In his Notebooks, Chekhov wrote: "Of some writers each work taken
separately is brilliant, but taken as a whole they are indefinite;
of others each particular work represents nothing outstanding; but,
for all that, taken as a whole they are distinct and brilliant."

After spending some time considering this in the context of writers,
I realized that it probably is equally valid (or equally invalid if
one prefers) when applied to composers.

I might suggest Chopin as a candidate for the first type.  I love almost
all of his shorter pieces, but find prolonged listening to the body of
them diminishes their sparkling beauty of the individual works.  In the
second category I might nominate the Shostakovich symphonies.

Zeke

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