Musical Joke

Evening Music | May 6, 2010
April Fool’s is the perfect day to hear Mozart’s “Musical Joke,” which spoofs all the musical rules of his time. An ingenious spoof of bad composition by a great composer.
The forces in charge of Mozart’s foolery are the members of the English Concert, mischievously motivated by Andrew Manze.

Not such a joke is the performance of the Piano Concerto No. 2 by today’s birthday honoree, Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873). Mikhail Rudy is the pianist, while Mariss Jansons leads the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra. Rachmaninoff himself was captured playing his Etude-tableau in E-flat back in March of 1940.

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