Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Music and Politics, Part 57

Condaleeza Rice has revealed her top 10 list of music (see below). I wonder how much of this is truly in her top 10, and how much was chosen for political reasons.

1. Mozart
Piano Concerto in D minor
"I won my first piano competition at the age of 15, playing this work."

2. Cream
'Sunshine of Your Love'
"I love to work out to this song," says Rice. "Believe it or not, I loved acid rock in college - and I still do."

3. Aretha Franklin
'Respect'

4. Kool and the Gang
'Celebration'
"It's just such a great song."

5. Brahms
Piano Concerto No 2

6 Brahms
Piano Quintet in F minor

7. U2
Anything
Rice, a big fan, is happy to listen to any of their tunes.

8. Elton John
'Rocket Man'
"It brings back memories of college, friends, my first boyfriend."

9. Beethoven
Symphony No 7
"Quite simply the greatest symphony of all time," is how Rice describes Beethoven's Seventh.

10. Mussorgsky
Boris Godunov

2 comments:

anbruch said...

Boris Godunov? Who'd've thought? I don't know, given her personality, the concerti make sense. I'm surprised by the Quintet. The pop stuff also makes sense except the U2, which is considerably later. It's also a curious choice for all sorts of other reasons.

anbruch

Scott said...

Hmm, Boris gains power through questionable circumstances, and becomes very unpopular. Nah, could never happen. Alex Ross suggests that the U2 could be a very political choice.