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who is this hilariously funny orchestra?

Today i accidently heard part of a tune and all day tried to find who plays it.
Let me describe it. It was an orchestra playing a very well-known classical piece all out-of-tune just for the fun of it. It was hiloriously funny listening all those brass instruments playing very seriosly with wrong tones. Of course these guys are doing this for the fun of it so what i am trying to find is not a piece that is done poorly but a piece that some real proffesional musicians playing wrong just for the fun of it. I really need to know who these guys are to find more about their performances.

thank you.
128x128parkcaka
unclejeff
1,313 posts
 
I remember the second time I saw PDQ. It was as Davis Symphany Hall in San Francisco. The couple in front of me thought this was to be 'real' symphony playing Bach.

When the Professor lowered himself down onto stage from a rope, you should have seen their expressions.

They left shortly thereafter.
swklein
136 posts
 
It could be the Portsmouth Sinfonia...
pragmatist
336 posts
 
When Peter Schickelie taught at Julliard,he made up a fictional composer named PDQ Bach and used it as a teaching device to make fun of compositional mistakes, by means of contrasts.

They gave performances and put up posters announcing the concerts. They invited people to attend an "Evening of Fine Music.....and PDQ Bach."
kurt_tank
1,189 posts
 
I just recently heard something similar to what you describe from the Portsmouth Sinfonia (Swklein is responsible for the spelling, so I take no credit for it, or responsibility if it is wrong either!). I heard it on Greg Kihn's radio show on KFOX. (Yes, that Greg Kihn.)

Amazingly this was a Brian Eno led symphony. It was amazingly bad. So bad it was funny, good. I believe it came out in 1973 or so.
jgreenwood
20 posts
 
I thought of The Portsmouth Sinfonia as well. I had their first LP from the 70's and currently have a CD compilation of British comedy which contains several of their more memorable performances including the opening to Zarathustra and an orchestral rendition of the overture to "Tommy."
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