TOP TEN MONDAYS!!! PLUS: When it comes to remembring Daylights Savings Time, DAVE forGETZ.

Good afternoon, sports fans. It is once again time for America to hit PAUSE on her TiVo Remote of Capitalism to take a quick break to reflect on the Soap Opera of Time that has just been passing before her eyes and to realize that, when all is said and done, the butler did it again. With that corny intro out of the way, let's get right into this weeks' edition of......

Top Ten Mondays!!!! Today's Topic: Dave's Top 10 Classical Pieces.....Sort Of. Now, this week's list needs a lot of disclaimers. First off, this list will probably be out of date by the time I finish this post because my favorite pieces are constantly changing. Also, since I could not decide on a proper way to rank these pieces, I separated them into 2 epochs with the 1st epoch being of a slightly higher favorite rating . (Why "epoch," you ask? Well, because "epoch" is simply a sweet word; plus, it's associated with divisions of time. It's a blast to use in a sentence: "Hey, Grant, want to come over for dinner this epoch?") However, the term "epoch" is used very loosely in this list because it has nothing to do with regard when each piece was written; it's simply a funny vocabulary word that I happen to like very much. Deal with it. Thirdly, I have included several Honorable Mention pieces that could very easily go on the Top 10. So, here's my haphazard attempt at announcing to the world my Top 10 All-Time Classical Music Pieces Of All-Time!!!! Let's get started with.....

The 2nd Epoch

• Grieg Piano Concerto No. 1 by Edvard Grieg. Seeing as I am playing this piece for the Concerto Competition in 3 weeks, it's a good thing that this is on my list. I love it.
  
• Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 by Max Bruch. This is the piece I heard Joshua Bell play up in Chicago a few weeks back. The 3rd movement is my favorite. It's the bees-knees!
  
• Academic Festival Overture by Johannes Brahms. Wow, this overture always gets me going. The brass fanfare at the ending is apocalyptic, and the beautiful string passages are....beautiful, I suppose.
  
• Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring by Johann Sebastien Bach. This piece, commonly heard at weddings, is one of the most gorgeous melodies ever composed. It goes like this: la la la la la la la la la la la la....you get the picture? Oh, well. Maybe you have to listen to it.
  
• Messiah. Hallelujah! 'Nuff said.
  

The 1st Epoch

• Firebird Suite by Igor Stravinsky. This amazing piece was in Disney's Fantasia 2000, and it was magnificent. The brass at the end is simply stunning. Brilliant composing. Plus, the guy's name was "Igor."
  
• Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky. I just wrote about this piece the other day, and it still remains in the 1st epoch of my Classical Favorites.
  
• Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin. What an amazing piece of music this is. It takes classical music from the concert hall and puts it in the musical language that any man off the street can recognize. (The video is in two parts, so don't throw in a tantrum after the first parts ends halfway through the piece).
  
• Beethoven Symphony No. 5 by, coincidentally, Ludwig Van Beethoven. I would listen to this piece before every cross country race senior year...until I found "RUDY" of course. (This video is in multiple parts too).
  
• William Tell Overture by Rossini. What an awesome piece! A beautiful countryside, a furious storm, a calm sunshine, and a charging cavalry all rolled into one epic masterpiece!
  

Honorable Mention

• Ride of the Valkyries by Wagner
  
• Fanfare for the Common Man by Copeland
  
• Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky
  
• Russian Easter Overture by Rimsy-Korsakov
  
• Pines of Rome by Respighi
  
• Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev

Even as I write this I know that I am forgetting several dozens pieces that could easily be on these lists. Maybe later in the year, I'll do a second installment of this topic. Anyways, I strongly suggest you listen to these pieces (if you have an hour or two to spare), comment on my list, and offer me suggestions to listen to that may be your favorite pieces. I'd love to hear what you've got.



I totally forgot it was Daylights Savings Time on Sunday. I woke up groggily on Sunday morning and immediately got that feeling of "why didn't my alarm clock wake me up?" For some reason I knew that it was later in the day than it should. I looked at my watch and saw to my dismay that it was 9:35. Bummer, I thought, I'm going to miss Sunday School at the BBC (which begins at 9:30). However, when I pulled out my cell phone to check why my alarm hadn't gone off, I was suddenly hit with another shocking thought; "If a butler were to hire a butler to work for him, who would end up being guilty in the end?" After pondering this question for awhile, I looked at my phone and saw that the time read 8:35. This was another shock to my system. Why were my phone and watch an hour off? Then it hit me; "It all depends on which actor plays the butler! If it's Michael Caine, no way is he guilty. But if it's someone like Christopher Lee, then he definitely is the guilty party." With that all figured out, I then concluded that it must be Daylight's Savings Time. From that point on, for the rest of the day, I lived happily ever after.