Post by Gary McGathPost by Kip WilliamsPost by Gary McGathAs you might guess, the Missa Hilarious isn't for anyone who's offended
by the Vatican Rag.
My favorite part is the Yriekay, containing both the memorable
"K-k-k-Kyrie, K-k-k-Kyrie..." and "Kriste! Kriste! Jesu H. Kriste!"
Actually, I'm not that impressed with the whole thing. It just plays
around a bit with the words and counts on shock value to make its
effect. "The Seasonings," for instance, is a much better musical send-up
of the grand Baroque style.
Well, I'm not that impressed "with the whole thing," either. It's
been years since I listened to two of the movements. I like the
"Yriekay" and the "Gloria" but the "Hosanna" and the "Angus
Dei"[sic] left me cold. Still, I am very fond of the two movements
that I don't dislike, so I suppose we disagree.
My favorite PDQ Bach; let's see. Probably that would be the Concerto
for Piano vs. Orchestra, which I audiotaped in lo-fi from an
appearance Schickele made with Fiedler and the Pops, and along with
the hilarious onstage antics, there is some music that would stand
on its own as good PDQ. The unresolved opening theme, the giddy
wanderings from key to key, the flippant cadences, the cadenza for
every single instrument except the piano, the one-note theme, the
warmup before the second round... movement... the beatnik theme in
the second movement, the crescendo that threatens to become violent,
and the insidiously hidden entrance of the marching Saints. I wish
he'd make a video of the concert and sell it. PBS could use it for a
fund-raiser.
I still like the second album a lot. I've performed a couple of
numbers from of "The Seasonings," as discontinuo player/bargain
counter tenor (in recitatives) in a cabaret setting at the
Goethe-Institut in Houston. The main performers were the ladies
singing Alto and Soprano. There was another gentleman who sang the
Bass parts in the recitatives and doubled on slide whistle. Besides
performing, I also happened to have an electric reed organ that
could be carried in. And a slide whistle. (A man for all seasonings
there.) We entered in a dignified manner. The Bass came in with the
slide whistle, I followed with the bench, and the ladies carried the
reed organ in. We did "Bide thy Thyme" and "Summer is a cummin seed"
with appropriate bridges.
After that, we watched the rest of the show and an award ceremony. I
was on a fairly strict timetable that night, as I had to go in for a
lower GI in the morning, and was to take a powerful purgative at a
precise time, which I did. I tried to hurry out before the awards,
but one of the ladies seemed to want to stay, and since I couldn't
get my instrument out by myself, I had to sit while people thanked
each other for a long, long time. I survived, but after a certain
point I wasn't really able to think about much except not exploding.
20 years later, I still cringe a little at the recollection.
Hmmm. I think my favorite piece from the second album is the
Pervertimento for Bagpipes, Bicycle and Balloons. It's just good music.
The Toot Fugue (from the Toot Suite for Callipe Four Hands) is
another favorite that I have played for years. Usually, I play along
with a recording -- I've gone from taping one part to playing one
part into a recording keyboard -- but I got to play it in a recital
once at Dad's keyboard club in Kerrville, TX, with Dad on the other
end of the piano playing the "toots" on a whistle he has the plays a
chord. Except at the end, when I quietly picked up a duck call for
the last one.
I also like several of the Liebeslieder Polkas for mixed chorus and
piano five hands set to famous English poems. It's just silly enough
to provoke amusement, and at the same time, I like three or four of
the numbers on their own merits as well.
Most recently, there has been the Short-Tempered Clavier; preludes
and fugues in all the major and minor keys (except the really hard
ones). There's some very dense (in a nice way) polyphonic material
in there, and it turns out to be playable enough that I work on some
of the fugues from time to time, with increasingly euphonic results.
It's way better than the Notebook for Betty-Sue Bach.
Out of "Hansel and Gretel and Ted and Alice," I like the Monk's
song, with all its fake Latin. I left the Village Idiot's song on
when I taped it, just because. I get some chuckles out of the
Schleptet as well.
I didn't mean to go on this long. My apologies to the guy who
finished reading this. Unless you just skipped to the end (fink).
--
--Kip (Williams) ...at members.cox.net/kipw
"The politics of failure has failed! And I say we must move forward,
not backward. Upward, not forward. And always twirling, twirling,
twirling toward freedom!" --Kodos