Heard of Rainer Hersch?

[Lance]

Rainer Hersch would be considered the Victor Borge of England, a stand-up, piano-playing comedian. I just recently listened to his live CD, "All Classical Music Explained." [Laughing Stock 0165.] Such things as Musical Tests, Ever Good Boy Deserves Football, Playing the Piano, Scales, Piano Concertos, Glenn Gould, Messiah, Vinyl, Cassettes, CDs, Stradivarius comprise the subjects - all together 20 tracks. There is also a DVD: "April Foods Day Concert, 2013" "This is classical music comedy at its very best: BBC Radio 4." Among the guest artists is the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, pianist Marc-André Hamelin, Alistair McGowan, and Lindsay Sutherland Boal. The DVD I have not had a chance to view as yet. Anyone else familiar with RAINER HERSCH?

[maestrob]

Tried Amazon--no DVD, but this CD came up:



Then found a slew of goodies on youtube. Here's a couple & a bonus on Bohemian Rhapsody:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLXwpGCn2KQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLXwpGCn2KQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmXn6lk5nWM

Finally, here's a just-released all-region DVD available from Presto that I MUST see:



Great find Lance. We could all use a break from the news, couldn't we?

[Lance]

We sure COULD use a break. There were many laffs on the CD. Good as Hersch is, Victor Borge had the world by the tail in this regard!

[barney]

We sure COULD use a break. There were many laffs on the CD. Good as Hersch is, Victor Borge had the world by the tail in this regard!

Entirely agree, Lance. And P.D.Q. Bach.

[barney]

My favourite Victor Borge line, which he used often, when he was a little clumsy in English (deliberately, I'm sure, for effect): "It's your language. I'm only borrowing it."

[maestrob]

We sure COULD use a break. There were many laffs on the CD. Good as Hersch is, Victor Borge had the world by the tail in this regard!

Victor Borge! They don't make them like that any more: they broke the mold!

We had the good fortune to see him TWICE on B'way. One evening at the Winter Garden Theater, Borge's evening tuxedo was not ready at the dry cleaners' by curtain time, and he had to go on with his afternoon striped trousers & grey jacket. Boy, was he ticked off! He kept working in derogatory remarks about his "unreliable" and "nitwit" son (who was acting as a "stagehand" during the show). We all played along, with our laughter, but you could tell how he was really embarrassed by the screw-up!

Still, Borge gave us what we came for, and the evening was a very special delight.

We have a box set of DVDs with his many TV appearances. I grew up with a red-label Columbia LP and had his phonetic punctuation routine memorized at age 9!

My wife's voice teacher, MET soprano Iris Hiskey, also appeared with PDQ Bach (a/k/a Peter Schickele) in Carnegie Hall one evening: another great annual act that we wouldn't miss. I also had a tenor in my competition that had appeared with Schickele. IIRC, he sang Werther with me in Carnegie Hall with impeccable French!

Sadly, classical music comedy no longer sells here in the backwaters of America.

I'm delighted that Rainer Hersch is continuing in that tradition, and have ordered the DVD.