Customer Reviews

Peter Schickele Presents An Evening With P.D.Q. Bach

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This is my favorite P.D.Q. Bach recording. "Iphigenia in Brooklyn" is not only very funny; it's also very clever. I don't sense the same cleverness in more recent P.D.Q. Bach recordings; Peter Schickele seems to have run out of gas. Back when this was made, though, he was at the top of his art. What's funny about "Iphigenia," like any good parody, is how it's done with a straight face. John Ferrante is perfect as the "bargain counter tenor," forced to sing within a ridiculous range while double reeds (sans instruments) intone lugubriously around him. The whole thing smacks of Handel's more serious choral works, turned to utter silliness.

Though the laughter in this live recording sometimes distracts from the music, it is still P.D.Q. and the Prof. at some of their highest hilarity. The Concerto for Horn and Hardart is one of P.D.Q.'s pieces that relies more on the work of a collection of humorous instruments than clever music but is still a treat to listen to(One wonders what the Hardart looked like in performance). Iphegenia In Brooklyn manages to combine both P.D.Q.'s trademark "devious instruments" with wit sharp as a tack. The highlight being the clever recitative "Oh ye gods..." and the aria "running nose". The gem on this disc remains to be the Quodlibet by Professor Peter Schickele, whose skills in "borrowing" themes has yet to be matched. This disc is a must have for any serious (if there can be one) fan of P.D.Q. Bach!

Curses. I'd planned to entitle this "Vintage PDQ" but some other reviewer beat me to it.

I too first heard this many, many years ago. And I still hum along with it, particularly portions of Shickele's own "Quodlibet." ("Be prepared to hear things you've heard before," Professor Schickele warns the audience.

This really is a unique comedy genre. As an acquaintance with a degree from Julliard from which Schickele is also a graduate said, "You and I could tell a story and people would be bored. Peter tells the same story and everyone is in stitches." That describes this, maybe the first of the PDQ Bach collection. "PDQ was the last of Johann Sebastian's twenty odd children. He's also the oddest."

DO be prepared to hear things you've heard before. Be prepared even to remember some of the mixture of themes that make up the Quodlibet. And be prepared to laugh. This is great stuff.

I was first introduced to the "artistry" of P.D.Q. Bach in the late '70s via "The Wurst of P.D.Q. Bach" compilation. That album is long gone, so, now that I'm going through my mid-life "transition", I'm rediscovering good ol' P.D.Q. via the original Vanguard recordings. This is, to my knowledge, the first of the P.D.Q. Bach recordings, and it is truly a side-splitting classic. The cantata, "Iphigenia in Brooklyn", including Schickele's introduction, is to me one of the funniest recordings of any kind ever made. The "Concerto for Horn and Hardart" is also absolutely hilarious. WARNING: if you listen to this while driving, make sure you're on a road with a good, wide paved shoulder. You will likely need it so you can pull off to recover from a fit of hysterical laughter.

I first met PDQ Bach in The Intimate PDQ Bach and An Hysteric Return. When I spotted this I had to have it. The Concerto for Horn and Hardart (whatever that is) is wonderful, as is John Ferrante. However, I prefer The Unbegun Symphony to the Quodlibet. I listen to a classical station, and I can't hear Mozart's Jupiter Symphony without expecting Ta-ra-ra-boom-dee-ay!

Although some of the published reviews flirt with the idea, I have never heard anyone come right out and say it--Schikele is a great composer! Not just in his "serious" works (of which I know comparatively little) but HERE, in PDQ Bach! Like Sir Arthur Sullivan, there is precious little chance that Schikele will someday achieve fame for the works he is less famous for--and there is no reason why he should! This particular recording is certainly among the best, but there are many other great works scattered through his oeuvre. One more comment--Schikele is one of the four all-time greatest masters of counterpoint--the others being Mahler, Conlon Nancarrow, and--you can guess the other.

I begrudge Schickele for the applause-junkie impulse that presumably led him to make live recordings instead of studio recordings. It pains me to hear an audience's laughter sullying Schickele's masterpieces and obscuring John Ferrante's achingly beautiful voice (if I can say that without sounding overtly homoerotic). IPHIGENIA is Ferrante's finest moment. In a career that included the role of Baba-the-Turk in THE RAKE'S PROGRESS.

HORN & HARDART contains a 14-note motif with an oddly tensioned bass-harmony. This motif is played approximately 3 times. Once on the actual Horn & Hardart itself. That weird bass-harmony could only have been written by Schickele. It is (you guessed it) Schickele-esque. And it was written by a highly original genius who has spent far too much time slumming in a genre that is beneath him. For Schickele at his absolute best, let me refer you to a masterpiece called THE FANTASTIC GARDEN. Which hasn't even been transferred yet to CD, fer pete's sake. Look for an old vinyl copy at a college record library.

I remember the original release that I listened to in High School. After 20 years, I'm still humming Iphigenia In Brooklyn to myself oftener than I care to admit. Peter's later works don't have the zany joy of the earlier stuff.