wildbill@ucbvax.ARPA (William J. Laubenheimer) (09/28/84)
This group has been awfully quiet lately; nothing but queries about
Mannheim Steamroller and "what was that music they used in the <foobar>
commercial?" Therefore, in the interest of stirring up some activity,
I am proposing:
(ga-lumph, ga-lumph, ga-lumph, ...) a WARHORSE poll (charge!!!)
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. Brahms: Hungarian Rhapsody #2 (almost a de rigeur encore, it seems)
3. Bach: Toccata & Fugue in B 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 Trigger 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)
Let's give this a month or so (unless I get swamped with replies before
then). I'll probably repost this about the middle of October with
the same header just to catch the people who didn't get the first one.
Bill Laubenheimer
----------------------------------------UC-Berkeley Computer Science
...Killjoy went that-a-way---> ucbvax!wildbill