2026, Family, home, Music, Uncategorized

Irritating Music

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Yesterday Husband and I heard Ravel’s Bolero on MPR. Husband commented, somewhat in jest “Friends don’t make friends listen to Bolero“. I understand that many people find the piece irritating. I recently learned that Ravel was inspired to write the piece after hearing the weaving machines in one of his father’s factories. His father was an engineer and manufacturer, and I can hear the rhythym of the machines in the music. I find that interesting, and the piece has become far more pleasant for me to listen to.

I played bass clarinet one season in the Fargo Moorhead Symphony when I was in college, and we played Bolero. Our music was rented from a national music rental company that rented music to orchestras all over the country. There are interminable sections of rests in the piece, and written into my score in pencil on about the third page of the piece were the words “Nudge Walt”. I asked the clarinet player next to me about it, and he said it was probably in reference to a bassoon player in the Philadelphia Orchestra for the bass clarinet player to alert him that his part was starting. I guess that many orchestra players have written into their contracts that they don’t have to perform Bolero.

I find most classical music wonderful, except perhaps that of Anton Bruckner, who I find ponderous and boring, and Phillip Glass, who I don’t understand at all. I also find I appreciate music the more I know about the composer. My favorite composers right now are Bartok, Sibelius, and Janacek.

Who are your favorite and least favorite composers? What kind of music do you listen to the most?

27 thoughts on “Irritating Music”

  1. Like you, I don’t pretend to understand Philip Glass at all. The Blossom Theatre at Kent State did a play he wrote the music for that involved aliens and Audubon. It was strange and I can’t tell you what it was about either- but there was much hairspray involved🤷.

    I love lots of music- classical, folk, whatever was on the radio in the 70s & 80s … even some country, especially early stuff- the Ken Burns about country is a personal favorite, maybe because that was what was on the radio in Western Iowa when I was growing up and radio was less compartmentalized.

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  2. yesterday at aris piano lesson the practice room had two big boxes full of classical music scores from the 40’s and 50’s, i am familiar with the publisher from all the bach warm up piano exercises and scales they print. i asked the teacher what that was all about and she told me one of her elderly students brought them in because she and her husband had played together for 40+ years and he died. she went through the music and this is what she wanted to part ways with now. i looked over 4 or 5 pieces. mozart,schubert, rackmoninoff. debussey and a couple others i was curious about and the complexity and intensity was incredible. i put one up on the music stand in front of my grandson and told him to play and his jaw dropped.
    the chords, progressions. and difficulty was way way more than the beginning piano book he is working on today.
    i love bernstein, copeland, debussey, js bach, vivaldi, satie, and am impressed by many other classical composers i am not very familiar with. bolero is a good meditation piece for me. i like it a lot. i would not mind at all having that play in the background of my lifescape as i wandered around. im more a john prine, joni mitchell kind of guy with dylan lyle lovett tom waits down deep. sprinkle a little guy clark stevie nicks james taylor neil diamond miles davis thelonius monk, it does go on and on doesnt it. on our wednesday night guitar group we have a wonderful mix if taste and the other bring in stuff i love but would never havve thought of and i have a leon russel, dr john or john sebastian tune pop in out of nowhere, never sebalius or glass. music is important. i just told ari im signing him up for cello this summer and he was very excited. he also wants to check out french horn snd guitar but he still has lots of time, im studying scales to help me with guitar leads. i studied it in the 70s but it made my brain hurt so i stopped. it makes my brain hurt now too but i like it

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  3. I must disagree with husband about Bolero. I think it is an amazing piece of music. All my bandie friends would get together to listen to the LP over and over. I loved that piece before we played it in high school band at HBC in Hills. We had a snare drummer who was amazing and never got tired of playing it.
    The least favorite, if I have one, is Vivaldi. To me all his music sounds so similar, especially the Four Seasons. I can’t tell one season from the other.
    I nearly only listen to MPR Classical. I have five radios around the place plus ear phones for mowing all of which are tuned to MPR. We are also members and have been for years. My go to enjoyment.
    By the way Bruckner is not bad either. Talk about ponderous but incredible is Wagner. Like Bolero Wilhelm Richard’s music builds and builds into amazing climaxes.
    Let classical music live on.
    Paul Skattum

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      1. I now live in Rochester but grew up in Hills, west to St.Catherines all my young life.
        Sorry my high school principal is probably in Heaven. I graduated in 1966; mid last century. Ufta1

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  4. I have gotten away from listening to classical music (or any music) because we currently have no working radio, have to rely on streaming which I just don’t do much. I love lots of different types of music, and my list would be kind of like tim’s – will try and come up with some favorites later…

    TLGMS (The Late Great Morning Show for the uninitiated) opened me up to plenty of new stuff. I would like to explore good jazz, as there are a couple of places here in Winona that have live jazz jams monthly.

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  5. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    One of my favorite pieces of classical music is Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A Minor. That piece was my sophomore recital piece and I know it inside and out. I played it with a piano accompanist, but I always fantasized about playing it with an actual orchestra. I loved it when the Adagio movement was used as the background music in Out of Africa. I do not remember much of the plot of the movie, but I remember the music. Now and then I stream the piece just for fun. Here it is from YouTube:

    I find a lot of jazz to be very irritating which is so unfortunate because husband was a jazz trombone player for years, until 2 years ago. (Difficulty playing and keeping up was one of the symptoms that allowed us to finally make sense of his symptoms, which were scattered and hard to unify into a diagnosis of LBD.). In particular I find jazz violin and jazz saxophone in an upper range to just grate upon every last nerve. It is not all jazz–I love some big band arrangements.

    Over my lifetime, the music now labeled as Americana is my consistent favorite. I was introduced to Bob Dylan as a young teen, then Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Joni Mitchell, in quick succession and there I stayed. MPR, Prairie Home Companion, and TLGMS reinforced all this with the wild creativity of an uncensored new venture in the 1970s. Sigh. I miss all of that.

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  6. Thank you! This is wonderful, interesting, funny and I FULLY AGREE with HUSBAND. Although I love Ravel, I can’t abide Bolero. (Your comment about industrial looms and the “Nudge Wait” note is helpful, though.

    In this era of political insanity I am so grateful for MPR Classical and all the classical streams. They preserve my spirit.

    Thank you all. I’m a relative newbie, so I have to figure out how to log in. This is Sherilee’s neighbor, Nick 🙂

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    3. Welcome to the trail, Nick. I’m in the camp of Bolero avoiders, but I’ll admit the “Nudge Walt” note made me chuckle. Hope you’ll chime in whenever you’re inspired to.

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  7. Have you ever seen the films Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi from the early 1980s? Philip Glass wrote the musical scores for them. Koyaanisqatsi was my favorite. It’s a Hopi word which means “life out of balance,” or “chaos.” It was an eye-opening film for me. It’s done with an evolving series of videos, put together in sequence from pristine scenes of our planet through human civilization, to the impact we’ve had on the planet. It makes you think that we’re completely insane. I saw it at the Lagoon Theater. The Philip Glass ensemble was live in the pit. I loved it. It permanently changed the way I see the world, and our role in it. It’s about an hour and 20 minutes long, and I recommend it if you’ve never seen it.

    I like Bach, Mozart, Telemann, Vivaldi, Chopin, Debussy, and Beethoven, and more. I do NOT like Wagner. I’m with those who find Bolero annoying.

    I also love all the folk, roots, and early folk rock musicians already named, plus early Simon and Garfunkel; Peter, Paul, and Mary; the Kingston Trio; The Limelighters; Dylan; Prine; Joni Mitchell; Joan Baez; and many other folk musicians. I’m a huge bluegrass fan, but not so much jazz – although I do try.

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  9. Bolero doesn’t bug me if it’s only played occasionally. Hearing it brings back the image of Torvill & Dean skating to it in the 1984(?) Olympics. I think it was also heard in the movie “10”.

    I listen to MPR classical pretty much exclusively. There aren’t many composers I don’t like (Glass is one). I don’t like atonal music, some of the more contemporary composers, and most string quartets (no matter who the composer was).

    Like Jacque, I am not a fan of jazz – though big band is OK.
    Re: Opera – I’m fine with the orchestral stuff (overtures, etc) and some of the choruses. Nearly all soprano arias are like fingernails on the blackboard for me.

    I still love the rock and roll of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. I also enjoy folk music and a lot of movie soundtracks. Country music does nothing for me – ugh!

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  11. Are any of you familiar with Jacob Collier? He’s an extraordinarily gifted young musician from England. I find his work fascinating, inspiring and challenging. His joy in creating music, infectious. Here’s a video of him performing with an orchestra and audience in San Francisco:

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  12. I am a bubblegum pop, folk, bluegrass, Americana fan. This is what I listen to most – and almost always in the kitchen when I’m cooking/baking. And if it’s funny, sign me up. Other “listening” times – I’m usually doing a book.

    I have always liked Bolero and it was solidified for me when Torvill and Dean won the gold in ice dance using it. (I was going to post the video here, since I’ve watched it MANY times, but decided not to for all those who don’t care for it).
    Instead, I’m posting my favorite Divers song:

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  13. OT – how does someone who is competent in the kitchen end up with a nasty gash on her finger from a jumble pasta shell? It hurts too.

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