Nobody Ever Erected a Statue to a Rock Critic

John Malkovich in a one-man show about the great classical composers being dissed by their critical contemporaries?

Okay, how did I miss the memo on this?

From the press release:

Schumann fancies himself a "composer“, while Brahms is a "giftless bastard“ and Claude Debussy is "simply ugly." Aleksey Igudesman has created a sardonic mix of the most evil music critiques of the last centuries written about some of the greatest works of music. Equipped with a frivolous potpourri of musical insults, John Malkovich slips into the role of the evil critic who believes the music of Beethoven, Chopin, Prokofiev and the likes to be weary and dreary.

Aleksey Igudesman, Hyung-ki Joo and other great musicians beg to differ and fight back. The grand finale is "The Malkovich Torment“, a horrific review about Malkovich himself, which Igudesman has set to music in a uniquely sardonically humorous way.

“I have always loved the opportunity to collaborate on The Music Critic with Aleksey Igudesman, Hyung-ki Joo, and many other gifted and thoughtful young classical musicians. We are all happy to be back on the road, and for the first time also in the USA, participating in an evening which consists of some of the greatest compositions in the history of classical music, paired with the perhaps rather unexpected initial reactions those compositions elicited from some of the world’s renowned music critics, along with some other surprises.” -- John Malkovich

This actually played in NYC Saturday night just passed, and like a schmuck I didn't get tickets, although in my defense, I wasn't even aware it existed till last Friday.

In any event, the whole idea of it tickles me, for obvious professional reasons, and then, of course -- Malkovich. I need say no more.

Oh, and BTW, the quote paraphrased in today's title has been attributed to various folks over the years, but the concensus is that it was originally uttered by Jean Sibelius, the beloved Finnish composer I'm sure some schmuck scribbler once said something nasty about.

Also, you can find out more about the show, including where it's playing next, over at its official website HERE.

[h/t Tony Forte]