Something completely different: A party playlist featuring avant-garde, nouveau classical jazz picks

Part two of the Hub's series of playlists curated by Peabody faculty members took an unexpected and exciting turn: avant-garde and nouveau classical pieces selected by trumpeter Josef Burgstaller. And, as a special bonus, Burgstaller also curated a holiday playlist featuring Christmas and Hanukkah selections.

Image caption: Josef Burgstaller

Burgstaller, who teaches trumpet at the Peabody Conservatory, has performed with more than 40 orchestras, including the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Meridian Arts Ensemble, and Canadian Brass. His extensive discography includes three solo CDs and three top 10 Billboard hits with Canadian Brass. He performs with the Classical/Jazz-Hybrid crossover group BM4, who were top 50 on the JazzRadio charts and the Roots Radio Report (under Paul Simon but right above the Beastie Boys).

Burgstaller's 17-song playlist includes selections from Italian cinema classics and pieces performed by other Peabody faculty members and Burgstaller himself. There are stately pieces, like Stravinsky's arrangement of "The Star Spangled Banner," which Burgstaller explains was met with controversy when it was first arranged. "On opening night," he says, "the Boston police, upon hearing some unconventional harmonies (and misinterpreting a Federal statute that outlawed tempering with the National Anthem), forced Stravisnky to remove it from the rest of the series." There are also more adventurous works, like a piece from Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain, "a seminal album for jazz artists," says Burgstaller, and an example of Third Stream, "which fused together jazz, classical, and world music."

He created a playlist on YouTube of additional songs and live versions not available on Spotify.

Josef Burgstaller's playlist

• "The Star Spangled Banner"
• "America, the Beautiful" performed by Denyce Graves
• "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" performed by Canadian Brass
• "Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major" performed by Amit Peled
• "Adios Nonino" by Ástor Piazzolla
• "String Quartet in F Major" by Miró Quartet
• "Paradise" by Frank Zappa
• "The Vanishing Pavilions Suite" by Michael Hersch
• "Concierto de Aranjuez" by Miles Davis
• "Rangin Kaman" by Kronos Quartet
• "Tabula Rasa" by Arvo Pärt
• "Bone Chapel" by Ensemble Klang
• "Within" by Joe Burgstaller
• "La Gloire de Mon Pere" by Vladimir Cosma and Orchestre Philharmonic de Paris
• "Love Theme from Cinema Paradiso" by Ennio Morricone
• "I Clowns, La Marcia Dei Gladiatori" by Nino Rota
• "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" by Michel Legrand

And now, Burgstaller's holiday playlist.