This One’s For Educational Purposes ONLY…

…and by “ONLY,” I mean “This video comes from a YouTube channel that describes itself as ‘music examples for teaching and study purposes, uploaded by members of the Music Department at English Martyrs’ Catholic School, Leicester, UK’ and this might not be exactly a teaching ‘purpose,’ strictly speaking, but I’ve been looking for it for ages and it’s HILARIOUS and I want to share it really badly so please be educated by it or study it or something, OKThanksBye!”

New Horizons in Music Appreciation:
Beethoven’s Fifth Sports Commentary
A Running commentary on Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony from P.D.Q. Bach (aka Peter Schickele)

There’s something about Beethoven’s 5th that makes it just perfect for this sort of thing. So huge; so bombastic; so…spectatory. Reminds me of that Calvin and Hobbes strip about performing Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. With canons. …”canons.” Heh.

Here’s a more traditional version, by way of comparison. (Also an easy entry on my list of “Top 5 Recordings I Own.” Brilliant stuff.)

Yes, I realize there was an actual sporting event that took place last night, and yes, it was actually a pretty great one. But it happens every year, and I’ve been waiting for P.D.Q.’s Fifth Commentary for ages!

Attribution(s): “Guy Running with Violin” provided by Shutterstock.