We’ve had some great times with some wonderful composers through the years. One of my favorites was meeting Garry Schyman in person for the first time and talking about classical music for two hours.

So that’s pretty much what we did for our 100th episode; we called up Garry Schyman (BioShock, Dante’s Inferno, Torn) and asked him to share some of his favorite classical works and composers with us.

The playlist is a bit nuts for this one. It’s overly complicated because of the simplicity of the piece titles, like “Symphony No. 82 in G Major” or “Sonata, Op. 22 No. 5” and whatnot.

But if you really enjoy the performance of a piece, then it follows that you’d want to know who performed it, so then you get into lengthy ensemble or performer names and conductors, ad nauseam.

I totally get it though. When it comes to the nine Beethoven symphonies, it’s my belief that the John Eliot Gardiner recordings with the Revolutionary and Romantic Orchestra (or the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique) are the absolute best. I like that Gardiner was one of the early adopters of playing music on instruments from the time the music was written, and this orchestra does that, and I feel they sound tremendous.

Digression aside, as always, if you have questions or comments, join us on the Discord server.

PLAYLIST:
Pièces de Clavecin: Les Cyclopes by Jean-Philippe Rameau (Trevor Pinnock: harpsichord)

English Suite No. 1 in A Major: Prelude by Johann Sebastian Bach (Glenn Gould: piano)

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, arr. Leopold Stokowski (Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski conducting)

Piano Sonata No. 10 in C Major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Andreas Staier: fortepiano)

Piano Sonata No. 10 in C Major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Krystian Zimerman: piano)

Piano Sonata No. 10 in C Major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Andreas Staier: fortepiano)

The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, C-sharp Major Prelude by Johann Sebastian Bach (Glenn Gould, piano)

Etude No. 3 in E Major, Op. 10 No. 3, “Tristesse” by Frederic Chopin (Maurizio Pollini, piano)

Symphony No. 5 in D Minor by Dmitri Shostakovich (Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic)

Romanian Folk Dances, 1. “Jocul cu bata” by Bela Bartok (Konzerthausorchester Berlin)

Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116 by Bela Bartok, 4th movement (Georg Solti, Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116 by Bela Bartok, 5th movement (Georg Solti, Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, 3rd movement (Esa Pekka Salonen, LA Philharmonic)

Three Hungarian Folk Songs from Csik, “The Peacock” by Bela Bartok (Jeno Jando, piano)

Dance Suite, 3rd movement Allegro vivace by Bela Bartok (Georg Solti, Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Symphony No. 6 in A Minor, 3rd movement by Gustav Mahler (Claudio Abbado, Berlin Philharmonic)

Salome, Scene 4 “Ah! Herrlich! Wundervoll, wundervoll!” by Richard Strauss (Georg Solti, Vienna Philharmonic)

Salome, Scene 4 “Dance of the Seven Veils” by Richard Strauss (Vladimir Jurowski, London Philharmonic Orchestra)

Symphony No. 1 in D Major, 2nd movement by Gustav Mahler (Christoph von Dohnanyi, The Cleveland Orchestra)

Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, 3rd movement by Ludwig van Beethoven (John Eliot Gardiner, Revolutionary and Romantic Orchestra)

The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, Fugue 4 in C-sharp Minor (Arthur Villar)

Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” by Gustav Mahler (Klaus Tennstedt, London Philharmonic Orchestra)

Symphony No. 4 in G Major by Gustav Mahler (Christoph von Dohnanyi, The Cleveland Orchestra)

Symphony No. 6 in F Major by Ludwig van Beethoven (John Eliot Gardiner, Revolutionary and Romantic Orchestra)