The Royale Beatleworks Musicke, MBE 1963

Epstein Variations, MBE 69A

"Last Night I Said," Cantata for the Third Saturday after Shea Stadium, MBE 58,000

Trio Sonata: Das Kaferlein, MBE 004 1/4

Album Review

by Blair Sanderson [allmusic.com]

In preparation for its 1965 Christmas season releases, Elektra Records wanted to capitalize on the Beatles' enormous popularity by producing an album of tongue-in-cheek classical arrangements of their songs. Enlisting the talented Joshua Rifkin to arrange 13 Lennon & McCartney songs in takeoffs of Handel and Bach. Employing the top studio musicians in New York at the time, Elektra got more than a novelty record: of all the silly parodies and over-the-top tributes that appeared in the wake of Beatlemania, The Baroque Beatles Book still holds up well today, and is most notable for its clever arrangements; Rifkin's humor (somewhat in the vein of Peter Schickele's P.D.Q. Bach recordings) is tempered by his remarkable skills in imitating Baroque counterpoint and instrumental techniques. Anyone who knows the Beatles' albums from Please Please Me to Help! will recognize the tunes immediately, and Rifkin's pastiches of Handel's Royal Fireworks Music, Bach's cantatas, trio sonatas, and the Goldberg Variations -- or is it the Harmonious Blacksmith? -- will amuse classical buffs. The performances by the Baroque Ensemble of the Merseyside Kammermusikgesellschaf, led by Rifkin from the harpsichord, are all sharp and professional, though the sound is a little dry and lacarole_king in resonance; these airless recordings are unlikely to satisfy audio buffs. But judged as a whole, this package is quite impressive for only five weeks' work and denoch_lightful for its freshness and wit.