Widely known as the promoter of his comic alter-ego P.D.Q. Bach, composer
and radio host Peter Schickele is also recognized for his many serious
(but seldom humorless) works, such as the Serenade for Three (1973)
featured here.
Schickele has traced his affinity for Serenade's use of clarinet,
violin and piano to the instruments he and his brother selected as beginning
musicians.
The composer has noted the "headlong" quality of his Serenade's
first movement-a series of dances with refrain-followed by the second
movement's four sections (and three keys), a lyrical section "tied
together by the E-flat, which repeats in raindrop fashion throughout." The
third movement gives us the reflexive fun of Schickele variations on a theme by
P.D.Q. Bach-in this case, a motif from P.D.Q.'s "opera/oratorio in one
cathartic act," Oedipus Tex. Thus the Serenade for Three concludes,
to borrow Schickele's characterizations, in a "rabble rousing finish"
of "cornball cowboy music," eighteenth century classical style,
country fiddling, and boogie-woogie piano.
Orion Ensemble's rollicking recording of Peter Schickele's Serenade for
Three fuses his score's magnetic energy with these musicians' joy in its
performance.
Susan Fisher Miller,
Bonnie Campbell and Orion Ensemble musicians
Classical Music | Ensemble Music
Peter Schickele
Serenade for Three Play
Recorded on 01/01/2000, uploaded on 11/01/2009
Musician's or Publisher's Notes
Serenade for Three Peter Schickele
I. Dances
II. Songs
III. Variations
Widely known as the promoter of his comic alter-ego P.D.Q. Bach, composer and radio host Peter Schickele is also recognized for his many serious (but seldom humorless) works, such as the Serenade for Three (1973) featured here.
Schickele has traced his affinity for Serenade's use of clarinet, violin and piano to the instruments he and his brother selected as beginning musicians.
The composer has noted the "headlong" quality of his Serenade's first movement-a series of dances with refrain-followed by the second movement's four sections (and three keys), a lyrical section "tied together by the E-flat, which repeats in raindrop fashion throughout." The third movement gives us the reflexive fun of Schickele variations on a theme by P.D.Q. Bach-in this case, a motif from P.D.Q.'s "opera/oratorio in one cathartic act," Oedipus Tex. Thus the Serenade for Three concludes, to borrow Schickele's characterizations, in a "rabble rousing finish" of "cornball cowboy music," eighteenth century classical style, country fiddling, and boogie-woogie piano.
Orion Ensemble's rollicking recording of Peter Schickele's Serenade for Three fuses his score's magnetic energy with these musicians' joy in its performance.
Susan Fisher Miller, Bonnie Campbell and Orion Ensemble musicians
Performances by same musician(s)
Connections
Quartet in E-flat Major for Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano, Op. 1
Angel Musings
Earth Voices
Classical Music for the Internet Era™