Funniest moment in the classical symphonic repertooire

[Bob Harper]

My candidate is the great contrabassoon fart in the slow movement of
Szell's Haydn 93. Other candidates?

Bob Harper

[O]

Post by Bob Harper
My candidate is the great contrabassoon fart in the slow movement of
Szell's Haydn 93. Other candidates?

Prokofiev: Piano Cto. #2, 3rd Movement. Background music for a Dave
Fleischer haunted house cartoon

Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini. After building to a
tremendous climax just at the end of the piece, which is suddenly
deflated by the pianist's matter of fact repeat of the theme, as if to
say "that will be enough of that."

Beethoven: Emperoar. The transition of a soft, lulling ending of the
second movement immediately followed crashing chords to wake you the
hell up.

-Owen

[8***@gmail.com]

Post by Bob Harper
My candidate is the great contrabassoon fart in the slow movement of
Szell's Haydn 93. Other candidates?
Bob Harper

It's just a bassoon, but a very funny moment either way. Another one: the sudden key change after the opening theme complex in the finale of Mahler 7 (the whole movement, actually, is very funny).

Dave

[Andy Evans]

Ravel L'Enfant et Les Sortileges of full of humour. Hard to pick a favourite part but I enjoy the Tasse Chinoise duet and Deux robinets coulent dans un réservoir! (L'Arithmetique).

[drh8h]

Post by Bob Harper
My candidate is the great contrabassoon fart in the slow movement of
Szell's Haydn 93. Other candidates?
Bob Harper

That is one of the two best I can think of. The other is the variation in Don Quixote with the Don and Sancho getting drenched in the boat. But it only works if the conductor makes sure you hear those pizzicato water droplets throughout, as Toscanini does in his 1953 performance. Many times they are barely-or inaudible. Runner ups are the Don and the sheep and the whole of Till Eulenspiegel.

DH

[Peter]

How about the final bar of MUSPAC? If it's played like a little skipping tune, that is. (It is often given too much weight, IMO.)

Post by Bob Harper
My candidate is the great contrabassoon fart in the slow movement of
Szell's Haydn 93. Other candidates?
Bob Harper

[number_six]

Ponchielli - Dance of the Hours
Gossec -- Gavotte

But Bob, if you meant from symphonies only, I have to rethink this.

[Bob Harper]

Post by number_six
Ponchielli - Dance of the Hours

Especially as interpreted by Allan Sherman :)

Bob Harper

Post by number_six
Gossec -- Gavotte
But Bob, if you meant from symphonies only, I have to rethink this.

[Russ (not Martha)]

Post by number_six
Ponchielli - Dance of the Hours
Gossec -- Gavotte

The Gavotte qualifies because of the inescapable association with the words:

"Don't you like to watch the monkeys in - the - zoo?
I think I would like to be a monk -key - too."

Russ (not Martha)

[Randy Lane]

Post by Russ (not Martha)

Post by number_six
Ponchielli - Dance of the Hours
Gossec -- Gavotte

"Don't you like to watch the monkeys in - the - zoo?
I think I would like to be a monk -key - too."
Russ (not Martha)

4th movement of the Bartók Concerto for Orchestra, which parodies the Boléro-like 'Nazi' theme in the first movement of the Shostakovich 7th Symphony 'Leningrad'.

[c***@gmail.com]

Post by Randy Lane
4th movement of the Bartók Concerto for Orchestra, which parodies the Boléro-like 'Nazi' theme in the first movement of the Shostakovich 7th Symphony 'Leningrad'.

Good choice, and there's also the sweet moment at the end of the so-called "game of pairs" movement when the two bassoons become three.

Another favorite of mine is the over-the-top bombastic intro of Dohnanyi's Variations on a Nursery Tune, leading to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (or whatever you call the tune where you live.

AC

[number_six]

Post by Russ (not Martha)

Post by number_six
Ponchielli - Dance of the Hours
Gossec -- Gavotte

"Don't you like to watch the monkeys in - the - zoo?
I think I would like to be a monk -key - too."
Russ (not Martha)

It may be even funnier for my having picked Gossec on the music alone without knowing the zoo-text!

I was, of course, familiar with the Ponchielli /Allan Sherman connection Bob mentioned.

Continuing the non-symphonic digression of small pieces with big humor, another is Gershwin's Promenade (Walking the Dog).

[Hank Drake]

Post by Bob Harper
My candidate is the great contrabassoon fart in the slow movement of
Szell's Haydn 93. Other candidates?
Bob Harper

That's EXACTLY what I was going to pick!

Hank

[Randy Lane]

The often/orphan dialogue in Pirates of Penzance.

[r***@gmail.com]

Pretre's Harold in Italy, the Pilgrim's Walk, always made me break up. On an RCA lp, and wishing I could get the cd. The passage of time has however dulled my interest in Berlioz.

Ray Hall, Taree

[dk]

Post by Bob Harper
My candidate is the great contrabassoon fart in
the slow movement of Szell's Haydn 93. Other
candidates?

Prokofiev 1st Symphony
Paul Dukas L'Apprenti Sorcier
Gounod Marche Funèbre d'une Marionnette

[e***@gmail.com]

==Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini. After building to a
tremendous climax just at the end of the piece, which is suddenly
deflated by the pianist's matter of fact repeat of the theme, as if to
say "that will be enough of that."

Apparently this trivial ending is what prevented Sviatoslav Richter from performing the work.

Esther C

[O]

Post by e***@gmail.com
==Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini. After building to a
tremendous climax just at the end of the piece, which is suddenly
deflated by the pianist's matter of fact repeat of the theme, as if to
say "that will be enough of that."
Apparently this trivial ending is what prevented Sviatoslav Richter from
performing the work.

I'd call it an intentionally anticlimactic ending. Nonchalance in a
storm of drama is an often used trope in humor.

Rachmaninoff wanted to send people home with a chuckle, rather than the
blast he sort of promised them.

I don't find that too surprising about Richter, he always took music
very seriously.

-Owen

[c***@gmail.com]

Post by e***@gmail.com
==Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini. After building to a
tremendous climax just at the end of the piece, which is suddenly
deflated by the pianist's matter of fact repeat of the theme, as if to
say "that will be enough of that."
Apparently this trivial ending is what prevented Sviatoslav Richter from performing the work.
Esther C

Is there a source for that? After all, Richter didn't perform PCs ## 3 and 4 either, and they can't be said to conclude anti-climactically.

AC

[Andy Evans]

Talking of Richter, what always makes me laugh is seeing him in a ridiculous wig acting Franz Liszt.... talk bout ham acting........

[weary flake]

Post by Andy Evans
Talking of Richter, what always makes me laugh is seeing him in a
ridiculous wig acting Franz Liszt.... talk bout ham acting........
http://youtu.be/k__siAlu7B8

I wish I could see that movie: Kompozitor Glinka (1952)

[weary flake]

Post by weary flake

Post by Andy Evans
Talking of Richter, what always makes me laugh is seeing him in a
ridiculous wig acting Franz Liszt.... talk bout ham acting........
http://youtu.be/k__siAlu7B8

I wish I could see that movie: Kompozitor Glinka (1952)

Note that the excerpt was butchered: the top and bottom of
the screen was cut off.

[John Fowler]

Totally unexpected laugh-out-loud moment

The original version of Tchaikovsky's First Symphony includes an insane Russian Dance that he dropped from the published version.
The first time I heard it I laughed out loud.
I wish he'd kept it in the final version.

Original Version (1866-68)
The only known recording of Tchaikovsky's original version of the symphony was made by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ilan Volkov, and was broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Radio 3 on 12 February 2007. This performance has never been re-broadcast or commercially released.

Not cued, but the Russian Dance occurs @ 35:48
For some reason, it's in mono.
I think it's my favorite performance (though the first movement has an absolutely dreadful second subject that Tchaikovsky wisely replaced).

http://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Symphony_No._1
http://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Symphony_No._1:_Recordings

[John Fowler]

Totally unexpected laugh-out-loud moment

The original version of Tchaikovsky's First Symphony includes an insane Russian Dance that he dropped from the published version.
The first time I heard it I laughed out loud.
I wish he'd kept it in the final version.

Original Version (1866-68)
The only known recording of Tchaikovsky's original version of the symphony was made by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ilan Volkov, and was broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Radio 3 on 12 February 2007. This performance has never been re-broadcast or commercially released.

http://youtu.be/UyqV6w5Sggw

Not cued, but the the fourth movement opens @ 32:25
The Russian Dance occurs @ 35:48
For some reason, it's in mono.
I think it's my favorite performance (though the first movement has an absolutely dreadful second subject that Tchaikovsky wisely replaced).

http://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Symphony_No._1
http://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Symphony_No._1:_Recordings