10 Works I Still Don't "Get" 

Parsifal is easy to dismiss. It has none of the bells and whistles of other operas; moreover, it's like watching paint dry. But I discovered over the years, that is precisely what Wagner had in mind: He wanted as few distraction from his gossamer waves of music as possible. Parsifal is the greatest 5-hour musical meditation ever written. Forget the story; forget the producation; and for the most part, you can even forget the singing. Bathe in the liminal light of one of humankind's greatest gifts to the ear and soul: A full orchestra given over to Parsifal's spell.

On Parsifal, when it premiered in the UK at the beginning of the 20th Century, a critic wrote that “Parsifal is the kind of opera where you sit down for a performance that starts at 6.00 PM and, after three hours, you look at your watch and it is 6.15 PM”. I love Parsifal and I get it, but I admit that II is not for everybody.

I think a talk about which composers have and haven’t benefited from posthumously published work would be really interesting.

When you mentioned the Brahms string quartets, I nearly jumped out of my seat. I feel SEEN. I adore his chamber music but I check out any time his quartets are on. Thank you.

Someone once wrote about a work by John Adams that he listened to it while driving on a long trip and hated it, but decided to play it over again and felt a little better about it, so he replayed it again and again until he came to enjoy it. So I tried it on Bartok's Fourth String Quartet. Drove across West Virginia and part of Kentucky before giving up. Maybe I'll try again someday...

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1295">21:35</a> - “It encapsulates everything I don’t like about Bach…” Look over your left shoulder, Dave, he’s staring at you RIGHT NOW!

Some years ago I saw Parsifal in Paris and London on successive evenings. Covent Garden was my home venue but I finished my Paris appointment with plenty of time so off I went to the Bastille performance. It's a deeply moving work that explores pain, dying, rebirth, the cycle of life. One of the wondrous things about Wagner is that before he wrote an opera he constructed a new musical language, and this is so evident here. It adds greatly to the holy grail artworks, and I'm confident that Dave will one day tell us how essential it is.

Hello David, I'm not sure what the best venue is to express my deep thanks to you for the sheer joy you have provided me over the last few weeks, since I first discovered your RU-vid talks, but I'll do it here. I love your sense of joy in music, first of all. Beyond the joy, however, is the sheer amount of information you provide. And, yes, the humor. Yes to the wonderful humor that pervades all of your talks, and in keeping with the humor, is an incredibly balanced view you have about music in general: it’s not there to make us smarter or feed our self-importance, or make us feel better than others: it is there to enrich us with joy. Adding all this together is the cumulative value that your talks have given me an insight about how to think “at all” about music. Emerson (or Thoreau, can never remember which) once said that a poet is the person who says what we have been thinking all along but were unable to articulate or express it. And, voila!, that’s where you come in. You have truly provided a whole bunch of aha moments where I thought, Yes, that’s what I’ve been trying to say! So, I guess you are my honorary poet. That’s not a bad distinction, right? Here’s an example. You mentioned in your discussion of Eroica recordings something about Beethoven writing his symphonies organically. That helped me with something I have been wondering for decades, which is this: why do I love Beethoven as a composer? I mean, he couldn’t write a tune to save his life. (Yes, he wrote the Ode to Joy tune, but that’s about it. This may also explain why Beethoven couldn’t write an opera. Incidentally, I am above all an opera lover and I couldn’t agree more with you about Fidelio being so much less than the sum of its parts). Nor is Beethoven considered a master orchestrator - I mean, nobody puts him in the same breath as Ravel or Rimsky-Korsakov or Berlioz, do they? So what makes Beethoven Beethoven? You gave the answer with the word organic: Beethoven is trying to say something with his music that goes beyond a key signature, or correct sonata form, or whatever. Now, I suppose lots of composers are preachy (what was Schoenberg if not preachy?), so I guess there still has to be more of an answer than I have so far, but you got me thinking in a productive way. Somehow, Beethoven was able to channel his humanitarian impulses in a musically powerful way that others have simply failed to do. Another by the way: I love the Eroica, but I also love Symphonies 4 and 8; it’s the 6th I could happily do without. Here’s another for instance. You helped explain to me why, as an opera lover, I have never been able to warm to either Eugene Onegin or Pique Dame. Your suggestion with regard to Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations (I hope I took it in the right direction) is that Tchaikovsky was trying to channel the classical era. Aha, I said, that’s why I don’t respond to Onegin, because I like Tchaikkovsky the barnstorming composer, not the Tchaikovsky who tried to write like Mozart. Thank you also for your thoughts about what makes music spiritual in your talk on Bruckner’s 7th. By the way, when I was in high school (many, many moons ago) I bought an LP of Ormandy’s Bruckner 7 (on the same day I bought Ormandy’s Mahler #1 with the Blumine movement). Because I enjoyed that recording, I felt obligated to have high regard for everything else Bruckner wrote. Thanks for relieving me of that burden. Your neighing horses for Bruckner, by the way, are phenomenal! I still do like movements 1 and 2 of the Bruckner 7 and the opening movement of his 4th. As it happens (I save the dangerous confessions for last) I am a big Solti fan. Even here, though, I listen carefully to you and consider seriously what you say. I totally agree, for instance, that Solti could only perform fluff as fluff. I was shocked to find out that he even recorded Rossini overtures! I was also shocked, in a different way, by your mention of the concert where Solti got lost during a performance of Rite of Spring. Amazing! I never would have believed he could be sloppy. Thank you again for your fabulous videos.

Not surprised that "Parsifal" makes this list. I love it but cannot feel surprised when others find it intolerable. The Transformation music -- hell, everything in the Grail castle -- is like the last act of "2001: A Space Odyssey": Either it sends you on a mystic journey into unnameable realms, or it just annoys the hell out of you.

Dear Dave, your description of the Bach anxiety and feeling of "chase" is EXACTLY why I love this keyboard piece, cos that's the point of it. It's like someone's lost inside a labyrinth, chased by the Minotaur. I'd 'score' a suspence film with it🙂 It is a very interesting idea to post on pieces we( all individually) not 'get',though. And it is absolutely profound when that light-bulb turns on when/if we eventually DO feel we get it. As a performer it's like solving a puzzle. finally. a great feeling.

It made me laugh that even though Dave doesn't get Carnaval, he still has " a couple of dozen versions lying around" ! A great talk, esp on Parsifal and FIdelio

The Leonard Rose (Ormandy?) recording of the Rococo Variations changed my reaction completely. I could listen to this over and over.

Such interesting choices. I cannot imagine my life without the Schumann Carnaval. I've been known to walk down the street singing the entire thing. I was just listening to it before I started watching this video.

Great stuff! You made me remember the day I first heard Van Beinum's 1958 Concertgebouw recording of the Water Musick that I'd never "got" before and like you wondered how the must have sounded on the Thames (certainly not like that), sitting there spellbound, and now I do. It's fascinating what a single performance can do for one's appreciation of music one hardly had the patience to sit through before.

Laughed out loud...thank you!

Taken as a whole, I have to agree about Fidelio...but there are some really great moments contained within; the prisoner's chorus, for one, has always moved me on a deep level

Almost all the music of Delius. I remember a man telling the story of another man playing on the piano a song called something like 'All those wasted years', and crying his heart out while playing it. And I thought, it that was me it would have been me crying about all those years of listening time wasted as I was listening over and over again to Delius hoping it would eventually grow on me, but it never would. Fortunately I wisely decided to let Delius pass me - it is just not for me.

Thanks for your wonderful channel and another utterly enjoyable video (including, as usual, some interesting and/or entertaining/delightfully controversial surprises). As for the Rachmaninoff sonata, I fell completely in love with it upon listening to Horowitz’ rendition in my late teens. And my response at that point was solely of an immediate, emotional kind. Later on I ended up performing it a lot. Admittedly, I consider it to be a monothematic masterpiece in a style verging on something Scriabinish. In my mind it simply is one of Rachmaninoff’s crowning achievements, also intellectually, his B minor sonata, as it were. I somehow prefer the first version, as it rolls out the material more satisfactorily, but like quite a few others, I have also applied a combination of the two.

I love hearing big time classical music lovers admitting they don't get certain works that others froth over. We all have them!

Being part of the choir in Mozart's Requiem was my very first (!) major musical experience/performance, so it obviously blew me away, and it's a piece that will always be close to my heart. However, listening to it now, I can most definitely recognize how clunky and "weird" it is. So even though I personally like it, I won't fault you for disliking it.

What I like about this video is that your opinion is based on listening to the works extensively, rather than dismissing them out of hand. Completely with you on the Elgar!

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but the performance of the Bach BWV 1052 by Edwin Fischer is glorious, if very pianistic.

For me it's the slow movement of the Elgar that lets the cello concerto down (and Sir Ed. could usually turn in a good adagio). Just when you think a poignant tune is about to emerge it collapses into a few trite sequences and ends with what sounds like a slowed down version of "We ain't got a barrel of money". The scherzo could do with a bit more melodic interest too.

Berg's Piano Sonata sounded mechanical and cold until Glenn Gould played it. He gave it a Gustav Klimt sheen which worked very well for me.

I was thrown into the deep end with "Parsifal". I had an insane German Lit professor who showed us Syberberg's insane film. I fell in love with it through that. Yvonne Minton sang Kundrey and Aaug Haugland sang Klingsor.

I just discovered your channel recently, thanks to a video about Janacek Simfonietta (great video BTW). I was expecting, by the title of this video, something from Ligeti or Bartok, so was kind of surprised about the list, but it makes sense. I also like things that most people don't and vice versa. Totally agree on your introduction, it's ok to not like things other people do and otherwise. I wish more people would think and act like that. Thank you for the video!

I was in general agreement, then you hit Fidelio and I hit the LIKE button!

I just recently descovered your RU-vid videos and i want to say that i really like them.

Great video. You made me revisit the “Rococo Variations” and I love them even more now. I want to thank you. I’m not being snarky. It’s just a happy accident.

I don't mind the Brahms String Quartets. The Schumann String Quartets, however, compel me to remove my own appendix with a knife and fork.

The Elgar cello concerto is an interesting piece for discussion. I totally agree that it is not exciting. It is basically sad and introverted. It is well documented that it closely follows the Great War, which changed Elgar's life in so many ways. He and his world had changed. Many of us believe it is a beautiful piece, but it is a sad beauty. I get that its feel is somewhat old fashioned. I think Elgar must have felt old fashioned himself. Where was that wonderful life and the people he used to share it with? So I wonder what is needed to 'get' such a piece?

Really enjoyed hearing your honest opinion on these works. The description of Bachs concerto made me laugh out loud. Now I am going to listen to it again with your comments in mind! 😅

Thank you Dave, I would like to shake you by the hand for your observations on Elgar's cello concerto; I feel exactly as you do but I could never have put it so well. Also my parents tell me I once slept soundly all the way through a broadcast of Parsifal on the BBC - - in my defence I will add I was four days old at the time.

Hey, Dave, thank you for the interesting discussion! I can't believe the Eroica didn't make your list … is there going to be a Part II of this subject? 🤔

I'm so glad you made this video! I agree 100% about the Rococo Variations! I thought I was the only one who didn't love it! I also feel the same way as you do about the Brahms string quartets, while like you I love the rest of his chamber music, especially the string quintets! Now, I love Parsifal, but I do understand why some people would not like it. But I must say, I think Elgar's Cello Concerto and the Mozart Requiem are masterpieces. One work that I don't get that everyone else seems to love is Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. I've tried listening to it many times, including the celebrated Gardiner recording, but I just don't get it.

I _needed_ the Horowitz to make me see the Rachmaninoff as worthwhile sensuous sumptuousness, but Weissenberg & Kocsis & Lugansky & Porogrelich are what made me LOVE the piece

I almost completely agree on Parsifal, but I do love the good Friday music ... and could not even tell why. The main motive doesn't appear particularly strong, and yet it has a very powerful uplifting or soothing quality while it is developed.

As a Rach Sonata No. 2 lover, I just want to put a word in for Nikolai Lugansky's rendition. Along with Kocsis' version, and maybe Hamelin's, it's probably the best one out there - while it sacrifices a touch of the drama at the peaks, Lugansky's textures are just a bit more warm and rich. The slow movement is meltingly lyrical, and heartstoppingly romantic in classic Rach style, using the simplest of motifs. It did take about a week of listening to this sonata in depth, and really observing the counterpoint and extremely thorough thematic integration (which you also pointed out), to appreciate the work fully - it's a dense, difficult work. I hope it does the trick for you at some point in the future!

Hello Dave! I would like to ask you to consider to make a talk about the 10 works which are among the ones you love the most. Best wishes Fred from Kristianstad.

Elgars cello concerto seems to me quite straightforward, its structure and themes are easy to identify and follow

When it comes to classical vocal music, since I don't pay any attention to librettos and lyrics, I am free to focus on the quality of the music itself. Consequently, I find Fidelio, like Mozart's Magic Flute, to be full of great tunes. I find that Beethoven's talent for melody is greatly underappreciated and it's not surprising to me that Beethoven's favorite composer was Handel.

At almost my fifties, I'm having cello lessons. My teacher told me to listen the Rococo Variations, and I answered that I quite dislike this work (it's the Tchaikovsky Tzigane for me). He just said: "well, I don't like It either, but there is no much more romantic repertory". And I think it's the reason they have survived.

Funny thing about Mozart's Requiem, if such a thing can be funny, some of my most moving live performances have been of this work, but I have yet to find a recording that produces the same effect. Perhaps there is something about the context of performance that makes it great, at least for me. I was in Paris in 2019 and witnessed a concert that I will never forget, at Saint Sulpice Church, by Hugues Reiner Choir, Euromusic Symphonic Orchestra, with Hugues Reiner, conductor - not the greatest or most well known conductor and I imagine most of the performers were amateur or semi-pro at best, but it was absolute magic. I understand that this concert was a tribute to the victims of the Bataclan terror attack in 2015, perhaps giving it a special quality.

Agree on much of this, and your reasoning behind your opinions. Must say the Mozartiana(?) is one of my favorite pieces of music for charm and beauty. Viva la difference...

I had always felt the same way about the Bach BWV 1052 until I saw the recording by Jean Rondeau (Warner Classics) on youtube. It totally changed my opinion. As a plus, at 2 minutes 15 seconds, the camera zooms in on JR’s finger work and it is the strangest finger work I’ve ever seen: one finger from the left hand with a right handed chord dancing around it.

Dear Dave, you are opening new avenues in opera appreciation: giving Leonore a gun to shorten the action and making Klingsor a better marksman with a spear that does close the second act in fatal fashion. Genius. Not sure how soon this new vision will be adopted, but I cannot wait to hear more proposals, practical or not, along this line. Mimi getting well for one more act. Turandot with everybody sleeping at the right moment. Please, do not keep us waiting.

I was first attracted to your videos because you expressed likes/dislikes so similar to mine, for example my least favourite Beethoven symphony is No.3, I don't actually like it despite it's greatness. I am so pleased to see that I agree with your list, apart from the Rachmaninov. I love everything he wrote. Regarding the Elgar concerto I completely agree, it's sentimental and DuPre is a bit OTT.

Grim is good!!! Sorry, I can't resist the Bach D minor concerto, especially Glenn Gould's performance in one of Leonard Bernstein's "Young People's Concerts" ( however unidiomatic it might be) My 8yr old son on seeing this insisted his hands were like dementor claws which I got a kick out of. You are right, the piece is fairly relentless but I guess sometimes I find that enjoyable too (Leonhardt fits the bill here as well).

For me “getting” a work involves an inner emotional connection (whether logical or not) rather than any structural reality. This “getting” is often related to external or internal context. Luckily there is more music than times and thus there is no need to listen to music I either just don’t like or get.

Great video I agree on everything 😅

Dave, interesting talk - congratulations on making your viewers think, accompanied with a dash of humour. The pieces you do not get raises the question of why some works are accepted by a wide consensus as undisputed masterpieces eg Beethoven's 9 symphonies, last Mozart symphonies, Figaro etc. What makes a musical masterpiece? This seems to be something which transcends individual tastes. What are the magic ingredients?

As a cellist, I am of course bummed out that you called out the Rococo Variations and the Elgar Concerto, but I have to confess that in both instances I can see your point. Elgar ultimately I think is a better piece, and I also think that the world-weariness of the piece is actually one of its main ideas. However, dwelling on this as the piece does invites the type of reaction that you have to it. We cellists are of course delighted that these two genius composers took the trouble at all.

As a long time viewer of the channel, I saw the requiem being the however piece from a mile away! :)

What's your opinion on Schumann's other Carnaval-themed piano work, Faschingsschwank aus Wien?

Growing up with my dad's classics I couldn't help but absorb a lot. Here's a left field suggestion though... 'modern music that a classical composer might have appreciated?' I'll cite Genesis with 'Firth of Fifth' to start. Forget the 'prog' label. It's just damn good music with a classic structure. I promise you won't be disappointed...

You've never (I believe) discussed Mozart's Mass in C Minor, at least not on RU-vid. Does the fact that that also wasn't finished factor in to this? I prefer it to the Requiem, though there are sections I find wanting.

Very funny, thank you. I am still laughing. For me, it is the last movements of Mahler symphonies. They could be cut in half and still be too long. The man wore his heart on his sleeve, and such a long sleeve. Great writing, but still.

Completely random, but have you ever done a room tour video to show your CD collection? We’d love to see that if you haven’t done one!

The Bach D minor concerto BWV 1052 is a curious work. Bach seems to have liked it a lot, because he used its music in two cantatas, with an organ soloist. All of the harpsichord concertos, except the Fifth Brandenburg and the C major concerto for two harpsichords, are believed to be transcriptions of violin or oboe originals. And, for me, they usually come over better when reconstructed back to their supposed original scoring. The middle movement of the D minor concerto seems to need a more dynamically expressive instrument, such as a violin. Balance can be a real problem. It’s one reason many performances feature just solo strings (essentially, a string quartet plus double bass). This “low-budget” scoring gives the harpsichord the best chance at being heard in detail over the strings. My first recording of the D minor was with Zuzana Růžičková, on a “modern” harpsichord. I actually found it pretty exciting. Jean Rondeau’s version is pretty good too.

I really liked the music from LOTR movies and wanted more of it. So I went to Parsifal opera twice. It was insane. I only did it for the music.

For me, Parsifal has always been like a cheese danish served ice-cold. I know it's got the stuff there to be something great, but because of the temperature, it just sits there like a rock.

Great description of Elgar's cello concerto.

Rach's second Sonata is a bit much for me at the moment as well. When I was in a bad mental state some time ago, I felt like I understood every note. There's a lot of deep darkness and agony in that piece (with some prettiness in between), and as always, I find Rach to be exceptional at honing in on very specific human emotions and expressing them in an incredibly delicate way. Even when the emotions are as dark as they are in the second Sonata, the "sludge" becomes clear when seen through the right lense. To me at least!

Parsifal is my favourite Wagner Opera BUT I do not speak or understand German well and I listen to it just as music: with the voices simply other 'instruments'.

I think the Water Music's popularity has to do with it's title and the history of it's first performance. It's like Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima. Would it be as well known if it were called A Study in Strings?

I love opera but am similarly cool on Fidelio. I prefer Schumann's Kreisleriana to Carnival by a mile. I also think his first 2 piano sonatas are unfairly neglected. There is an excellent Pollini recording of the 1st Schumann sonata which will knock your socks off. I agree as well on the Rach 2nd sonata, although I heard a really convincing live performance in London once. In the first movement, the way the more lilting, slower theme appears reminds me of a similar transition in the 1st movement of Medtner's g minor sonata. There's a great recording by Benno Moiseiwitsch. Cheers!

As far as Schumann's Carnaval is concerned, Nelson Freires recording did it for me.

Well, don't see either the Rachmaninoff or the Elgar the same way. For me both works deal with tragedy & loss. Maybe for some either they are too muddled or they don't rise to that level. For me they both do. Isn't music wonderful in the ways it can speak in so many different voicess to so many different people. Mark Lee Austin, Tx

Great - and typically honest - review, Dave. I'm sort of with you on the Rachmaninov sonata no 2. I don't really get it, but I heard Steven Osborne play it (live) and thought it was fantastic. I thought "At last! Now I understand it!" But when I subsequently put on recordings of it (even Osborne's own!) I still think: "I don't get it." For me, a composer I don't get but feel I probably should is Bartok. It just leaves me cold. But it took me years to come to Stravinsky (whose music I now love - in all his phases), so I'm hoping that one day the Concerto for Orchestra will really excite me.

Thank you, Dave! You are a delight to listen to. I feel the same about 7 of the pieces you ”don’t get”, but love the Elgar concerto (perhaps partly because I knew and loved Jacqui who was an exceptional and wonderful person), enjoy the Bach D Minor concerto, and Mozart’s Requiem I find very satisfying and quite beautiful. What would the world be like if we all felt the same about everything? Just boring!! Thank you very, very much for all that you give us; it is fun, enjoyable and gives us much to think about. 🩷 😊

I love the characterisation of the Bach d minor concerto - it is indeed GRIM (I happen to love it for that reason - I like the "hellish implacable machine" aspect of it). Bach used it as the Sinfonia for a Cantata with the text "we must pass through troubles to reach Gods kingdom" so I think that fits. The example where I fully agree with you is Fidelio which I find so disappointing theatrically even though some of the music is wonderful.

Up until very recently, I felt Brahms' orchestral music (i.e. the symphonies) as monochrome as you find the string quartets (with which I'm not familiar). I once said the Fourth was one giant, plodding, ponderous tutti passage that went nowhere: I think I compared listening to it to being trapped in thick mud (slowly hardening) while being forced to watch paint dry. I heard several recordings, and nothing got me past the endless, dull, stiff viscosity of it. A couple of years ago I happened to listen to a CD of Brahms' Piano Trios (the one with Ax, Kavakos, and Ma; I got it from the public library) and enjoyed it immensely. So I reluctantly went to some other Brahms works, including, finally, the symphonies. I guess I have learned to like them, though I used to find them so off-putting that I don't remember ever really trying. Anyway I came across the old Szell vinyl records at a thrift store and bought them for a dollar; I've been listening to them and now I enjoy them. I must confess, though, I'm still a little skeptical of the Requiem. Same reason.

Some of these titles I knew were coming based on your videos.That's why I also was expecting Barber's Summer Knoxville !915.

Perfect assessment of Brahms and his quarters/sexters, etc. I think, like Mozart, he struggled with the texture. He just seems to need a piano, or an extra viola or cello. Mozart certainly spoke to this, claiming he never quite felt comfortable with quartets.

Right there with you on the Schumann and the Brahms! I've tried for years, still don't "get" those! But the Mozart Requiem? Have you heard Colin Davis's first London recording of it? As to the Rachmaninoff, one of my favorite pieces, look at Zoltan Kocsis's live performance of the much more technically challenging original version, one of the greatest things I know.

The Turangalila Symphony. Its meaning is lofty but everything about the music seems calculated to get on my nerves. Stravinsky remarked that all Messiaen needed to write it was a plentiful supply of ink.

My choice? Anything by Frederick Delius, especially his Requiem.

1. Brahms: German Requiem 2. Beethoven: Hammerklavier Sonata 3. Nielsen: Symphony No.4 "Inextinguishable" 4. Mozart: Don Giovanni 5. Dvorak: Cello Concerto in B Minor 6. Puccini: Madama Butterfly 7. Mahler: Symphony No.7 8. Bruckner: Symphony No.7 9. Copland: Symphony No.2 10. Harris: Symphony No.3 Don Giovanni especially. I can listen through all the others and feel meh, but Giovanni for whatever reason, I start listening to it and I start to get this mental itch that makes me want to listen to anything else - anything else by Mozart, Messiaen's L'ascension, Schoenberg...anything other than Don Giovanni. And the music is perfectly fine. It's no less tuneful than other Mozart, or anything. I just can't stand it.

Mine is Rachmaninoff Corelli Variations. It just goes on for ever and ever and seems more like an exercise in writing variations than a finished piece of music to me.

I first heard the Water Music as recorded by Hermann Scherchen, and fell head over heels. It is hauntingly beautiful throughout. I have listened to it countless times; for around a year it was my go-to music on my iPod when I needed something motivational at the gym. I have subsequently tried other more contemporary recordings, and they all bored me to death, so I can see where you are coming from. Similarly I would very highly recommend Scherchen’s Handel Op. 6 concerti grossi. They are amazingly beautiful. I also have tried and wanted to enjoy Fidelio as well as Brahms’s “overly wrought “ quartets. On the other hand I cannot live without the Leonore Overture #3 (it “belongs” to Fidelio). Sometimes it occurs to me that to know and love Beethoven, and you could choose one work, it would be this. My favorite is by Fricsay. Finally I do feel bad admitting that as hard as I try, I do not independently enjoy the Mahler symphonies, except a few moments here and there. Thank you for your wonderful channel.

Didn't you mean to include Tzigane?! I always that was even less of a favorite of yours than the Mozart Requiem. By the way, I feel about the Berlioz Requiem the way you do about the Mozart. At any rate, great talk. I appreciate the specificity with which you make your case for (actually, against) any given work.

I love Brahms's chamber music of all kinds, and I strongly agree with your view on the overly-written Quartets.

The 2014 performance of the Rococco Variations by Narek Hakhnazaryan and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, conducted by Tugan Sokhiev, may change your mind. Exceptional. Available on RU-vid.

I appreciate how you put this as pieces you just don't get. I've tried to do this myself, rather than indulge my inner curmudgeon (I don't always succeed 😂).

ECM (not my favorite label) released a couple 1980s performances Keith Jarrett (not my favorite pianist, at least for these kinda works) a few years ago. I was curious about the Jarrett piano piece at the end, so I bought it, and skipped the Bartok Piano Concerto no. 3 until just a few nights ago. I never loved any of BB’s piano music, but his concerto No. 3 I actively disliked. It was fantastic though, so any suggestions on other players doing spectacular Bartok piano concertos would be appreciated now that I’m open to them

Thanks for pinpointing exactly why I always cringed when the Mozart Requiem got to the Tuba mirum. Even among the other lesser parts the thing sticks out like a sore crumhorn.

My thanks for your insightful post. I think there's a point, in everything you say, that makes antipodes seem always a good neighbourhood. What you just said about Brahms' quartets is exactly what I thought when I first heard them (the first in particular). Eventually, I grew into adoring them, but then again, after listening to you, the very pillars of my worship seemed to founder. Shall I, eventually again, grow back into disliking them (like I grew back into disliking Schwarzkopf, for different reasons)? Who knows...There's no good dialectic incapable of switching the mind's eye

Mozart's Requiem and Handel's Water Music are sentimental favorites for me since they are some of the first pieces I listened to when I was discovering classical music. A piece I don't get is Brahms' 2nd Symphony. It just doesn't do anything for me. Yet I've probably seen it performed live more than any other symphony. My daughter's youth symphony did it, then her college symphony. The Chicago Symphony was on tour near me, and they played Brahms 2. Maybe I am just tired of it.

Glad to hear you bring up Tchaikovsky suite #4. That's a piece of music I always felt guilty for not liking & always had to put on a happy face. How about a video on the Tchaikovsky suites 👍

My blind spots among famous repertoire: Sibelius - symphonies (for the most part) Beethoven - Violin Concerto Beethoven - the Op. 1 piano trios (are these popular?) Beethoven - late piano sonatas Schubert - solo piano music Brahms - string quartets (me too) Tchaikovsky - Rococo Variations (me too) Shostakovich - Symphony No. 15 Vivaldi - L’estro armonico On the positive note, I lately had a breakthrough with Brahms symphonies 2-4 (I always liked the 1st) and Schumann’s symphonies, both of which I surely would have mentioned if asked a few months ago.

Another fun video to do would be something like "Works That I Like With That One Movement/Part I Can't Stand." And you can't pick the pastoral movement in Symphonie Fantastique, that's practically cheating.

David your RU-vids are a national treasure and I think I would say this even if we weren't old friends from your salad days. But I too really don't get Carnival ( and I adore almost everything else of Robert Schumann) and the Mozart Requiem ( not up to the level of his Missa Brevis') Similarly I have a terribly weak spot for Elgar but simply don't get the Cello Concerto

For me, it's Ives' Concord sonata and I'd long to learn what performance could make this sonata work for me.

Rostropovich's recording with Ozawa might change your mind about Rococo. The way Slava's cello sings is glorious and sounds almost like the human voice.

I'm with you on most of these but what is there to "get" about Handel's Water Music? It's just a series of catchy tunes, kinda like a Beatles record such as "Rubber Soul." It doesn't develop a theme or go anywhere. Just one catchy tune after another until you're out of catchy tunes.

Any given Nielsen symphony falls in this category for me. For too long, I heard that Nielsen was a logical next step for an avowed SIbelius fanatic, but I could never make an emotional or intellectual connection. (Whenever another Sibelius lover asks me what composer's symphonies to check out, Vaughan-Williams is my usual recommendation.) As for Dave's choices, I couldn't agree more about the Mozart Requiem, though the Lacrimosa greatly moves me. Conversely, I am very fond of the Elgar cello concerto, but I couldn't argue that it isn't musty.

Wagner - “long & slow”. I need to laugh, because I like Wagner only when I get the 5 minute highlight of his works. Thanks for this episode, as I feel guilty if I listen to a piece and at the end I just have “???” in my head, because it must be my fault as a listener.

Sometimes, a special recording of a work you don't like , can change your mind dramatically: Such wonder is the Nequet performance of the Water music by Handel, the Perahia Bach BWV 1052 and the Gardiner Mozart Requiem. The other works in this list, I can't get them also....

Franck's Symphony in D minor. I have tried for the better part of my life to like it. I just don't. To me it sounds awkward so many places. Nice little bits, but on the whole - not so much. To me I can almost hear Franck whispering while it plays - "ya see what I did there?" Le sigh....

Totally agree about the Mozart Requiem. I much prefer the Mass in c.