Customer Reviews

The Wurst of P.D.Q. Bach

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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

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.

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...

PDQ Bach is a satire of serious classical music. By twisting words from opera, or leaving key chords unresolved, or making musicians play their mouthpiece without benefit of the instrument attached, Professor Peter Schickele injects slapstick humor into otherwise serious (and well-played) classical music.

If you have never heard PDQ Bach before, get this CD first. This contains some of his best material, and contains live recordings which I think definitely enhance the listening experience. You get the audience's reactions to what's happening on stage, which makes it all the more funny and gives the new listener a cue as to what is supposed to be funny.

I found an old cassette tape in a drawer this morning and popped it into my car cassette player. It happened to be a recording I made many years ago of this album -- I could barely see the road through the tears in my eyes -- I couldn't stop laughing all the way to work!

I was exposed to PDQ Bach (and Spike Jones) in my formative years, which my children now claim may explain a few things. The CD I purchased from Amazon dot com recently is an upgrade/replacement for the old LP album by this title, which I still have. Peter Schickele has a marvelous comic sense, an obviously deep knowledge of Western music traditions, and very little of the "dignity" which I used to associate with Classical Music.
This album, and indeed all of Peter S's works, are not for those who reverence the classics. It is, however, for anyone who enjoys music: and even more for those who know just enough to appreciate the wild gags Schickele planted here and there.
A parting thought: I've used Schickele's 1712 Overture as a teaching tool, to introduce some of my children to music theory and orchestral composition. (With my relative lack of background, I need all the help I can get.)

My favorite single line of music from this is from "The Unbegun Symphony". Who would think to combine "You are my sunshine", a
tune I have always thought of as sappy sweet, played on violins,
with a background of horns, (I don't know what piece, but it
makes me thing of something noble and civilized) making it a
definitive statement of a benevolent sense of life.
PDQ Bach's other works are delighfully absurd, as are Peter
Schickele's commentaries. (Well I have a new set of friends now)

This is a must-have for connoisseurs of the astutely ridiculous. Beethoven's Fifth with baseball-style commentary, a piece played on double reeds without the benefit of actual woodwind, stolen bars from scores that were certainly never meant to go together. You don't have to be a classical fan to appreciate this - in fact you may be less offended if you're not. Very, very funny, and worth every penny.

My friend and I saw the good Prof. Schickele here in Pasadena last night (March 29th-- AND the conductor of the Pasadena Symphony is Jorge Meister!)-- and the last number on the program was the WONDERFUL "The Seasonings"-- I had a very hard time even after all these years of first hearing this on a REAL record of not singing along with every little tune!!! This piece last night, being sung by singers whom I do not doubt were not even born when I first heard a recording of it, were as good as the ones I remember from my decadent youth on the original recording. Buy this C.D. if only for this piece!

I own this album, and I love it. This is possibly one of the funniest things in existence. PDQ Bach (Peter Schickele) is like Wierd Al for classical music. Of course, to fully appreciate his work, it helps to have some knowledge of classical music already.. you have to know what it is before you can laugh at its being mocked. If you like classical music, and have a sense of humour, you will like this. (Will they really sell Bobby Corno to another orchestra?>)

I'm a high school music teacher and am always looking for ways to make music class a little more interesting. Whether you're trying to teach students or your own children about music, this CD will help you. The Beethoven's 5th broadcast (simulated as a sportscast) is particularly great, but you have to understand something about music before listening to it. It's a great supplemental teaching tool. If you're looking for some fun classical music, P.D.Q. Bach makes it fun and entertaining while maintaining the integrity of the piece. Many different collections of great works and songs are on these CD's and the price is hard to beat. I would suggest you have an inkling about classical music before spending "beaucoup de bucks" (lots of money) on more than one CD of his.