The Wurst of P.D.Q. Bach

P.D.Q. [pseudonym of Peter Schickele] Bach (Composer), Peter Schickele (Conductor), Jorge Mester (Conductor), John Ferrante (Performer), Chamber Orchestra (Performer), I Virtuosi Hoople (Performer), Heavy Opera Company (Performer), Leonid Hambro (Performer), Marlena Kleinman (Performer), Royal P.D.Q. Bach Festival Orchestra (Orchestra), University of Southern North Dakota Orchestra (Orchestra), Lorna Haywood (Performer), Will Jordan (Performer), Bill Macy (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: John Ferrante, Chamber Orchestra, I Virtuosi Hoople, Heavy Opera Company, Leonid Hambro, et al.
• Orchestra: Royal P.D.Q. Bach Festival Orchestra, University of Southern North Dakota Orchestra
• Conductor: Peter Schickele, Jorge Mester
• Composer: P.D.Q. [pseudonym of Peter Schickele] Bach
• Audio CD (December 3, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Vanguard Records
• ASIN: B000000EDR
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #78,495 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #58 in Music > Classical > Instruments > Brass > French Horn

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Concerto for Horn & Hardart, S27

2. Iphigenia in Brooklyn, cantata, S53162

3. New Horizons in Music Appreciation for orchestra & commentators: Beethoven's Fifth Symphony

4. What's My Melodic Line?

5. Triumphs of Thusnelda

Disc: 2

1. Unbegun Symphony

2. Stoned Guest, half-act opera: highlights

3. Toot Suite for calliope, 4 hands, S212§, (O. K Chorale)

4. Seasonings, oratorio, S1/2 Tsp

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One for the ages: An Introduction to PDQ Bach, November 9, 2001

By 

Archimedes "archimedesz" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Wurst of P.D.Q. Bach (Audio CD)

This was my very first PDQ Bach album, and still my favorite.
Thanks Kevin!!! There are things here that Peter Schickele (PDQ Bach's ghost composer) has never equalled, at least not in the few other records that I have heard or own.

For first-timers: this is an excellent introduction to PDQ Bach. The trouble with some of the other collections is that they don't have the broad variety that this one has. (And the laugh track--yes, there is one--does add to it.)

Many of the jokes are better enjoyed by people familiar with the warhorses of classical music: Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, Haydn, Tchaikovsky, and so forth. (But sometimes just listening to Schickele cracks me up.)

Quite honestly, PS's humor is rather eccentric. It ranges from subtle to heavy-handed to over-the-top, but once you've heard it, you need to keep hearing it every once in a while. For instance, the aria "Now is the season" from the Seasonings pops into my head for no reason at all, and then keeps running through my head for a week. (Incidentally, this aria is beautiful, and belongs in the Soprano/Mezzo-soprano repertoire. It is a spoof of Scarlatti-era arias--or is it Purcell?--and PS has got the harmonies just right. Hey, if I was a Soprano, I'd sing it!)

I own the double-LP (a beautifully produced set on Vanguard; the CD can't possibly match it in style!) and have been searching for the CD for years, and never thought to look here!

If you like PDQ Bach, this album is an excellent introduction to PDQ Bach for your friends (and enemies).

Arch

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BEWARE this title!, February 11, 2000

By 

"capy_head" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wurst of P.D.Q. Bach (Audio CD)

This is a particularly dangerous album; be warned. They start you with this CD, then before you know it, you're buying recording after recording of PDQ Bach and Peter Schickele. While I don't know that these necessarily are the best (or wurst) of the full collection (continued excavations reveal material as funny and literate as when first discovered in the mid-50's), it is certainly the definitive exposition and invitation to the works of PDQ Bach. I'm listening to it as I write this, and it's as wonderful as it was when my mom got me hooked on it twenty years ago: I received a copy for my birthday, but didn't listen to it for several weeks after. While doing homework one evening, I put it on as background music, not realizing the subconscious effect it would have on me for the rest of my life. I'm scarred to this day.

If you enjoy classical music and a good belly laugh, this isn imperative addition to your collection.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New Horizons in Music Appreciation Indeed..., August 7, 2002

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Wurst of P.D.Q. Bach (Audio CD)

It was while sitting in Music Appreciation in college that I was first introduced to the work of P.D.Q. Bach, specifically the track "New Horizons in Music Appreciation: Beethoven's Fifth Symphony," in which Professor Peter Schickele and Robert Dennis serve as the announcers for a spirited game involving the first movement of that particular work. Not only was it funny ("He's playing a cadenza! He's out of his mind! He thinks its an oboe concerto!") it was also more informative than the professor ("I get the feeling we are going to hear a lot of that four note motif, Bob").

One of the things about P.D.Q. Bach is that the more I learned about classical music the funnier I found it. Yes, I have enough memories of my mother insisting on playing the Texaco Opera quiz throughout the house on a Saturday afternoon to appreciate why "What's my Melodic Line?" and its exploration of the mysteries of the Baroque is funny, but it was not until I saw "Amadeus" and listened to "The Marriage of Figaro" that I understood why the recitatias in the Cantata "Iphigenia in Brooklyn" were hysterical (I was tempted to share this story of Iphigenia with my Classical Mythology class, but given their tentativeness to explore Euripides I did not think it wise to have them get neck deep in Schickele). Then again, the Madrigal "My Bonnie Lass She Smelleth" really needs no explanation, so there is something for everybody here, no matter what you level of understanding of classical music.

In discussing the works of P.D.Q. Bach with others it becomes clear that you can no more put together an idea collection of his "best" work than you can for lesser composers like Mozart or Beethoven. But you are certainly going to find a few old favorites and maybe one or two pieces that you have hitherto managed to avoid.

Now, if we can only get a University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople t-shirt...