Part of the Listen to This Audio Guide
The author makes his conducting debut.
The opening of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony (p. 6), with the "intrusive" C-sharp at 0:09:
Otto Klemperer conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra; EMI 67741
The San Francisco Symphony has an excellent online guide to Beethoven's revolutionary symphony, with Michael Tilson Thomas as host. You can follow the score bar by bar, stopping to hear short commentaries both by the conductor and by members of the orchestra.
When I was in college, I followed what I think of as the "noise passage" from classical to pop (p. 9). I began in the wilds of the post-1945 European avant-garde, listening to works like Stockhausen's Gruppen:
Stockhausen, Bruno Maderna, and Michael Gielen conducting the WDR Orchestra; Stockhausen Edition No. 5.
Then a friend had me listen to Cecil Taylor:
From 3 Phasis, with Taylor on piano, Jimmy Lyons, alto saxophone; Raphé Malik, trumpet; Ramsey Ameen, violin; Sirone, bass; Ronald Shannon Jackson, drums; New World 80303.
Other friends had me listen to Pere Ubu:
"30 Seconds Over Tokyo," from the Terminal Tower compilation.
And Sonic Youth:
"Silver Rocket," from Daydream Nation.
The hit tune from my very brief period as a Bay Area punk—Blatz's "Fuk Shit Up" (p. 9):
Reissued on Blatz / Filth, Shit Split (Alternative Tentacles).
A footnote: Jesse Townley, the lead singer of Blatz, has become active in Berkeley politics, and presently serves as the commissioner of the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board.
The beginning of the finale of Mozart's "Paris" Symphony, for which Mozart expected and received punctuating applause from the audience (p. 11):
Trevor Pinnock conducting the English Concert; DG 471666.
Duke Ellington and his band disrupt Liszt in the 1934 movie Murder at the Vanities (p. 16):
