My classical music peeve - tempo

Variety is the spice of life. I'm glad there are so many performers who can illuminate a piece in so many ways with their interpretations. I used to be critical of tempo and other choices, now I'm more open-minded and accepting. Usually.

Reminds me of a friend of mine who dislikes classical music, which you don't. It isn't just tempo, he dislikes the wide dynamic range. He's used to the wall of sound from the pop music of his day. Variation from very loud to very soft sounds crazy to him.

I so understand, NxNWRocks. I'm relieved to learn that I'm not the only one who feels this way. Once in a blue moon, I will hear a rendition of a piece of which I previously had a particular tempo set in my head...and prefer the new one. For example, my definitive recording of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 was (Sir) Thomas Beecham's (don't remember which orchestra; I used to listen to it on my parents' old 78-rpm records, which will tell you this didn't happen yesterday). Somewhere in the last couple of years, though, I fell in love with the version performed by Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, and it has become my measuring stick for that symphony. But most of the time, I'm much more likely to mutter (or yell) at the conductor or soloist, "What--did you make a bet you could get through this piece faster than anybody else?" or "Could you snap it up? I'd like to get on with my life!"