THE CAMBRIDGE BUSKERS COLLECTION
The Cambridge Buskers
DG Eloquence 482 1785 (4 CDs) / ****1/2
Remember the Cambridge Buskers? Formed
by Michael Copley and Dag Ingram, the duo met while they were students at
Cambridge University, and became a worldwide performing sensation during the
late 1970s and 80s, decades before the age of Youtube.
Their brand of “reduced
classics” - abridged but not dumbed down arrangements of popular classical
tunes – was accomplished on an assortment of blown instruments (recorders,
flutes, crumhorns, whistles et cetera) by Copley (the dorky looking
one), accompanied on accordion by Ingram (the good looking one).
This four disc collection crams in five
albums worth of music, including favourites heard during their Victoria Concert
Hall concert at the 1988 Singapore Arts Festival. Who could forget the ingenuity of fitting
Beethoven’s nine symphonies within a three-minute romp, or J.S.Bach’s Six
Brandenburg Concertos in three movements, including an in-joke involving
the 2nd movement of Brandenburg Concerto No.3.
The farce of Pachelbel’s Cannon
(not a spelling mistake) wears thin after two listens, while the 32 seconds
that make up the 4th movement of the 4th Symphony of Mahler
(known for his very long symphonies) is a parody on the gift of brevity or lack
of. There are 131 tracks (some 4 hours 55 minutes) in total, spanning the
baroque to the Beatles, which make for a fun “Guess that tune” game for children
and adults alike.
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