PDQ Bach - The Vegas Years

Original Post Date: May 5, 2007

I have not laughed so hard in a very long time. At one point, I was laughing so hard I was crying!!!! Last night was the funniest concert I've been to in years. The Colorado Symphony Orchestra presented Peter Schickele and PDQ Bach. Oh, my GOSH it was hilarious!!!! That man is pure genius. He's been called one of the greatest satirists of the 20th Century.

I was so excited to go to this concert. I discovered PDQ Bach's music in high school. I couldn't tell you the first thing I ever hear of his (Possibly "Dance of the Cute Little Wood Sprites"?) but the first work I performed in was "Grand Serenade for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion". How many songs do you know that require people to just play on their instrument's mouth piece, or that have one of the sections gargling water? And where the drummers get to throw percussion equipment everywhere? It's a hysterical song!

And Peter Schickele is a hysterical man! He claims to have discovered PDQ Bach's music, but you know he's really writing it. PDQ is said to be the 21st of JS Bach's 20 children. There's a long story about him that's so funny. Sometimes you wonder if Peter Schickele is right in the head. Well, of course he is! The man is a musical genius! He went to Julliard, for heaven's sake. And taught there!! Now in his early 70s, he's still as much of a nut as always. In his younger days, he would swing onto the stage on a rope at the beginning of the concert. Last night, he came out and the orchestra kept playing the same chord over and over and again. He tried to get them to stop, but they kept playing it. Finally, he was wandering around on stage and noticed a big extension cord plugged in. He unplugged and the orchestra died out. Then after a few words, he got up on the podium to start the first song. Nothing happened. He had to plug the orchestra back in before they could start playing again. This was just the beginning of an evening full of belly laughs. If you ever get a chance to go to a concert, or just listen to the CDs, you won't be disappointed. Being a music major, I got many more jokes than the average concert-goer, but you don't have to be a musician to find PDQ Bach....and Peter Schickele...absolutely fall-down-funny!!