Aleksandr (sasha) Popov performing "Dead Elvis" by Michael Daugherty, Idyllwild Arts Academy

Ransom Wilson (Music Director, Idyllwild Arts Academy), and a good friend of mine introduced me to this wonderful piece, and I remember how much fun we had in rehearsals and the concert. I found the tape after so many years and here it is!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Bassoon Solo
• Bassoon and Orchestra
• Elvis
• Dead Elvis
• ransom willson
• Colburn school
• Aleksandr Popov
• Sasha Popov
• Bassoon

[doublewuzzy]

@doublewuzzy (don't get me wrong, this is a great performance, it's just that all of Daugherty's music sounds the same)

[doublewuzzy]

This sounds like every Daugherty piece.

[kkellygeorge]

y through variations of Dies irae. Elvis is part of American culture, history, and mythology, for

better or for worse. If you want to understand America and all its riddles, sooner or later you will have to

deal with (Dead) Elvis.”

[kkellygeorge]

. I offer a new spin on this Faustian scenario: a rock star sells out to Hollywood, Colonel Parker, and Las Vegas for wealth and fame. I use Dies irae .a medieval Latin chant for the Day of Judgment as the principal musical theme in my composition to pose the question, is Elvis dead or alive beyond the grave of Graceland? In Dead Elvis we hear fast and slow fifties rock and roll ostinati in the double bass, violin, and bongos, while the bassoonist gyrates, double-tongues, and croons his way

[kkellygeorge]

“No rock and roll personality seems to have inspired as much speculation, adulation, and impersonation as Elvis Presley (1935-77). In Dead Elvis…the bassoon soloist is an Elvis impersonator accompanied by a chamber ensemble. It is more than a coincidence that Dead Elvis is scored for the same instrumentation as Stravinsky's L’histoire du Soldat (1918), in which a soldier sells his violin, and his soul, to

the devil for a magic book.

[kkellygeorge]

Well there is the obvious "O sole mio" theme which Elvis recorded as "It's Now of Never" at 2:58  Dang altissimo much Alexandr? 16? OMG! :-)

[AZWozzeck]

I think the challenge of playing this piece to make sure that your sound projects at all times because those other instruments get pretty loud compared to the bassoon.

[jnskthy1]

I love how the main theme of this is the Dies Irae

[MrNoelJMIS]

The bassoon tone is so great! Especially for a SIXTEEN year old!?!?!

[MrNoelJMIS]

@doublewuzzy in a way, that can be considered a mark of excellence... the presence of a "compositional voice"... but I agree this is not the best of his works!