oddest arrangement you own

whole LP of Resphiggi (The Birds

There's also Koto Sebastian Bach and Koto Amadeus Mozart (Symphony #40 and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik).

Jazz arrangements were big at one time. Jacques Loussier Trio, Swingle Singers. Nonesuch also issued something called Jazz Sebastian Bach on electric guitar, but more a transcription, and not particularly well done.

There are many adaptations for 'standards', such as Stranger and Paradise, and a whole show based on Borodin. Chopin, Tchaikovsky and others have been made into pop songs. Song of India was done by Tommy Dorsey.

And then there were the rock arrangements that were also popular a generation ago. 'Bumble Bee Twist' was done by many. 'Nutrocker' was even redone by Emerson, Lake and Palmer (a category in their own right). Emerson's other band. The Nice, did great versions of Tchaikovshy's 6th (II, I think) and Bernstein's America.

The most curious of the rock work was done by Japan's Takeshi Terauchi & the Bunnys [sic]. A whole LP of Ventures style (but in general rather noisy) arrangements of classical pieces. There is a pretty electric guitar solo of a Chopin Nocturne. And the Schubert 8th I is pure genious, in my opinion.

The Japanese punk drums/bass duo Ruins has recorded a medley which includes stuff by Dvorak, Moussorgsky, Satie, Beethoven, Saint-Saëns, Faure, Bach, Chopin, Holst, Bizet, Elgar and several others. It is approximately a minute and a half long.

I have this one. I last listened to it in about '91, when I dragged it out for a party. Laughs all around. 'The magic of Bach on the Fender Telecaster'. It was even better played at 45 rpm.

What about Ligeti's Aventures for piano quintet? <g> (No, it doesn't exist to the best of my knowledge, just an idea.)

The piano trio version (if it's the one I own) isn't in any way weird....

Mozart's divertimenti for 3 bassett horns arranged for 3 tubas. Actually not that odd, and quite effective.

I once heard a Baroque ensemble of harpsichord and viols play Gershwin's 'Summertime.'

Tom Wood

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I once saw, but did not buy or hear, a 2-LP set of 'Kunst der Fuge' played by a saxophone quartet.

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Which reminds me that my nominee would be that Chopin Mazurka arranged for tuba quartet, on one of the Hoffnung Festival records.

You have not lived until you've heard the waltz from 'Sleeping Beauty' played by a tuba quartet (actually John Fletcher of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble overdubbing all four parts).