So, what have I been listening to?
Nikolai Kapustin was born in 1937 in the Ukraine and started playing the piano at 7. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory where he worked with Alexander Goldenweiser. While in Moscow, Kapustin discovered jazz. He later cited Oscar Peterson as the most influential figure on his own music. Kapustin composes in the traditional forms — sonata, theme and variations, etc. — but uses a jazz vocabulary. You can argue whether his music is truly “jazz” — while it may sound spontaneous, every single note is written out — but is lively, colorful music. Recordings by Marc-André Hamelin, Stephen Osborne, John Salmon1, and Kapustin himself can all be recommended. And perhaps those of everyone’s current favorite, Yuja Wang.
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The late Peter Schickele, in addition discovering the works of P.D.Q. Bach and composing listenable music of his own, had a weekly radio show, “Schickele Mix,” in which he discussed musical topics clearly and understandably for all listeners, musicians and non-musicians alike, using examples of all kinds of music, from Palestrina to the Everly Brothers. The show has been off the air for many years, but it is available as podcasts here.
More years ago than I want to calculate I saw Schickele in concert, where the pièce de résistance was the “Concerto for Piano Versus Orchestra.” I finally found a good video of the concerto.
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Here’s a website devoted to analyzing the music of that brilliant jackass, Frank Zappa.
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I recently came across mention of an obscure band featuring a drummer named Warren Moore. This might be of interest to a certain other Warren Moore.
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Carl Stalling may be the best-known of the composers of cartoon music, but there were others of note, including Scott Bradley. Bradley wrote music for MGM cartoons, including Tom and Jerry and Droopy Dog. Unfortunately, there hasn’t yet been a “Scott Bradley Project” paralleling Stalling’s, and his music is had to find. The one collection offered at the devil’s website is lousy and I can’t recommend it. Instead, hunt for the out-of-print Tom and Jerry & Tex Avery Too, a fuller and better-sounding compilation.
More cartoon music:
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Nicolas Slonimsky, the compiler of the Lexicon of Musical Invective, many years ago used ad copy as the texts for songs:
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Note on the videos: Four years ago I got absolutely disgusted with YouTube and refused to post any videos or even click on one. Since then, either the lizard people who run it stopped putting unskippable half-hour ads before every three-minute video, or the Brave browser has become better at blocking ads, so I can now watch videos without using very bad language. Therefore I am permitting myself to post a few YouTube videos. For now.
Notes
- I wonder if the pianist Salmon is related to the John Salmon of fatherbrownatlarge.blogspot.com/.
“Schickele Mix” was a great show. I always tell people I would learn more in half an hour there than by reading any number of theory books. I also recall the “pledge drive” episode where somebody kept trying to play Pachelbel’s “Canon” with dire results. (At one point I believe a sniper took out the playback machine.)
I saw him in concert, Gawd, it must have been the early 80’s. Can’t recall what was played. I still think “P.D.Q. Bach at Carnegie Hall” is his best album, although I’m willing to hear arguments in favor of “1712 Overture and Other Musical Assaults”.