This week’s focus is musical buffoonery! Music is a language, and like all others, it has its jokes, witticisms, and puns. For composers, clowning around with music takes the same skills as writing a great symphony. And these fun, charming works show the genius of the composers who have written them. We will hear musical clowning around from Mozart, Puccini, Haydn, and PDQ Bach.
Clowning Around
Clown in the middle of a fair
Playlist
Episode 1
Rameau, Jean-Philippe: Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin “La Poule”
William Christie, harpsichord
Nouvelles Suites de Pièces de Clavecin (1728)
HM 901121
5:07
Satie, Erik: Parade
Minneapolis Symphony/Dorati
Dorati Conducts Satie/Milhaud/Auric/Françaix/Fetler
Merc 434335
14:23
Stravinsky, Igor: Pulcinella (Concert Suite)
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Stravinsky – Pulcinella Suite – Dumbarton Oaks – 8 Instrumental Miniatures
DG 445541
22:34
Satie, Erik: “Sonatine Bureaucratique”
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
The Magic of Satie
Decca 470 290
3:12
Stravinsky, Igor: Pulcinella (excerpt)
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Stravinsky – Pulcinella Suite – Dumbarton Oaks – 8 Instrumental Miniatures
DG 445541
4:28
Stravinsky, Igor: Pulcinella (excerpt)
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Stravinsky – Pulcinella Suite – Dumbarton Oaks – 8 Instrumental Miniatures
DG 445541
1:04
Episode 2
Barber, Samuel: Souvenirs “The Two Step” (excerpts)
John Browning and Leonard Slatkin, piano
Symphony No. 1 / Piano Concerto
RCA 60732
1:32
Piston, Walter: Suite from The Incredible Flutist
St. Louis Symphony/Slatkin
Symphony No. 6 & The Incredible Flutist & Three New England Sketches
RCA 60798
16:42
Stravinsky, Igor: “Circus Polka”
London Philharmonic/Mackerras
The Rite of Spring; Fireworks, Op.4; Circus Polka; Greetings Prelude “Happy Birthday”
EMI Eminence EMX 2126
3:35
Stravinsky, Igor: “Greeting Prelude” (excerpt)
London Philharmonic/Mackerras
The Rite of Spring; Fireworks, Op.4; Circus Polka; Greetings Prelude “Happy Birthday”
EMI Eminence EMX 2126
:53
Ibert, Jacques: Divertissement
Cincinnati Pops/Kunzel
Offenbach: Gaite Parisienne – Ibert: Divertissement
Telarc 80294
15:06
Bach, PDQ: March of the Cute Little Wood Sprites
Turtle Mountain Naval Base Tactical Wind Ensemble
Music For an Awful Lot of Winds And Percussion
Tel 80307
1:13
Bach, PDQ: March of the Cute Little Wood Sprites
Turtle Mountain Naval Base Tactical Wind Ensemble
Music For an Awful Lot of Winds And Percussion
Tel 80307
2:52
Barber, Samuel: Souvenirs (excerpts)
John Browning and Leonard Slatkin, piano
Symphony No. 1 / Piano Concerto
RCA 60732
8:16
Episode 3
Mozart, Wolfgang: Don Giovanni Act I (excerpt)
Vienna Philharmonic/Muti Ramey, bass
Don Giovanni
EMI 54255
5:45
Donizetti, Gaetano: Don Pasquale (excerpt)
Philharmonia Orchestra/Muti Nucci, baritone; Bruscantini, baritone
Don Pasquale
EMI 47068
6:06
Puccini, Giacomo: Gianni Schicchi (excerpts)
London Symphony Orchestra/Pappano; Gheorghiu, soprano
La Rondine – Morire – Le Villi
EMI 56587
9:01
Puccini, Giacomo: Gianni Schicchi (excerpts)
London Symphony Orchestra/Pappano; Gheorghiu, soprano
La Rondine – Morire -Le Villi – Auszüge
EMI 56587
2:05
Leoncavallo, Ruggiero: Pagliacci (excerpts)
La Scala/Prêtre
Pagliacci -Der Bajazzo – Paillasse
Phil 411484
10:01
Wagner, Richard: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (excerpt)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Solti; Opie, baritone
Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg
Lon 452606
5:38
Wagner, Richard/ Anna Russell: The Ring of the Nibelungs (an analysis)
Anna Russell, piano
The Anna Russell Album?
Sony 47252
3:25
Bach, PDQ: “Last Tango in Bayreuth”
Tennessee Bassoon Quartet
Music For an Awful Lot Of Winds And Percussion
Telarc 80307
2:40
Rossini, Gioachino: Il barbiere di Siviglia (excerpt)
London Symphony Philharmonic; Milnes, baritone
Il Barbiere Di Siviglia
EMI 66040
4:34
Episode 4
Mozart, Wolfgang: “A Musical Joke” I.
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Serenade, K. 361 (“Gran Partita”) / A Musical Joke, K. 522
Arab 6617
3:54
Mozart, Wolfgang: “A Musical Joke” II. Adagio (excerpt)
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Serenade, K. 361 (“Gran Partita”) / A Musical Joke, K. 522
Arab 6617
1:02
Mozart, Wolfgang: “A Musical Joke” Finale (excerpts)
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Serenade, K. 361 (“Gran Partita”) / A Musical Joke, K. 522
Arab 6617
4:37
Hindemith, Paul: Ludus Tonalis (excerpts)
Olli Mustonen, piano
Visions Fugitives / Ludus Tonalis
Lon 444803
14:32
Haydn, Joseph: Symphony No. 60, “Il Distratto”
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Symphonies No. 60 “Il Distratto” • No. 91
DG 437783
25:06
Episode 5
Dukas, Paul: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Berlin Philharmonic
Symphony No.3 “Organ” / L’Apprenti Sorcier
DG 419 617-5
10:38
Kodaly, Zoltan: Hary Janos I, II, IV, V, VI
Montreal Symphony
Háry János Suite – Dances of Galánta – Peacock Variations – Dances Of Marosszék
Lon 444322
17:51
Mozart, Wolfgang (arr.), Chopin, Frederic -arr. Gerard Hoffnung: Hoffnung Music Festival (excerpts)
Hoffnung Symphony Orchestra
Hoffnung’s Music Festivals
EMI 63302
1:24
Mozart, Wolfgang (arr.), Chopin, Frederic -arr. Gerard Hoffnung: Hoffnung Music Festival (excerpts)
Hoffnung Symphony Orchestra
Hoffnung’s Music Festivals
EMI 63302
5:19
Strauss, Richard: Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28
Philharmonia Orchestra/Leinsdorf
The Sound Of Wagner & Strauss
EMI 65613
14:31
Sousa, John Philip: Liberty Bell March (excerpt)
Eastman Wind Ensemble/Fennell
Fennell Conducts Sousa Marches
Mercury 434300
1:52