly during that Twilight Zone of the classical music world known in the US as "drive time music".

On the one hand, I don't think there's a limit to the number of times I could listen to this with pleasure. On the other, I'm sure there's other interesting stuff I could be listening to instead.

I can't see why it would actually evoke a vomit response.

Well nothing is overplayed if it is played well.

We have two classical radio stations in my area. One is a small private station that serves our fairly wealthy community of retired people. The other is the large public station WHRO, that serves a metro area of perhaps 1.5-2 million people.

The small private station could best be described as the classical version of Golden Oldies. I suspect they play Williams' Thomas Tallis Fantasia at least once per week. Ditto for the Concierto de Aranjuez, the Water Music (or Fireworks), the Hallelujah Chorus .... you get the picture. I'll bet the station has never played a single work by John Adams, let alone Ken Fuchs. This is a perfectly normal response to their "base." Now, "I" may find the tastes of that group rather pedestrian, but even I like the "Classical Top 50" on occasion. And if I get bored with what's on, I can easily turn the dial to ....

WHRO, on the other hand, mixes things up quite a bit more. And if you go onto the WHRO digital service you can find downright obscure stuff!

I guess that means, then, that all the overplayed stuff is never played well.

What's odd is that I bet a lot of pianists don't even know those two pieces. (And probably don't know who composed the second or which Williams composed the first.)

Then to that crowd I guess they're not overplayed.

I imagine you could probably add the Barber 'Adagio'?

The classical music station in my area, KING-FM, plays its share of 'box office' selections, but every now and then we'll get something completely out of the way, and often most enjoyable! (Even John Adams.)

Sunday mornings can be a real treasure trove: I've heard Haydn string quartets, Schubert sonatas, and recently Spohr's delectable Nonet.

I'm still fairly new to classical music (I didn't develop an interest until much, much later in my life), and I read this section of Piano Forms because I have very little interaction with anyone in the classical music world other than my teacher. I learn a lot here. Some dances of the Bach Partita that I am learning take my breathe away, but I bet it's old news to everyone here. It would help me to know which pieces experienced pianists consider in the "classical top 100." Is there a list of the "standard repertoire" that someone could direct me to? I have a lot of leeway in the music I choose to learn and I would like to know what pieces everyone else knows in such a way as to be considered an over-familiarity with them. Piano is a culture unto itself and I would like to get up to speed. However, even I know that Fur Elise is overplayed.

, well certainly not at a professional piano recital! (BTW, I'm surprised Godowsky didn't have a go at it- can you imagine the contrapuntal horrors he would have inflicted upon its innocence?)

But otherwise, it seems a bit unfair to dump on Fur Elise. It's a neat little piece, and usually the first Beethoven a young student studies along with those wonderful sonatinas in F & G.

I well remember studying Fur Elise as a young boy- here I was actually playing a composition by the composer who wrote that overwhelming 5th symphony... which I did know (somewhat) back then. And can you imagine my delight when I was ready for the Op 49 sonatas?

Speaking of contrapuntal fur elise!...the other day, my friend and I were in a room with 2 pianos and randomly decided to play fur elise in a round. It sounded really really strange, but not all that bad haha

is Michelangelo's David over'watched', is Tom Sawyer over'read', is the smell of roses over'inhaled', are good works of art/nature ever over'enjoyed'? I don't think so, are some of those badly played/represented: yes, but that is an other story...

If Lang Lang plays it...

Michelangelo's David is definitely a cliche. And anyway, how many people go see it enough times to become satiated with looking at it, which would be the closest analogy to music being overplayed? I think you are confusing the individual's experience of one work of art many times with the fact that a work of art may be experienced by many people.

And I think that most of us who do have the feeling that something is overplayed also realize that it's highly dependent on the actual music - some things bear endless repetition better than others.

I can't even listen to it once, haha!