Thu Aug 17 17:36:00 UTC 2006
Annual New York P.D.Q. Bach Concert News
This season’s annual New York City P.D.Q. Bach concert will be slightly different from what New Yorkers may have come to expect. For one thing, the concert will be a few days later than usual, putting it squarely on January 2, 2007, instead of the more traditional week between Christmas and New Year’s. For another thing, Prof. Schickele has somehow managed to coax the city’s own house band, the renowned New York Philharmonic, into playing some of the Minimeister of Wein-am-Rhein’s most impressive orchestral works. But other things remain the same: the concert will return to Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall after two years farther uptown, and the quality of the music hasn’t improved one bit. Prof. Schickele describes the program as a “lollapalooza”, and it contains impressive near-misses such as the 1712 Overture for really big orchestra (the NY Phil certainly qualifies here) and the Pervertimento for bagpipes, bicycle, and balloons, featuring the same bagpiper (Maurice Eisenstadt) and bicycle soloist (Prof. Schickele) who played the work 40 years ago at Philharmonic Hall (as it was then called).
The Philharmonic (as it is still called) also continues another fine tradition this season, the Inside The Music with Peter Schickele lectures that give listeners entertaining background information about a musical composition, with illustrative excepts played by the orchestra itself, before a complete performance of the piece. The works being discussed on this season
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