md
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response 200 of 203:
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May 7 13:50 UTC 1996 |
Anybody else like comedy in classical music? I love it all, from
Victor Borge to P.D.Q. Bach.
My favorites used to be the Hoffnung Festivals from the 1950s, which I
believe have all been rereleased on CD now. After Gerard Hoffnung
died, there was one last Hoffnung Festival in his memory (also
rereleased on CD) which was very much in the Hoffnung spirit.
For example, it was announced that Sir William Walton would conduct an
excerpt from his oratorio "Belshazzar's Feast," which had been Gerard
Hoffnung's favorite piece. Imagine a huge orchestra and full chorus
on the stage, and out comes William Walton in tails and white tie.
Solemn applause, followed by hushed expectation as Sir William picks
up the baton. Then he conducts one beat, on which the chorus shouts
the word "SLAIN!" at the top of their voices; and Sir William puts
down the baton, turns around, bows to the stunned and just-starting-
to-catch-on audience, and walks off the stage, never to return. The
laughter rises to total hysteria and goes on, and on, and on...
Other favorite comedic moments:
Victor Borge announcing that he will now play Claire de Lune, and
adding that "Claire de Lune is a piece during which most people
cough." He then repeatedly tries to start playing it, playing against
the coughing in the audience in such a way that he never gets more
than a couple of bars in, sometimes just the first chord.
Peter Schikele, on one of his P.D.Q. Bach albums, treating the first
movement of Beethoven's 5th symphony as if it were a football game,
complete with two announcers (the smart one and the dumb one) giving
the excited play-by-play.
The Hoffnung Festival in which they have legendary horn player Dennis
Brain play Mozart on a coiled up garden hose with a mouthpiece stuck
in one end.
Victor Borge announcing that he will play "Happy Birthday" in the
manner of various classical composers, and inviting requests from the
audience. Somebody shouts "Sibelius!" and Borge snaps, "Who asked
*you*?"
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mpeacock
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response 201 of 203:
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May 8 02:38 UTC 1996 |
I saw Schikele the last time he was in Ann Arbor about 3 years ago, and also
saw him with the Portland Symphony in the late 70's. Masterful performances,
but the concertmaster in Portland walked off the stage when Schikele entered,
in some kind of eleteist huff. I still laugh at the Beethoven's 5th piece,
even though I listen to it at least twice a year.
I also saw Borge with the Portland Symphony (that's Oregon), and he was also
great, but he was still doing some of the material he did in the 50's on
television, like the punctuated speech bit. Schikele is the master at
both opera and classical parody.
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md
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response 202 of 203:
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Jun 3 15:39 UTC 1996 |
Re Sam Barber, I read an interesting review in the flabby British
record review magazine Gramophone the other day, of the new
Slatkin/St. Louis CD of Barber's Violin Concerto, Cello Conerto
and "Capricorn" Concerto for flute, trumpet, oboe and strings.
Like most British publications, Gramophone will devote thirty
pages to nonentities like Arnold Bax or Harrison Birtwistle for
every sentence about geniuses like Samuel Barber or Elliott
Carter. This is understandable: if I edited a music mag, the
ratios would be reversed and Brit readers would be complaining
about *their* neglected geniuses. Gramophone's neglect of
American music makes the occasional Barber piece all the more
interesting.
This reviewer makes the obligatory remarks about the flood of new
Barber recordings, and how it was only a matter of time before
Barber's Violin Concerto entered the standard repertory. The
review is quite impressionistic: the opening of the first
movement is like a conversation picked up in mid-sentence; the
piano arpeggio that starts it is from some elegant salon; at the
start of the second movement, all the other instruments in the
orchestra look on enviously as the oboe gets to play that
magnificent theme; and so on. Then she adds that the popularity
of the Violin Concerto shouldn't surprise anyone, "considering
that it contains two of the most beautiful melodies of the 20th
century." She means the main themes of the first and second
movements.
This is a new Barber fan in the throes of what a theologian would
call "first fervor," and of course she has my sympathies; but her
comment about those two melodies is dead on. Melodic beauty
wasn't Barber's only strong suit, but it is certainly what sets
him apart from most other 20th century composers. That, and his
way with cadences (which is partly what makes the melodies so
beautiful), and the gorgeous Greek-vase-like shapes of his
compositions, from the humblest song to the most grandiose
symphonic movement.
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