P.D.Q. Bach in Houston - We Have a Problem!
by Alan Foster
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: P.D.Q. BachDirector: Alan Foster
Brand: Acorn
Conductor: Peter Jacoby
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Classical, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 102 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-10-24
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Acorn Media
Movie Reviews of P.D.Q. Bach in Houston - We Have a Problem!
Movie Review: Excellent PDQ performance
Summary: 4 Stars
If you have never seen Peter Schickele (aka PDQ Bach) in performance before, you should see this one. The CD's are entertaining in themselves, but, with live performances, there are other visual jokes that are just as humerous as the musical. I have always enjoy "The Seasonings" (Schickele number 1/2 tsp), and would like to perform it. THis group did a great job. IT is a recording of a live performance, so the sound is sometimes a bit garbled. But, don't let that dissuade you from SEEING PDQ Bach as well as hearing him. Schickele is a genius in this genre, so enjoy it.
Summary of P.D.Q. Bach in Houston - We Have a Problem!
Three.two.one.Laugh-off! Musical mayhem blasts into orbit as Professor Peter Schickele and OrchestraX celebrate the music of composer P.D.Q. Bach, whose oeuvre Schickele "discovered" and unleashed on the world 40 years ago. Long neglected by music scholars (and deservedly so), the "oddest" of Johann Sebastian Bach's 20-odd children composed the most hilarious music of all time. This performance showcases P.D.Q. at the nadir of his creative power, including Schleptet in Eb major, Iphigenia in Brooklyn, "Unbegun" Symphony, Fuga Meshuga, and The Seasonings. And did we mention sportscaster Schickele's play-by-play analysis of Beethoven's Fifth, complete with cheerleaders and pom-poms? "P.D.Q. Bach is a very funny show-even for people who like music but don't know why" -The New York Times.P.D.Q. Bach can perhaps best be described as highbrow slapstick comedy for the musically minded. A skilled composer with a healthy sense of humor and a bent toward the absurd, Professor Peter Schickele is a musical satirist who juxtaposes "serious" classical music with folk tunes, comedic visual cues, farce, and instrumentation ranging from standard orchestral instruments to toy slide whistles, brass-double reed hybrids, and instruments cobbled together from strange components like shower hoses and cardboard tubes. The resulting crowd pleasers keep audiences laughing and wondering what can possibly come next. This 90-minute, live presentation features Peter Schickele and the "Orchestra X" chamber orchestra, is filmed in widescreen, and offers 2.0 stereo or 5.1 surround sound. The program includes the "Desecration of the House Overture," of which the lead-in is by far the most climactic part, the "Schleptet in E-flat Major" which represents P.D.Q.'s "soused" period and is a true test of the wind section's fortitude, and "Iphigenia in Brooklyn" which features the double reeds (separate from the oboes and bassoons), the wine bottle played by Professor Schickele, and a "Bargain Counter Tenor" whose performance simply defies description. The "Unbegun Symphony" is an exercise in manic plagiarism and provides an abundance of laughs for the musically literate while the "New Horizons in Music Appreciation" makes Beethoven's Fifth Symphony accessible to the most die-hard sports fan. The "Fuga Meshuga" illustrates the art of the fugue in a whole new way and "The Seasonings" is a painfully funny demonstration of P.D.Q. Bach's original approach to instrumentation. As Professor Schickele declares in the bonus KUHT interview, it is a sense of context that truly provides the humor in P.D.Q. Bach's works--viewers possessing a sense of humor and a familiarity with classical music will laugh their way through this presentation, others may simply scratch their heads. --Tami Horiuchi
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