Even the great composers can be monetized. On Tchaikovsky’s birthday, Paul Hogan (of “Crocodile Dundee” fame) employs the Fifth Symphony to sell some cigarettes. Why he plays this arrangement, as opposed to one of the actual piano concertos, is anyone’s guess.
PHOTO: Nothing makes Tchaikovsky happy like a good smoke
Sir Simon Rattle dishes on Sibelius. Hearing the Fifth Symphony was like a thunderbolt for me, as well.
PHOTO: “Symposium” by Axel Gallén (left to right, Gallén, composer Oskar Merikanto blacked-out, conductor and composer Robert Kajanus, and Sibelius, obviously wasted). The scene is actually softer-edged than the original study, which I’ve posted in the comments section below.
What’s the world coming to when I don’t even have time to write a proper birthday tribute to one of my favorite composers? That granitic head, like his symphonies, hewn from rock, full of austere pine trees and shrouded with snow. Bless you, Jean Sibelius. Thank you for your stoic, noble masterpieces. I worship at the altar of your Fifth Symphony.
Aaron Copland (92) Beethoven (95) Composer (114) Film Music (120) Film Score (143) Film Scores (255) Halloween (94) John Williams (185) KWAX (229) Leonard Bernstein (100) Marlboro Music Festival (125) Movie Music (135) Opera (198) Philadelphia Orchestra (88) Picture Perfect (174) Princeton Symphony Orchestra (106) Radio (87) Ralph Vaughan Williams (85) Ross Amico (244) Roy's Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner (290) The Classical Network (101) The Lost Chord (268) Vaughan Williams (103) WPRB (396) WWFM (881)