 Along with Anton Rubinstein, and opposed to the forward-looking and nationalist tendencies of The Five, Zaremba remained suspicious, even hostile, to new trends in music.Instead, he attempted to preserve what he saw as the best in the Western tradition in the immediate past.According to Herman Laroche Zaremba idolized Beethoven, particularly the late works, but his personal tastes had progressed no further than Mendelssohn.