To be fair, the Seattle Symphony did commission a work that won this year's Pulitzer Prize in music--Become Ocean by John Luther Adams.
Yes, the piece yielded great praise but didn't quite reach this kind of limelight.
Instead, the SS's late-20th century gem "Baby Got Back" has propelled the orchestra to stardom. Featuring a remix of the revered Sir Mix-A-Lot's chart-topper, the video below has been seen some 2 million times on YouTube.
(You know the original, of course. The one with that stellar opening line: "I like big butts and I cannot lie!")
Ludovic Morlot's band has gone viral, ruffling the feathers of many a classical musician who argue that the cover was neither jocular time-piece nor a salty gimmick...but downright misogyny.
The London-based composer, Gabriel Prokofiev (grandson of the great Russian composer Sergei Profokiev), comments on his blog:
"My aim with this new Sir-Mix-A-Lot inspired orchestral work was to really get inside the musical mind of Sir Mix-A-Lot; to understand how his rhythms, textures, sounds and harmonies worked, and to create a contemporary orchestral composition that was true to the music of Sir-Mix-A-Lot."
And while the result isn't exactly "classically-trained," the internet has responded the way it always does: cool tidings juxtaposed with sharp criticism.
But if you go by normal, popular standards, the piece is a success (and may have even given birth to a new "long cool woman in a black dress"...and I'm not talking about the Hollies.)
Without further ado, "Baby Got Back" care of Ludovic Morlot and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.
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