Black Forest Bluegrass Explained

Black Forest Bluegrass
Type:	studio
Artist:	P. D. Q. Bach
Cover:	PDQ Bach Black Forest Bluegrass.jpg
Released:	1979
Label:	Vanguard
Prev Title:	Portrait of P. D. Q. Bach
Prev Year:	1977
Next Title:	Liebeslieder Polkas
Next Year:	1980

Black Forest Bluegrass is a recording of the music of Peter Schickele under his comic pseudonym of P. D. Q. Bach, featuring the composer and "a bluegrass band with a Baroque orchestra, a wind octet with toys, a commercial with a snake — this album has it all!" The album was released on Vanguard Records in 1979.

Performers

• Professor Peter Schickele, bass, conductor, snake (that's an instrument)
• The New York Pick-Up Ensemble, Robert Bernhardt, conductor
• John Ferrante, tenor
• Eric Weissberg, mandolin and harmonica
• Bill Keith, banjo and harmonica
• Happy Traum, guitar and harmonica
• Donald "Don" Palma, bass and harmonica

According to the liner notes on the album, the performers pictured on the cover are Tommy Mann and his Magic Mountain Boys.

Track listing

• Cantata: Blaues Gras (Bluegrass Cantata), S. 6 string
  • Recitative and Aria: "Blaues Gras"
  • Recitative: "O"
  • Aria: "Du Bist Im Land"
  • Recitative: "O"
  • Duet: "Ich Sehe"
  • Chorale: "Ich Gehe"
  • Duet: "Sag' Mir"
• No-no Nonette for assorted winds and toys, S. 86
  • First Movement
  • Second Movement
  • Third Movement
  • Fourth Movement
  • Last Movement
• "Hear Me Through" from Diverse Ayres on Sundrie Notions, S. 99 44/100

Sources

P.D.Q. Bach: Black Forest Bluegrass