# guilty pleasure



## dodsonbs (Aug 21, 2010)

What are your favorite recordings of pops type music?

Let's admit, most of us that have a diet mostly of Mahler, Bach and Stockhausen enjoy the guilty indulgence of something light and fun every once in a while. Yet, it seems next to impossible to find recordings that sound truly inspired. What are some that you like? 

Some that come to mind for me are an album of famous marches with the NY Phil/Bernstein, a Christmas album with the Philadelphia Orchestra (I think Ormandy), most any recording of the Vienna Philharmonic doing Strauss waltzes/polkas, and SOME of the stuff put out by the Boston Pops.


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## Nix (Feb 20, 2010)

Does Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and Rachmaninov Piano Concerto #2 count as guilty pleasure? I still consider them masterpieces even so.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

dodsonbs said:


> A Christmas album with the Philadelphia Orchestra (I think Ormandy) . . . and SOME of the stuff put out by the Boston Pops.


Yeah, Ormandy nails Christmas. And you're right; anything by Leroy Anderson and the Boston Pops is fun, when nobody's looking.

I shouldn't admit it, but sometimes I sneak behind the barn and listen to Mantovani. Sorry; I like his orchestrations.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

The label Hyperion issued a series of CD titled Birish Light Music, by the likes of Coates, Farnon and Ketelbey. Love them. Nothing guilty about it though.


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

I have some guilty pleasures in pop music:

The Dave Clark Five (grew up with their music an had to buy a couple of double-CD compilations to re-live my youth)
The 'Numa Numa Dance' (real title _Dragostea din tei_) by O-Zone. A truly terrible piece of Euro-pop from Moldova - but I LOVE it!


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## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

I do like a good William Tell Overture now and then.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Some of Gottschalk's material - I couldn't believe how likeably kitsch some of it sounded when given the sultry orchestral treatment.


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## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

I have a bit of a weakness for West Side Story. You can't beat the combination of Bernstein's music and Sondheim's lyrics:


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## Serge (Mar 25, 2010)

I don't know, "pops type music"?.. Hell, no!

The closest I can think of to guilty pleasure are Glenn Miller or De-Phazz.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

At first I thought you meant pop music, but there is a huge difference between pop and pops, isn't there? The closest I come to pops may be Ennio Morricone. You gotta admist _Chi Mai_ is at least pretty.






Of course his many soundtracks show a great versatility in styles and quirkiness that I enjoy.

I utterly loathe show music, and though I generally avoid Andrew Lloyd Webber, I sometimes enjoy parts of his_ Requiem_, especially the "Hosanna." The original recording had Placido Domingo rocking out.


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## Andrew B. (Oct 19, 2010)

Rhapsody in Blue - Gershwin


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Weston said:


> The closest I come to pops may be Ennio Morricone.
> 
> Of course his many soundtracks show a great versatility in styles and quirkiness that I enjoy.


Me too. The opening 15 minutes of Once Upon A Time in the West sound like it was written by Edgard Varese. Then comes Claudia Cardinale's theme - exquisite. I don't feel guilty listening to music like that.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Manxfeeder, this is just a curious question: Have you heard of the Manx Rhapsody by Hayden Wood?  should be your theme song, right?


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Manxfeeder, this is just a curious question: Have you heard of the Manx Rhapsody by Hayden Wood?  should be your theme song, right?


Listening to it now. Yeah, I'll take it! My ancestors were from the Isle of Man. I can almost feel the winds blowing up my ancestral kilt.


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## Andrew B. (Oct 19, 2010)

I thought of another one. Jerry Goldstein's theme to Star Trek Voyager


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## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

Manxfeeder said:


> Listening to it now. Yeah, I'll take it! My ancestors were from the Isle of Man. I can almost feel the winds blowing up my ancestral kilt.


That reminds me:


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Aw, my long-lost relatives! Well, now I know why they got lost.


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

*Now I can see....*

I have created a site for light classics....and I found you here....Hidden!

Naughty guys!

LOL

Martin


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

I've never understood this concept of a guilty pleasure in music or art. It seems to be an assumption that something shouldn't be liked because somebody else says so.

For light classics Beecham and even Karajan have done good recordings.


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## Grosse Fugue (Mar 3, 2010)

The duo Hinge and Bracket. Both funny and musical.


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## TWhite (Feb 23, 2010)

The concert comedienne Anna Russell gleefully dissecting Wagner's "Ring". It just puts me on the floor every time I listen to it. And I LIKE the "Ring!".

Tom


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