wildbill@ucbvax.ARPA (William J. Laubenheimer) (10/25/84)
This is a reposting; those of you who saw the first one may invoke
your "n" key now.
A few weeks ago, in the interest of stirring up some activity in this
newsgroup, I proposed and received some responses on:
(ga-lumph, ga-lumph, ga-lumph, ...) a WARHORSE poll (charge!!!)
This is an attempt to stir up even more activity by picking up those
interested parties who missed the first posting, and reminding any
people who haven't yet sent in responses that the deadline is coming up.
As I'm sure many of you know, but some may not, a "warhorse" is one
of those works which you wouldn't be surprised if everybody has heard,
even your halfwit teenage sister (you know, the one who spends every waking
hour listening to the local 50-megawatt top-40 station with the incredibly
obnoxious ads every 3 minutes and the screaming DJs -- "Yeah, I heard that
once; I was over at Sandi's and Ken brought this totally gross girl
and she had this record called "Hooked On Classics" and we played it for
a while -- EEEEEUUUHH! Like, totally disgusting!"). The ones that even
your average member of your local community symphony orchestra could play
in his/her sleep (and, from the available evidence, did when you went
last week). The ones that you hear on the radio, say to yourself, "Oh
<your current deity>, not again", turn your mind off, and then wind up
humming the whole durned thing right along with the radio. The ones that
your local classical record store has 300 different versions of. Yeah,
those. I'm sure you know them. In fact, I'm sure you have a list, and
probably a nice long one.
Anyway, I'm curious as to what your list looks like; also, I'm interested
in compiling a sort of Master Warhorse List. If I get a good response,
I might try more foolishness with it, such as sending it to a local
classical station or the Music Department for commentary.
HOW TO PLAY: Just post your list, or mail it to me if you don't feel
like shouting it to the world. Be sure your items are ranked in the
order you feel they have been played to death. Roughly 10 items is a
good size, but more or less is just fine. "Warhorse Points" will be awarded
on the following scale:
1st-10th: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
additional selections: 1
No prizes for being the best warhorse selector or anything like that.
Selections may be anything: solos, chamber works, operas, symphonies,
choral works; great works, banal works, or anything in between; one
work each by ten composers, or ten works by the same composer.
Off-net circulation of this poll is welcomed: either send all the
results in as is, or compile and give number of lists each selection
appeared on and Warhorse Points. Flames about my selections, justification
of your selections, or any other commentary appreciated.
Just for kicks, and a little food for thought, here's my list:
1. Beethoven: Symphony #5 (consult HHGttG if you don't believe me!)
2. Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody #2 (almost a de rigeur encore, it seems)
3. Bach: Toccata & Fugue in D minor (must be at least 40 movies using it)
4. Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto #2 (THE piano concerto for show-offs)
5. Rossini: "William Tell" Overture (could be #1, but Silver isn't really
a warhorse)
6. J. Strauss: "The Blue Danube" (but #1 on Your Waltz Parade)
7. Mozart: Symphony #40
8. Beethoven: "Moonlight" Sonata (standard fare at grade-school recitals)
9. Bizet: Any of half-a-dozen arias or suites from "Carmen" (anybody else
remember the STP commercial?)
10. R. Strauss: "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (courtesy of 2001)
11. Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (killed by the movie of the same name)
12. Pachelbel: Canon in D
13. Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (the Cabbage Patch Kid of classical music --
too cute for words, but there's always a
new generation of little kiddies who get
their kicks out of the ballet)
This is your last chance! All replies must be received at ucbvax by
23:59:59 PST, Sunday, November 4 in order to be included in the grand
summary. Act Now! Don't Delay!!!
Bill Laubenheimer
----------------------------------------UC-Berkeley Computer Science
...Killjoy went that-a-way---> ucbvax!wildbillgeoff@desint.UUCP (Geoff Kuenning) (10/29/84)
My votes for the top 10 warhorses:
1. Beethoven's 5th (a hands-down winner)
2. Zarathustra
3. Beethoven's 9th
4. Beethoven's 6th (first on my personal oh-no-not-again list)
5. Dvorak 9th ("New World")
6. "Moonlight" sonata
7. Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring"
8. Tchaikovsky's 1st Piano Concerto
9. Brahms' 1st
10. Beethoven's 3rd ("Eroica")
--
Geoff Kuenning
First Systems Corporation
...!ihnp4!trwrb!desint!geoffkevyn@watarts.UUCP (K.C-T. [eh?] I am) (10/29/84)
It was hard, but I narrowed it down to these ten (ordered by Degree
of "Warhorse"-edness):
1. Beethoven's 5th (no WH list would be complete w/o it!)
2. William Tell Overture - Rossini
3. Toccata & Fugue in D minor - Bach (thanx, Scary Movies)
4. Thus Spake Zarathustra (thanx, 2001)
5. Piano Concerto in A minor ("Norwegian") - Grieg
6. Beethoven's 9th
7. Ride of the Valkyries - Wagner (thanx, Apocalyse Now)
8. Moonlight Sonata - Beethoven
9. Piano Concerto #1 - Tchaikowsky
10. On a Theme by Paganini - Rachmaninoff
I also had Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and some Gregorian chants in
mind, but a) they wouldn't fit in the "Top Ten" and
b) they wouldn't "fit" in the "Top Ten"...
I look forward to the results of this survey!
[Look, I won't forget you...I have you Engraved in the palm of my hand...]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kevyn Collins-Thompson University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA
UUCP: ...watarts!kevyn
--------------------------------------------------------------------------