Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide To The Orchestra
- TV stand-up / factual
- BBC Two
- 2009
- 1 episode
Bill Bailey gives his take on the world of the orchestra, performing both classic works and his own pieces with the BBC Concert Orchestra. Stars Bill Bailey.
Press clippings
Bill Bailey: video exclusive
Comedian and classically trained musician Bill Bailey talks about the instruments he uses on his Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra live show.
The Telegraph, 29th November 2010Why has Bill Bailey written a guide to the orchestra?
Bill Bailey's Guide to the Orchestra is an attempt to harmonise genial fun with serious musicology.
Hugh Pearman, The Sunday Times, 8th November 2009Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra
It's a waste to have the orchestra just beefing up Bailey's mildly amusing songs. Far better when the instruments are foregrounded; when music (Rossini; the EastEnders theme) is deconstructed to comic effect, and the orchestra provides the punchlines. Sometimes that's difficult - comic timing is complicated when 72 musicians are involved. But elsewhere, it's sublime, as stately form meets daft content, and Bailey runs riot in the candy shop of his musical imagination. A four-man performance of Saint-Saëns' The Swan on Alpine cow bells shows the giddy heights of pleasure to which this curious collaboration might yet aspire.
Brian Logan, The Guardian, 17th October 2008