First, I want to thank everyone for responding to my recent queries regarding musicians and bands; I enjoyed reading your posts and I really appreciate them. Now, I am wondering if anyone has seen Peter Schickele [P.D.Q.] in concert, or if anyone has any of his c.d.'s. If you appreciate classical baroque music, then I would strongly recommend that you listen to one of his c.d.'s or - better yet- go see him in concert. As anybody who has seen him can attest, Schickele does parodies of baroque music; he does very skillful and humorous parodies of baroque music. But he is also a very knowledgable and talented person in his own right. In order to do a successful parody of something, a person must be very familiar with what it is he/she is trying to parody. In any case, Schickele's appreciation and love for baroque music is evident in his performances. Because he incorporates a good deal of visual and slap-stick comedy into his performances, I would say that it is easier to appreciate him more fully by attending one of his live performances or by watching him on d.v.d. If you want to purchase onee of his c.d.'s or d.v.d.'s, you should probably look for him under his fictious alter ego's name - P.D.Q. Bach. As Schickele explains, P.D.Q. Bach is the twenty-first child of Johann's twenty children. Again, for anyone who likes baroque music, I would highly recommend that you see P.D.Q. Bach [Schickele] in concert or buy one of his c.d.'s.
Has Anybody Seen "Professor" Peter Schickele/P.D.Q. Bach In Concert?
by Rapunzel 4 Replies latest jw friends
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Xrati
Gee, I have to post here. Although I learned much about "God" from classical music, I'm choosy with my soundtrack. But I like Johann Sebastian Bach, a composer from the baroque period. He's a musical genius. His compositions are sometimes very difficult to perform, like his Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin, but are very beautiful. You should have embedded "Professor" Peter Schickele/P.D.Q. Bach's music, so we can listen to it.
I like this one by Johann Sebastian:
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VoidEater
His pastiches are a delight, especially for those that are familier with the source material (but don't let that stop you - they are wonderful as standalone works, as well).
In a different vein, he wrote the soundtrack for the 1972 SF film Silent Running (starring Bruce Dern, Douglass Turnbull effects), with vocals by Joan Baez on a couple tracks. While easily dismissed, there are a couple haunting gems to be found here, in particular an instrumental called "Drifting". "Rejoice in the Sun" would be the Baez vocal to give a listen to.
Couldn't find any links online, the DVD is widely available but the soundtrack is an eBay (or a SF convention) item pretty much these days.
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Rapunzel
xrati - I'm sorry but I do not know how to embed anything, which definitely qualifies me as being "computer illiterate." I don't know whether to recommend P.D.Q. Bach to you or not. Perhaps you could locate him on "youtube;" and listen to him, and come to your conclusion as to his merit. As Void-eater stated, P.D.Q. Bach is parody and pastiche, but it is loving, knowledgable, delightful parody and pastiche. The name - P.D.Q. Bach - is itself a spoof. It is customary to refer to Bach's family members using their three initials; and of course "p.d.q." means "pretty damned quick." Since you say that you learned a lot about God listening to baroque music, let me say that P.D.Q. Bach is a little like Monty Python's Life of Brian in musical form, with the proviso that P.D.Q. Bach is much more reverant and tasteful.
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Gopher
Here's a brief bit on YouTube that would give you an idea of what Peter Schickele is up to.
He "rediscovered" the works of "PDQ Bach", the 21st of the 20 children of J.S. Bach.