Video List: Top 10 Classical Tunes You Know but Can’t Name
Surely there are many classical compositions that you’ve heard a thousand times but you couldn’t name for the life of you, but detailing an exhaustive canon in this forum would be redundant. Therefore, I have narrowed down a top-ten list of these works that only serve to illustrate one underlying theme: mischievous behavior. You have undoubtedly heard all of these pieces before; now, you can utter their titles aloud as you indulge in sweet rascality.
10. Ancient satirist Lucian of Samosata inspired Goethe to pen Der Zauberlehrling. That work inspired Frenchman Paul Abraham Dukas to compose “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” in 1897, which then appears in Disney’s Fantasia (1940), which is in turn likely where it was first consumed by modern simpletons and philistines like you and I. Plenty of mischief-making potential here—why, we all saw the bedlam that transpired when the world’s most treasured fictional rodent is charged with but a few simple chores.
9. The next on the list is another oft heard piece that is not readily identifiable to most listeners. A whimsical yet still carelessly devious tune, “Dance Of The Hours”, from Amilcare Ponchielli’s 1835 opera La Gioconda. Again, it comes from Fantasia (hippo dancing with alligator), hence its back-to-back seeding with its cinematic first cousin.
8. Holding a decent position on this list is Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev’s downright eternal “Peter and the Wolf ” (Ivan’s theme) from 1936. The clip is from the 1946 Disney cartoon version that I fondly recall screening in Mrs. Tilford’s music class during my St. Lawrence days. This is a low, skulking bit of music that is perfectly suited for Ivan, the curious cat.
7. Charles-François Gounod’s 1872 work, “Funeral March Of A Marionette”, more commonly known as the theme from the 1950’s TV serial Alfred Hitchcock Presents, is a rather obvious induction into the hierarchy of puckish compositions. It summons notions of the peculiar and unexplainable, while also the quite certainly troublesome.
6. Georgian-born Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian’s classic “Sabre Dance”, for me, evokes a wild-eyed standoff in a crowded Damascene bazaar between a sinewy, affable thief and four or five turbaned, scimitar-wielding guards à la Arabian Nights—but for the less imaginative, maybe just a movie soundtrack or two. Extra points awarded if the movie scene you’re thinking of happens to be from Billy Wilder’s 1961 classic, One, Two, Three, starring Jimmy Cagney.
5. At the halfway point of my list is this piece, entitled “Pizzicato”, from Léo Delibes’ 1876 ballet, Sylvia. This calls to mind a delicate creep to the refrigerator in the pale moonlight; the sort of adventure that involves a bizarre, ramshackle sandwich sloppily constructed and devoured in the dim silence of the wee hours.
4. The immortal Tchaikovsky gives us “Tea (Chinese Dance)” from his ubiquitous magnum opus of 1892, The Nutcracker Suite. Chock full of mysterious orientalism, for me, this piece conjures images of shifty, silk-clad emissaries sent for reconnaissance via Kublai Khan.
3. You’ve committed a violent crime of passion; as the adrenaline dissipates, you see your misdeed in full detail while but one thought bounces wildly about your cranium: Run, run fast! Repeating on the iPod of such a disgraced, fugitive bête noire of a pariah? Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight Of The Bumblebee,” of course, from his Tale of Tsar Saltan, from 1900.
2. The unfornately short-lived Georges Bizet gave us number two from his 1875 operatic masterpiece, Carmen: “Habanera” This piece is featured in the recent Hollywood films, Bad News Bears (2005), Bad Santa (2003), and Meet The Parents (2000), all three pictures that are rife with mischievious behavior from the cast. This is undeniably the runner-up.
1. The quintessential tune of mischief is Italian opera composer Giacchino Rossini’s timeless “La Gazza Ladra” or “The Thieving Magpie.” This 1817 piece is a slam-dunk. Countless movies, TV shows, and commercials have shown us time after time that trouble has an official theme, however cliché that theme may be.
So ends my list. Now, you’ve both been educated and you truly have your choice of score for your next rule-breaking rite of misadventure.
Written by Joe Shipley
Album Review: Gardens & Villa via Secretly Canadian
Gardens & Villa, the self-titled debut LP out of Santa Barbara, CA, has remained a repeated listen since it first dropped July 5th. This dreamy, stoner take on post-punk California rock has proven a tough album to put down.
The disc opens with “Black Hills.” The sound is not dissimilar to their Secretly Canadian label mates Suuns. Though comparisons can be drawn, G & V’s sound is much more organic and accessible. Much of this is due to lead singer Chris Lynch’s soaring vocals.
“Cruise Ship,” the second song on the album brightens things up with a shinier keyboard line than “Black Hills” coupled with big handclaps. Gardens & Villa extend their hand insistent you join their trip:
This is how God made us to live
On California, the cruise ship
Bring your wife and your kids
California the cruise ship
The album hits its stride with “Orange Blossom.” Bouncy keyboards and flute float together above a wah pedal-driven bass line. This song is intoxicating and would work well in any DJ’s late night repertoire. With a track like this, it is hard to imagine how G & V escaped the California labels, landing instead in Bloomington.
G & V risk sending listeners into nap mode on “Chemtrails” heading directly toward sleepy, stoner territory. Bass drum, tambourine, bass, ambient piano riffs and a cello all dance quietly together as if the last song in some kind of opiate-laden high school dance. Heady stuff:
I don’t really want to go home
To places where they keep time
To places where we’d never find
Dandelions fly high
Through the marmalade sky
The last two lines serve as a Beatles reference. This proves apt as the track would feel at home amongst their LSD infused productions like Yellow Submarine. Not to worry, “Star Fire Power” picks the pace back up with a foot tapping, disco feel.
Gardens & Villa has the strange ability to sound similar thoughout without ever feeling redundant. The band hasn’t broken the mould musically, but the bottom line is this is REALLY good shit. Spare yourself the iTunes bonus track—a terrible, synth-heavy remix of “Orange Blossom.” The original does just fine, thank you.
Thought on Tracks 
Thoughts on the Tragedy: Sugarland Stage Collapse: Indiana State Fair
A few days have passed, and I have had time to digest the tragedy that took place at the Indiana State Fairgrounds over the weekend. For those residing beneath boulders, five people were killed and dozens injured when a stage collapsed just before the country duo Sugarland was scheduled to perform. Sudden gusts of 70-plus mph winds are the likely culprit, but an investigation as to whether the tragedy could have been avoided is under way.
Regardless of where the blame inevitably falls, what took place in Indianapolis on Saturday has already left an indelible mark upon a town that tends to forget just how small it is. I was across town when the stage toppled. The news came via radio on my drive toward MOKB Presents Lucy Woodward at White Rabbit Cabaret. There was still much confusion, and reports as to the seriousness of the incident remained muddled.
Thought on Tracks contributor Brett McGrath was at a party with college friends when his brother Kyle telephoned frantically. Kyle had purchased tickets for the pit at the Sugarland show, but had been forced to back out due to a wedding. Brett had passed the tickets along to a co-worker who purchased them for his parents. The brothers spent the bulk of their Saturday evening sending panicked e-mails and telephone calls before learning that the friend’s parents were safe and sound.
Such is life in Indy, where events are rarely isolated. In the days since the collapse, stories of those connected to the event have surfaced at every turn. Hoosiers are left picking up the pieces as nightmarish photographs and videos scroll across national news stations. The Fair has cancelled performances by Janet Jackson and Lady Antebellum scheduled for later in the week. Plans for an alternate venue for Train and Maroon 5 will be announced today.
Only once have I been able to stomach the video footage of the falling stage at the Fairgrounds. To put it simply, it hits too close to home. In the summer, a weekend rarely passes without my attendance at some sort of live music. The incident serves as a terrifying reminder of all that I take for granted as a spectator. We walk blindly into these events assuming that every stagehand and volunteer has performed to the best of their ability.
I sincerely hope, for all involved, that Saturday was no different. That the event staff took every conceivable precaution and the worst still happened. In all likelihood, we will never know with certainty. Life is unfair that way, leaving only questions when we so desperately seek answers. All we can do is learn from the experience and remember those that fell at the next show, wherever that may be.
Written by Rob Peoni