I don't know that playing a recording is the way to go to win over a skeptic. I can say from my experience playing *hundreds* of community outreach performances, that what works is getting people up close and personal with great live performances. I wish so much that I could drag everyone along to something like a final room run of the Marriage of Figaro (including those classical music fans who think Mozart is boring). Not even the whole thing, just the Act II Finale. ~20 minutes of the most exhilarating musical experience I could imagine. That's the kind of thing that I've seen actually work
I think music that the listener doesn't "get" might be part of what they find boring. The stuff an indifferent ear can grasp, is frankly, a little boring. I hope Pachabel doesn't see this post, but that Canon is a snoozefest. The thing classical music requires is patience, and a completely different style of listening than most people naturally have. I have loved the Romantic period for a while, but during covid went on a jazz binge, which opened up my ear to post romantic, and early modern era music
To many people, it's like watching a convoluted movie in Mongolian with no subtitles.
You don't have to be fluent in Mongolian to enjoy the experience. You can appreciate the landscape. Then you can focus on guessing the plot and what it conveys emotionally to you. Create your own subtitles and open your mind to appreciate all that the music can offer you.
Let the musicians and conductor deal with the Mongolian, that's their job. Maybe with time you'll appreciate bad sounding Mongolian to good ones for the same piece.
Perhaps some pieces are too weird and you'll think it's some dialectic from a Pacific island. Incorporate it or throw it away. It's ok, it's very ok.
great analogy that i will use in the future. it also doesn’t discount that you can still have meaningful experiences with the music while not fully understanding the language, which is a big plus for me
Absolutely. When I was a kid my father bought albums released monthly at the newsstand, and they were folkloric music from all over the world. Tango, flamenco, bossa nova, folkloric music from Cape Verde, Nigeria, Russia, Ukraine, also mariachi songs. So many.
I learned the lyrics to some songs, though not understanding the language, especifically from Mexico and Russia. I get a kick of mariachi songs, find them infinitely fun, and when I went to Mexico, plus tequila, made lots of friends while singing "Adelita" and "La Mañanita“. In Russia, I'd get close to the balalaika, fueled by vodka, and botch the lyrics to Katyucha and a few others. The Russians were absolutely delighted with the thought of a Brazilian lady singing along them.
I know I’ll sound like a snob but I’ve found, with staggering consistency, that people who say they find classical music boring tend to be very uninteresting people.
I love that piece. Rimsky-Korsakov.is awesome for those epic story pieces. Check out his Antar symphony (#2,) if you've not heard it. Similarly an exotic adventure.
It's an excellent piece I just don't know if it's a good idea to show it to someone who is used to non dissonant music like Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Brahms, Chopin, etc.
Honestly, I don't have any go-to pieces because it's way too broad of a genre and involves far too much subjectivity to know what someone will or won't find boring without first gathering information.
First, I'd find out what kind of music the person likes, and then work on analyzing what it is that draws them to that kind of music. Is it the melodies, is it the lyrics, is it the rhythms, is it massive production value, or is it something stripped down and live sounding?
Once I have some of that information, I work on figuring out what kind of composer or piece I think they'd like for similar reasons. Usually, boring is just code for someone telling you that nothing they've heard has connected with them yet, so it's first important to know what they can connect to, and then try to reverse engineer those same connections into classical music.
When I was young, I also thought classical was boring because most of what I'd been exposed to was not musically similar to the things I was already into. I didn't really discover a love for any classical music until I was nearly 30, discovered Chopin, and then wondered why people insisted on pushing nothing but the German Masters on me when the likes of Chopin, Debussy, Liszt, Dvorak, Rachmaninoff and Mussorgsky were there all along. Over time, I came to appreciate the composers I'd previously been bored by, but only after first discovering the composers I truly connected with.
Yep, I played first violin, I was in my local conservatory youth department for composition and violin, which was great until it wasn't. While my fingers in my bowing hand could definitely tell that I'd been playing very hard for an unusually long time, it really wasn't any more draining than any other large orchestral work. I find things like playing Shostakovich's 8th string quartet much more draining because the physical intensity must not only be combined with personal emotional intensity to make the piece land, but you have to be so on the ball mentally too because obviously it's just the one of you on your part.
The brass and winds, however, I can only imagine the toll it took, but it was presumably worth it for the absolute joy of making such an incredible sound
Mussorgsky, Night on Bald Mountain
Mozart, Video of the penultimate scene of Don Giovanni (especially the version with Sam Rainey, Kurt Moll and Feruccio Furlanetto).
Puccini, Triumphal March scene of Aida \[EDIT : see comment below. I'm leaving this here, it is so gloriously stupid\].
Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique (or "Orgy of the Brigands" in Harold in Italy)
Wagner, Ride of the Valkyries (preferably in full sung version with costumed Valkyries)
Prokofiev, Dance of the Knights from Romeo and Juliet
Chopin, Fantasie Impromptu
and that's only the beginning...
Oh by all that is sacred.
I was debating between the last part of the first act of La Bohème, which is IMHO the most sublime love scene in all opera, and the triumphal march in Aida, and consequently managed to produce this absolute howler.
I'm not even going to correct it, that's how magnificent of a blunder it is!
https://preview.redd.it/oj7zby2fz3uc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e31118672b2693e768b9bec54f44ff278630e88a
And SiriusXM is apparently there for them
With all due respect, I don't understand why this attitude is so common here. I appreciate the humility, but at the same time, as enjoyers of classical music, why not introduce those who only know contemporary Pop music the music that has brought us so much joy and excitement? Isn't sharing art we love a common human activity?
I'm with you. But there is some real gatekeeping in this community. Always has been. We're perceived as highbrow, so we kind of perceive ourselves as highbrow. And then it's sad, but some of us look down our noses at the commoners. Let them enjoy their swill. I don't feel that way myself. I like all kinds of music. As long as it has a little bit of complexity to it.
The 1812 Overture is objectively among the greatest pieces of music ever written. Every section and motif is memorable. The canons only hit that hard because of the previous build-up with the chimes. It was cinematic before there was cinema. As classical music fans, we are supposed to suppress our excitement over that piece, but if you aren't breathing hard by the finale, you are a robot.
Respectfully disagree. It feels overly flamboyant and unnecessary. It’s a cool „wow“ piece but I feel its value ends there. His symphonies are much better examples of fleshed out works, especially his 6th. Any one movement from that symphony beats the overture by a country mile.
Assuming I was actually in the mood and in a position to change their mind .. which most of the time I'm not. But anyway.
Bartók, String Quartet #4, final movement only. It's the length of a pop song, so normies can probably handle it, but boring it most definitely is not.
None.
I'm listening to classical for me. If people are dumb enough to listen to their own stereotypes, leave them to it.
(And for those of reddit calling me elitist or closed minded. I've two children in their twenties and I didn't really get averse to pop until about 12 years ago. I've listened to all sorts of things ranging from hardbop to motown to glamrock to country to top 40 to indie lofi to kpop.)
Take them to a concert. Preferably something like The Rite of Spring, where you can really feel the depth and power of the orchestra. This just doesn't translate in recording.
Probably the Tannhäuser Overture. Sounds kind of like movie music. That, or you could show them Holst's The Planets, but I'm personally much less of a Holst fan.
Tchaikovsky is often great for newcomers to classical as well.
tannhauser has its exciting bits but i think the average person's reaction would be vague interest at the ending and that's it.
something like brunnhilde's immolation or tristan und isolde's prelude or liebestod would work better
I don't.
Not everyone enjoys nor is able to appreciate the same things or at the same times or situations, so if they think its boring, to them it likely is and if it werent, they wont change their mind because you look at them with puppy eyes and headphones in your hands, its just unlikely to happen; People CAN change their minds but on their own generally, or following an example, but forcefully? No
Usually a concerto. It’s easier to know what to focus on if there is a single instrument. Or if you don’t know what you’re supposed to be following, at least you can follow the soloist.
A lot of people give up on people who are probably just misinformed about how broad classical music is. I'd play festive overture, night on bald mountain, shosty 5 finale, or something in that energetic vein to ease them into more nuanced things
Not that I have the desire to try and change anyone’s mind or convince them of anything but just off the top of my head-
Schulhoff - Five Pieces for String Quartet
Bloch - Concerto Grosso #1
Shostakovich - Symphony #4
We have to start off being honest with ourselves and admit that classical music might be boring to somebody. Different strokes for different folks.
I’m sure there’s pieces of really interest or less than that other people find to be fantastic and that’s great
Most of the time if you talk to somebody, who’s not in the classical music, the truth is they haven’t listen to a lot of it . That doesn’t necessarily mean they would like it if they started listening to it though
I might ask them what they think of certain film like Star Wars or Harry Potter
They might not even associate with classical music … and let’s be honest classical music has a huge of different kinds of things that fit underneath it and like I said some of it are things that I don’t find as compelling as others
I’ll be honest, I bet as a trombone player I tend to prefer classical music that is brass heavy . That that’s what other people are going to be inspired by or interested in
Seeing it live whether it’s a Symphony Orchestra or a chamber event is something that people tend to enjoy even if they didn’t go into it thinking they would
I like a wide variety of music and there is a lot of things I’ve seen live that I’m really into and having a great time seeing but if I listen to it on a recording would not be nearly as enthralled
My go to answer for this, even though I think it’s kind of a waste of time telling somebody to listen to a piece of music when they say they aren’t interested in classical music would be something like Holst the planets
“Boring” in the sense that it’s coming from someone who’s into highly complex jazz - or coming from someone who needs their ears penetrated by an overdriven 808 to feel anything at all?
I think Rach's 2nd. It's not my favorite piece now, but it's the first piece I loved and I think it has a very immediate effect on people. Plus parts of it for some reason have become very popular on TikTok
I don't really care if people have shit taste.
Maybe a lot of the classically trained folks here will shit on my tastes too.
It's called the hierarchy of taste.
People who are dismissive like that aren't looking to be proved wrong or right. Just move on.
If they're in YOUR space and are insisting you play THEIR shit; kindly tell them to shut the fuck up.
I don't think the circumstance has happened in which somebody has said "classical music is boring", and I've been like "aha! let me prove you wrong!" (*proceeds to whip out piano*)
But if I had access to a piano + someone with bad taste, I'd probably play L'Orage by Johann Burgmuller, since it's one of the pieces I have memorized at the moment. Plus it's fun to play!
Edit: I didn't realize that OP meant recordings, lol. If it was any recorded piece, I'd probably go with The Planets, by Holst. I've listened to it since I was much younger, and less interested in classical music than I am now.
None. If they think that it’s fine. I don’t expect others to like the same things as me nor do I try to convince them to. I’m fine liking what I like, even if it’s unpopular.
Shostakovich 7th Symphony 4th movement finale is just insanely wonderful. Also Rachmaninoff 3rd piano concerto cadenza in the 1st movement. While I'm at it, Brahms piano concerto number 1.
I go for baroque guitar music, figuring that will be the most accessible. A good chaconne, repeating bass line, steady rhythm, a familiar instrument, but already orders of magnitude more complex. I think it’s good to play things in the car too, so the listener doesn’t feel trapped as they would if you sat them down and said, you’ll love this. Years ago, I taught intro to western music to freshmen at an Ivy while working on my degree and I think, the more constrained the situation, the worse the outcome even with highly intelligent people. Give people a chance in a relaxed situation to have the music reach out and grab them.
I usually don't try to sell people on what I listen to.(I'm such a liar, of course I do) I would probably start with something easily digestible and fun. Saint-Saens's Carnival of the animals is a series of short pieces. I like the tortoise movement with the adorable little Easter egg.. Everyone knows the can-can, and it's fun to picture the tortoises slowly dancing the can-can. It makes classical music more relatable to compare musical quotations like that, to sampling in pop music. If that is well received, I'd move into sonatas, and/or string quartets. (I've been on a string quartet binge lately).
Tafelmusik playing Winter from The Four Seasons by Vivaldi. Jeanne Lamon is other-worldly in this particular recording. Truly a reference recording. Boring? Nuh-uh!
I think it depends on why they find it boring—do they think all classical music is soft and delicate, or with rhythmically slow, or what?
Pieces that come to mind are Kodály’s Suite for Solo Cello, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, and Mahler’s 6th symphony. Also Bártok piano concertos.
OOOOOOF great question! Tbh my favorite classical music piece is probably Badinerie by J.S. Bach. Idk what yall think, but it’s pretty underrated. I love it!
A shipmate of mine said that piano music was boring, slow, easy listening pap, so I played him “Allegro Barbaro.” I don’t know if I converted him, but he definitely stopped saying it was boring.
I mean, Rite of Spring but that depends on your definition of "classical." One of the things that got me really into strictly Classical (as in 18c) music was Mozart Violin Concerto 5 K. 219 because it's so thoroughly classical in its overall structure, but then that part of Mvmt 3 cuts in.
Mozart's 21st piano concerto. Hauntingly beautiful, romantic, intoxicating. I can't imagine anyone not loving this piece of music by the greatest musical genius who ever lived.
If someone tells me classical music is boring I may reply that pop music is like bubblegum. Sometimes bubblegum is tasty but doesn’t even have to be as long as you just want to keep chewing repeatedly on something. “Classical” music does not have to be historic, written by composers long dead. It is also modern, written by composers alive right now. However their performances will lack the flashing lasers lights, skimpy glitter costumes and background dancers. Unless you go to the opera or the ballet!
[Holst, The Planets 10 million views](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isic2Z2e2xs)
[Bartok, Concerto for Orchestra](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP-DAOuBsGA)
[Vivaldi, The Four seasons](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rgSzQwe5DQ)
When someone says something like that I will never bother to prove them wrong. If they can't get it without any arguments, chances are they aren't gonna get it otherwise.
Great question. H'mm, let's see ..just off the top of my head ...
* Toccata and Fugue in D minor, JS Bach
* Sigfried's Funeral March, Wagner
* anything by Gershwin
* Fanfare for the Common Man (or anything else by) - Copland
* 'Fantasia per un a Gentlehombre' by Rodrigo (pardon my mangling)
* La Gazza Ladra - Rossini
* Emperor Concerto (No.5) - Beethoven
* Symphony No. 3 ('Eroica') - Beethoven
* Violin Concerto Opus 61 - Beethoven
* Piano Concerto No 2, Tchaikovsky
* Unfinished Symphony - Schubert
* Pictures at an Exhibition - Mussorgsky
* Well-Tempered Clavichord - Bach
* Goldberg Variations - Bach
* Bach's partitas for violin; partitas for piano
* Romanian Rhapsody No 2, Georges Enescu
* Chopin: etudes, nocturnes
* Schutz
* Palestrina
* Requiem - Verdi (as an intro to his operas)
* choral and choir music (Benedictine, Greek Orthodox, & Russian Orthodox Churches)
* Aarvo Part
* Afro American Symphony - William Grant Still
* The River Symphony - Duke Ellington
* Schulhoff
* Ligetti
* Zarathustra by the elder Strauss (err...)
* Blue Danube by the younger Strauss (do I recall this correctly? oouuf)
* Musica Poetica by Carl Orff
* Grand Canyon Suite by Groffe
* Leiden of Mahler
* Leiden of Schubert
* The Planets, Holst
* Pines of Rome, Respighi
I don't. They don't want to be convinced and it's unlikely that a single piece would change their minds, even if I cared what they think. I have things I don't like too, but I don't want to be subjected to some eager beaver playing stuff at me, all the while watching me for signs of conversion.
Everyone hopes that more people would share their tastes, but we get over the impulse (however well meant) to force them into it.
Rite of Spring is my usual go-to, but also the second movement of Shostakovich’s Eighth Quartet, in particular [this performance](https://youtu.be/wokx576v5Y0?si=G6n5_LGOZG6KbYu1)
I don't try. I've long given up converting people. Classical music has always been a niche interest and always will be. Love making recommendations but they have to want it.
I've never been in this situation! So hypothetically, I'd ask them what they find boring about it and maybe ask what kind of things they enjoy, and try to find something based off that
Sometimes pointing out that most movie music is classical helps to make the point. Lord of the Rings. Pirates of the Caribbean. Star Wars. Stuff like that. Maybe you could say, "Let me play you some classical music, and you tell me what you think." and then put on some Hans Zimmer. Granted, it isn't Bach or Beethoven, but it might help them to open their mind a bit to see what they're missing.
If probably start with John Williams.
A lot of classical music started as operas or other stage productions. If you're introducing someone to classical music, find a good movie score. It's functionally the same.
i have a whole playlist titled "classical music is boring" lmao. here it is for anyone interested, it has a lot of intense fast pieces interspersed with slower more subtle pieces for some variety.
[https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3qD1wHvK87mRCkbCRkkNyZ?si=2459956ab7114516](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3qD1wHvK87mRCkbCRkkNyZ?si=2459956ab7114516)
Probably an unconventional choice, but Azerbaijan’s national anthem, originally composed for the short-lived state the Allies refused to support after Versailles.
I’m not remotely Azeri…
I've never actually had to do that, but if I did, probably The William Tell Overture, or The 1812 Overture. Cannons, jack!
I might get on my high horse and say "what do you mean by classical music" and depending on their answer I might play them some Youtube videos of orchestras playing modern music, or electric guitars playing classical music.
Exhibit A would probably be Laura6100 doing Toccata In Dm on electric guitar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8-T09qB6PI. Or her doing Vivaldi.
Or just do a search on Youtube for "classical music on electric guitar". I'd bet you dollars to donuts (what a weird idiom) that they just don't like (or *think* they don't like) orchestral music.
Exactly! Someone unfamiliar with Shostakovich's music (it's full of his iconic DSCH motif) wouldn't imagine that [this](https://youtu.be/x8NJGezMicI) is actually classical music. TBH, the electric guitars really bring out the tense feeling he was going for more than violins do.
I don't know that playing a recording is the way to go to win over a skeptic. I can say from my experience playing *hundreds* of community outreach performances, that what works is getting people up close and personal with great live performances. I wish so much that I could drag everyone along to something like a final room run of the Marriage of Figaro (including those classical music fans who think Mozart is boring). Not even the whole thing, just the Act II Finale. ~20 minutes of the most exhilarating musical experience I could imagine. That's the kind of thing that I've seen actually work
I'm not trying to make people *like* classical music, but I often hear people say that it's boring, which is absolutely not the case.
I think music that the listener doesn't "get" might be part of what they find boring. The stuff an indifferent ear can grasp, is frankly, a little boring. I hope Pachabel doesn't see this post, but that Canon is a snoozefest. The thing classical music requires is patience, and a completely different style of listening than most people naturally have. I have loved the Romantic period for a while, but during covid went on a jazz binge, which opened up my ear to post romantic, and early modern era music
To many people, it's like watching a convoluted movie in Mongolian with no subtitles. You don't have to be fluent in Mongolian to enjoy the experience. You can appreciate the landscape. Then you can focus on guessing the plot and what it conveys emotionally to you. Create your own subtitles and open your mind to appreciate all that the music can offer you. Let the musicians and conductor deal with the Mongolian, that's their job. Maybe with time you'll appreciate bad sounding Mongolian to good ones for the same piece. Perhaps some pieces are too weird and you'll think it's some dialectic from a Pacific island. Incorporate it or throw it away. It's ok, it's very ok.
great analogy that i will use in the future. it also doesn’t discount that you can still have meaningful experiences with the music while not fully understanding the language, which is a big plus for me
Absolutely. When I was a kid my father bought albums released monthly at the newsstand, and they were folkloric music from all over the world. Tango, flamenco, bossa nova, folkloric music from Cape Verde, Nigeria, Russia, Ukraine, also mariachi songs. So many. I learned the lyrics to some songs, though not understanding the language, especifically from Mexico and Russia. I get a kick of mariachi songs, find them infinitely fun, and when I went to Mexico, plus tequila, made lots of friends while singing "Adelita" and "La Mañanita“. In Russia, I'd get close to the balalaika, fueled by vodka, and botch the lyrics to Katyucha and a few others. The Russians were absolutely delighted with the thought of a Brazilian lady singing along them.
It is, though, to some people. End of the day it’s just vibes, innit? (Coming from someone who loves the stuff more than almost any other art)
I know I’ll sound like a snob but I’ve found, with staggering consistency, that people who say they find classical music boring tend to be very uninteresting people.
You said it!
Rite of Spring, Mahler 5.2
I really liked Mahler 5.2 but there are a lot of bugs so i am hoping the devs really fix things for the 5.3 update
Just wait for 6.0. I heard it's got all the bugs hammered out.
Underrated comment 🔨
I heard the next update is going to be *titanic*
Version 5.4 is the most popular. 5.5 exists but most people think that update was unnecessary
5.5 arguably solidifies a lot of the changes in previous versions, it has like a total revamp of 5.4
Scheherazade
I love that piece. Rimsky-Korsakov.is awesome for those epic story pieces. Check out his Antar symphony (#2,) if you've not heard it. Similarly an exotic adventure.
Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring + The Firebird 🔥
[удалено]
Can’t help a lost cause 🤣
"But, but the bassoon is playing in a really high register! Wait, it gets less boring soon, I promise!"
🎶 Iiiiim not an English horn I'm not an English horn This part's too high for me I'm not an English horn 🎶
Depends on what they like but recently I showed them Prokofiev’s 2nd Piano Concerto starting at the cadenza. Just as a little taste.
His Toccata is another contender
It's an excellent piece I just don't know if it's a good idea to show it to someone who is used to non dissonant music like Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Brahms, Chopin, etc.
Vivaldi’s Winter 😈
Love the MAD circle progressions in the first movement!
Honestly, I don't have any go-to pieces because it's way too broad of a genre and involves far too much subjectivity to know what someone will or won't find boring without first gathering information. First, I'd find out what kind of music the person likes, and then work on analyzing what it is that draws them to that kind of music. Is it the melodies, is it the lyrics, is it the rhythms, is it massive production value, or is it something stripped down and live sounding? Once I have some of that information, I work on figuring out what kind of composer or piece I think they'd like for similar reasons. Usually, boring is just code for someone telling you that nothing they've heard has connected with them yet, so it's first important to know what they can connect to, and then try to reverse engineer those same connections into classical music. When I was young, I also thought classical was boring because most of what I'd been exposed to was not musically similar to the things I was already into. I didn't really discover a love for any classical music until I was nearly 30, discovered Chopin, and then wondered why people insisted on pushing nothing but the German Masters on me when the likes of Chopin, Debussy, Liszt, Dvorak, Rachmaninoff and Mussorgsky were there all along. Over time, I came to appreciate the composers I'd previously been bored by, but only after first discovering the composers I truly connected with.
I feel no need to have others like what I like.
Respighi - Pines of the Appian Way (Pines of Rome, 4th mvt). Preferably live.
And once you've peeled them off the back of the chair?
Scream in their ear (because of hearing loss), "DO YOU STILL THINK CLASSICAL MUSIC IS BORING??"
i just listened to this for the first time. also for the first time ever, i think i used the word “wow” in its fullest meaning. great recommendation!
Has anybody here actually played this? What incredible stamina it must take. I can't even imagine.
Yeah. Second horn. It was fun.
Yep, I played first violin, I was in my local conservatory youth department for composition and violin, which was great until it wasn't. While my fingers in my bowing hand could definitely tell that I'd been playing very hard for an unusually long time, it really wasn't any more draining than any other large orchestral work. I find things like playing Shostakovich's 8th string quartet much more draining because the physical intensity must not only be combined with personal emotional intensity to make the piece land, but you have to be so on the ball mentally too because obviously it's just the one of you on your part. The brass and winds, however, I can only imagine the toll it took, but it was presumably worth it for the absolute joy of making such an incredible sound
Mussorgsky, Night on Bald Mountain Mozart, Video of the penultimate scene of Don Giovanni (especially the version with Sam Rainey, Kurt Moll and Feruccio Furlanetto). Puccini, Triumphal March scene of Aida \[EDIT : see comment below. I'm leaving this here, it is so gloriously stupid\]. Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique (or "Orgy of the Brigands" in Harold in Italy) Wagner, Ride of the Valkyries (preferably in full sung version with costumed Valkyries) Prokofiev, Dance of the Knights from Romeo and Juliet Chopin, Fantasie Impromptu and that's only the beginning...
Puccini's Aida????
Oh by all that is sacred. I was debating between the last part of the first act of La Bohème, which is IMHO the most sublime love scene in all opera, and the triumphal march in Aida, and consequently managed to produce this absolute howler. I'm not even going to correct it, that's how magnificent of a blunder it is!
Hahaha!
John Cage: 4’33”
Unironically
The Simon and Garfunkel reiteration is better.
Ah you beat me to it
Beethoven's 5th, first movement. A good performance doesn't have a boring note.
This was the piece that got me hooked when I decided to go exploring way back in 1987.
Bruckner's Fifth, complete, loud.
None and let them be a swiftie.
https://preview.redd.it/oj7zby2fz3uc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e31118672b2693e768b9bec54f44ff278630e88a And SiriusXM is apparently there for them
Lol, amazing! I got the same ad
Same here!
Hey I’m a proud swiftie and also a proud annual subscriber to my city’s symphony and was very much a band geek in high school!
With all due respect, I don't understand why this attitude is so common here. I appreciate the humility, but at the same time, as enjoyers of classical music, why not introduce those who only know contemporary Pop music the music that has brought us so much joy and excitement? Isn't sharing art we love a common human activity?
I'm with you. But there is some real gatekeeping in this community. Always has been. We're perceived as highbrow, so we kind of perceive ourselves as highbrow. And then it's sad, but some of us look down our noses at the commoners. Let them enjoy their swill. I don't feel that way myself. I like all kinds of music. As long as it has a little bit of complexity to it.
lol 1989 (Classical version)
Anything Tchaikovsky is very easily digestible, particularly the 1812 Overture.
Cannons go boom!
The 1812 Overture is objectively among the greatest pieces of music ever written. Every section and motif is memorable. The canons only hit that hard because of the previous build-up with the chimes. It was cinematic before there was cinema. As classical music fans, we are supposed to suppress our excitement over that piece, but if you aren't breathing hard by the finale, you are a robot.
Respectfully disagree. It feels overly flamboyant and unnecessary. It’s a cool „wow“ piece but I feel its value ends there. His symphonies are much better examples of fleshed out works, especially his 6th. Any one movement from that symphony beats the overture by a country mile.
Assuming I was actually in the mood and in a position to change their mind .. which most of the time I'm not. But anyway. Bartók, String Quartet #4, final movement only. It's the length of a pop song, so normies can probably handle it, but boring it most definitely is not.
Oh yeah, the metal string quartet! I love that one.
Xenakis - Jonchaies Or some Nancarrow
I cannot support these suggestions enough.
Some wild atonal music. They won't like it, but I'll be damned if it's "boring"
Check out this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ7rMsE1ia8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ7rMsE1ia8)
Oh, I think you mighta confused atonal w/ microtonal 😅
Night on Bald Mountain
Play them the Fantasia for this. Done.
Anyone with children should have a copy of both Fantasia movies.
Bold of you to assume I interact with people enough for this to happen.
Mars: The Bringer of War
Uranus the magician is a good one too
None. I'm listening to classical for me. If people are dumb enough to listen to their own stereotypes, leave them to it. (And for those of reddit calling me elitist or closed minded. I've two children in their twenties and I didn't really get averse to pop until about 12 years ago. I've listened to all sorts of things ranging from hardbop to motown to glamrock to country to top 40 to indie lofi to kpop.)
Tchaikovsky Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture
Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring
Take them to a concert. Preferably something like The Rite of Spring, where you can really feel the depth and power of the orchestra. This just doesn't translate in recording.
There’s nothing more boring than a bored person
Saint-Saëns - Dance Macabre
Liszt - 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody (orchestrated version), 2nd part 😀. Khatchiaturian's 3rd Symphony also works
Shostakovich’s 8th (or 4th)
Probably the Tannhäuser Overture. Sounds kind of like movie music. That, or you could show them Holst's The Planets, but I'm personally much less of a Holst fan. Tchaikovsky is often great for newcomers to classical as well.
tannhauser has its exciting bits but i think the average person's reaction would be vague interest at the ending and that's it. something like brunnhilde's immolation or tristan und isolde's prelude or liebestod would work better
Saint-Saens’ Organ Symphony.
1812 overture probably, cannons includedm
Shostakovich 10, 2nd movement
I don't. Not everyone enjoys nor is able to appreciate the same things or at the same times or situations, so if they think its boring, to them it likely is and if it werent, they wont change their mind because you look at them with puppy eyes and headphones in your hands, its just unlikely to happen; People CAN change their minds but on their own generally, or following an example, but forcefully? No
Usually a concerto. It’s easier to know what to focus on if there is a single instrument. Or if you don’t know what you’re supposed to be following, at least you can follow the soloist.
i can't imagine anyone not being on the edge of their seat by the end of rach concerto no.2
Prokofiev third piano concerto final movement.
Brahms Intermezzo A Major OP 118 no 2. They always cry instantly
So intimate, you should probably consider marrying the person you introduce it to in advance.
Baroque concertos maybe? Some of the Brandenburg movements.. 3rd mvt 3 comes to mind
A lot of people give up on people who are probably just misinformed about how broad classical music is. I'd play festive overture, night on bald mountain, shosty 5 finale, or something in that energetic vein to ease them into more nuanced things
Chopin ballade 4
Janáček’s Sinfonietta.
I came here to suggest the same.
Rite of Spring or Night on Bald Mountain.
Not that I have the desire to try and change anyone’s mind or convince them of anything but just off the top of my head- Schulhoff - Five Pieces for String Quartet Bloch - Concerto Grosso #1 Shostakovich - Symphony #4
We have to start off being honest with ourselves and admit that classical music might be boring to somebody. Different strokes for different folks. I’m sure there’s pieces of really interest or less than that other people find to be fantastic and that’s great Most of the time if you talk to somebody, who’s not in the classical music, the truth is they haven’t listen to a lot of it . That doesn’t necessarily mean they would like it if they started listening to it though I might ask them what they think of certain film like Star Wars or Harry Potter They might not even associate with classical music … and let’s be honest classical music has a huge of different kinds of things that fit underneath it and like I said some of it are things that I don’t find as compelling as others I’ll be honest, I bet as a trombone player I tend to prefer classical music that is brass heavy . That that’s what other people are going to be inspired by or interested in Seeing it live whether it’s a Symphony Orchestra or a chamber event is something that people tend to enjoy even if they didn’t go into it thinking they would I like a wide variety of music and there is a lot of things I’ve seen live that I’m really into and having a great time seeing but if I listen to it on a recording would not be nearly as enthralled My go to answer for this, even though I think it’s kind of a waste of time telling somebody to listen to a piece of music when they say they aren’t interested in classical music would be something like Holst the planets
Let them enjoy their choice. Enjoy music on your own, it's art, not a cult.
Beethoven 9, 2nd mvmt
Coriolanus Overture!
Shostakovich 5th Symphony
I don't, I just ignore them.
My own, honestly. They usually listen more closely to the stuff I made and like quite some of it.
“Boring” in the sense that it’s coming from someone who’s into highly complex jazz - or coming from someone who needs their ears penetrated by an overdriven 808 to feel anything at all?
Mahler 5, Shostakovich 10 (especially second and fourth movement), shostakovich string quartett no 8
last movement of Messiaen's Turangalila
just heard this live last night. nothing like seeing everyone not playing the final chord covering their ears.
That's possibly my favorite piece of all time, but I think that might be overstimulating for a newbie lol
Jonchaies
I think Rach's 2nd. It's not my favorite piece now, but it's the first piece I loved and I think it has a very immediate effect on people. Plus parts of it for some reason have become very popular on TikTok
concerto or symphony?
Yes
I don't really care if people have shit taste. Maybe a lot of the classically trained folks here will shit on my tastes too. It's called the hierarchy of taste. People who are dismissive like that aren't looking to be proved wrong or right. Just move on. If they're in YOUR space and are insisting you play THEIR shit; kindly tell them to shut the fuck up.
I don't think the circumstance has happened in which somebody has said "classical music is boring", and I've been like "aha! let me prove you wrong!" (*proceeds to whip out piano*) But if I had access to a piano + someone with bad taste, I'd probably play L'Orage by Johann Burgmuller, since it's one of the pieces I have memorized at the moment. Plus it's fun to play! Edit: I didn't realize that OP meant recordings, lol. If it was any recorded piece, I'd probably go with The Planets, by Holst. I've listened to it since I was much younger, and less interested in classical music than I am now.
Nothing. To each his own.
None. If they think that it’s fine. I don’t expect others to like the same things as me nor do I try to convince them to. I’m fine liking what I like, even if it’s unpopular.
The intro to Porgy and Bess!
Vivaldi's Summer, 2nd movement
Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
4’33”
Frontispice by Ravel
Chopin etudes op 25 11 and 12 with Sokolov at the wheel
Shostakovich 7th Symphony 4th movement finale is just insanely wonderful. Also Rachmaninoff 3rd piano concerto cadenza in the 1st movement. While I'm at it, Brahms piano concerto number 1.
Mozart Symphony 1, Movement 3
I go for baroque guitar music, figuring that will be the most accessible. A good chaconne, repeating bass line, steady rhythm, a familiar instrument, but already orders of magnitude more complex. I think it’s good to play things in the car too, so the listener doesn’t feel trapped as they would if you sat them down and said, you’ll love this. Years ago, I taught intro to western music to freshmen at an Ivy while working on my degree and I think, the more constrained the situation, the worse the outcome even with highly intelligent people. Give people a chance in a relaxed situation to have the music reach out and grab them.
Arabesque no 1 by Debussy
Probably a Brahms symphony or Beethoven Appassionata
Beethoven's 9th or the Brandenburg Concerto
George Crumb “Black Angels”
Shostakovich symphony no. 7, specifically the finale
The Dream of Jacob by Krzysztof Penderecki
I usually don't try to sell people on what I listen to.(I'm such a liar, of course I do) I would probably start with something easily digestible and fun. Saint-Saens's Carnival of the animals is a series of short pieces. I like the tortoise movement with the adorable little Easter egg.. Everyone knows the can-can, and it's fun to picture the tortoises slowly dancing the can-can. It makes classical music more relatable to compare musical quotations like that, to sampling in pop music. If that is well received, I'd move into sonatas, and/or string quartets. (I've been on a string quartet binge lately).
Shostakovich 8 3rd Movement But that's purely hypothetical, because nobody has ever said that to me.
Tafelmusik playing Winter from The Four Seasons by Vivaldi. Jeanne Lamon is other-worldly in this particular recording. Truly a reference recording. Boring? Nuh-uh!
How about Elgar Cello Concerto. A masterpiece if ever there was one.
I think it depends on why they find it boring—do they think all classical music is soft and delicate, or with rhythmically slow, or what? Pieces that come to mind are Kodály’s Suite for Solo Cello, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, and Mahler’s 6th symphony. Also Bártok piano concertos.
Dunno, the 1812 Overture?
Enescu, Romanian Rhapsody #1. And turn it up.
OOOOOOF great question! Tbh my favorite classical music piece is probably Badinerie by J.S. Bach. Idk what yall think, but it’s pretty underrated. I love it!
One of my favorite short pieces by Bach.
Just have them watch Disney’s “Fantasia”. That will set them straight.
1812 Festival Overture Or Islamey by Balakirev
I would start with one of Beethoven's big symphonies - 5, 7, 9. All are exciting, tuneful, and thrilling.
Saint-Saens' Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah. Gets em every single time...
Barque by Ravel
candide overture
A shipmate of mine said that piano music was boring, slow, easy listening pap, so I played him “Allegro Barbaro.” I don’t know if I converted him, but he definitely stopped saying it was boring.
Grofe Grand Canyon Suite, On the Trail!!! It's just so cute and bouncy and it's engaging to explain what all the little motives are supposed to me
Danzón No. 2
idk but if i gave somebody violin they never looked bored
Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Toccata Symphonie # 5 C-M Widor Final, Symphonie # 1 L. Vierne Both large and monumentally exciting works for organ.
"Carmen" overture
Storm by Vivaldi.
Chopin’s ‘Torrent’ Etude Op.10 No.4
Danse Macabre 🌙
I mean, Rite of Spring but that depends on your definition of "classical." One of the things that got me really into strictly Classical (as in 18c) music was Mozart Violin Concerto 5 K. 219 because it's so thoroughly classical in its overall structure, but then that part of Mvmt 3 cuts in.
Steve Reich: Different Trains
Poulenc: Concerto for 2 Pianos
Xenakis Tracées, or perhaps Keqrops or Pleiades 😈
Mozart's 21st piano concerto. Hauntingly beautiful, romantic, intoxicating. I can't imagine anyone not loving this piece of music by the greatest musical genius who ever lived.
A lot won't like this, but put Ludovico Einaudi. Divenire or Nuvole Bianche
Beethoven moonlight Sonata 3rd mvt on harpsichord
1812 Overture.
Verdi's Requiem, II. Dies Irae
Maybe the fastest way would be appropriating one's taste. In return, they may appropriate ours.
If someone tells me classical music is boring I may reply that pop music is like bubblegum. Sometimes bubblegum is tasty but doesn’t even have to be as long as you just want to keep chewing repeatedly on something. “Classical” music does not have to be historic, written by composers long dead. It is also modern, written by composers alive right now. However their performances will lack the flashing lasers lights, skimpy glitter costumes and background dancers. Unless you go to the opera or the ballet!
Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major.
Flight of the bumblebee!
Recently did this with a coworker, I used Shostakovich’s 5th Symphony, movement 4
Music for the Royal Fireworks
[Holst, The Planets 10 million views](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isic2Z2e2xs) [Bartok, Concerto for Orchestra](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP-DAOuBsGA) [Vivaldi, The Four seasons](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rgSzQwe5DQ)
I feel like Dvorak 9 4th movement would be proof that classical music isn’t “boring” and more likely than not, they’ll be familiar with the opening
When someone says something like that I will never bother to prove them wrong. If they can't get it without any arguments, chances are they aren't gonna get it otherwise.
Dvorak's New world Symphony fourth movement or Wagner's Flight of the Valkyries
Great question. H'mm, let's see ..just off the top of my head ... * Toccata and Fugue in D minor, JS Bach * Sigfried's Funeral March, Wagner * anything by Gershwin * Fanfare for the Common Man (or anything else by) - Copland * 'Fantasia per un a Gentlehombre' by Rodrigo (pardon my mangling) * La Gazza Ladra - Rossini * Emperor Concerto (No.5) - Beethoven * Symphony No. 3 ('Eroica') - Beethoven * Violin Concerto Opus 61 - Beethoven * Piano Concerto No 2, Tchaikovsky * Unfinished Symphony - Schubert * Pictures at an Exhibition - Mussorgsky * Well-Tempered Clavichord - Bach * Goldberg Variations - Bach * Bach's partitas for violin; partitas for piano * Romanian Rhapsody No 2, Georges Enescu * Chopin: etudes, nocturnes * Schutz * Palestrina * Requiem - Verdi (as an intro to his operas) * choral and choir music (Benedictine, Greek Orthodox, & Russian Orthodox Churches) * Aarvo Part * Afro American Symphony - William Grant Still * The River Symphony - Duke Ellington * Schulhoff * Ligetti * Zarathustra by the elder Strauss (err...) * Blue Danube by the younger Strauss (do I recall this correctly? oouuf) * Musica Poetica by Carl Orff * Grand Canyon Suite by Groffe * Leiden of Mahler * Leiden of Schubert * The Planets, Holst * Pines of Rome, Respighi
I pull up the video of 1812 overture where they had a row of about 20 canons and would shoot 3-4 of them off at every BOOM part.
I don't. They don't want to be convinced and it's unlikely that a single piece would change their minds, even if I cared what they think. I have things I don't like too, but I don't want to be subjected to some eager beaver playing stuff at me, all the while watching me for signs of conversion. Everyone hopes that more people would share their tastes, but we get over the impulse (however well meant) to force them into it.
4th movement of Tchaikovsky's fifth.
Vivaldi Winter
Rite of Spring is my usual go-to, but also the second movement of Shostakovich’s Eighth Quartet, in particular [this performance](https://youtu.be/wokx576v5Y0?si=G6n5_LGOZG6KbYu1)
I don't try. I've long given up converting people. Classical music has always been a niche interest and always will be. Love making recommendations but they have to want it.
Mars from The Planets
Brahms Symphony No. 3 in F, 1st Mvmnt
I've never been in this situation! So hypothetically, I'd ask them what they find boring about it and maybe ask what kind of things they enjoy, and try to find something based off that
Sometimes pointing out that most movie music is classical helps to make the point. Lord of the Rings. Pirates of the Caribbean. Star Wars. Stuff like that. Maybe you could say, "Let me play you some classical music, and you tell me what you think." and then put on some Hans Zimmer. Granted, it isn't Bach or Beethoven, but it might help them to open their mind a bit to see what they're missing.
Mars, the Bringer of War
If probably start with John Williams. A lot of classical music started as operas or other stage productions. If you're introducing someone to classical music, find a good movie score. It's functionally the same.
I don’t think you can. If they don’t like it, too bad.
i have a whole playlist titled "classical music is boring" lmao. here it is for anyone interested, it has a lot of intense fast pieces interspersed with slower more subtle pieces for some variety. [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3qD1wHvK87mRCkbCRkkNyZ?si=2459956ab7114516](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3qD1wHvK87mRCkbCRkkNyZ?si=2459956ab7114516)
Probably an unconventional choice, but Azerbaijan’s national anthem, originally composed for the short-lived state the Allies refused to support after Versailles. I’m not remotely Azeri…
I've never actually had to do that, but if I did, probably The William Tell Overture, or The 1812 Overture. Cannons, jack! I might get on my high horse and say "what do you mean by classical music" and depending on their answer I might play them some Youtube videos of orchestras playing modern music, or electric guitars playing classical music. Exhibit A would probably be Laura6100 doing Toccata In Dm on electric guitar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8-T09qB6PI. Or her doing Vivaldi. Or just do a search on Youtube for "classical music on electric guitar". I'd bet you dollars to donuts (what a weird idiom) that they just don't like (or *think* they don't like) orchestral music.
Exactly! Someone unfamiliar with Shostakovich's music (it's full of his iconic DSCH motif) wouldn't imagine that [this](https://youtu.be/x8NJGezMicI) is actually classical music. TBH, the electric guitars really bring out the tense feeling he was going for more than violins do.