Victor Borge improvising on the piano

Victor has just finished conducting at one of his 80th birthday concerts and the crowd reaction was so good that the violinist, Anton Kontra, suggests an encore. No encore was planned but Monti's Czardas, which Victor had heard before BUT HAD NEVER PLAYED, is suggested. Nevertheless, the two go at it and put on quite a show. Watch Victor's facial expressions in the 2nd half as his partner escalates the action.
victor borge piano pianist classical violin improvising improvisation concert comedy funny improv cziffra
Victor Borge: Phonetic punctuation

Victor Borge does his famous phonetic punctuation, that is, adds sound to periods, commas, dashes, etc. while reading a romantic story from a book.
victor borge punctuation interpunctuation language Denmark story Copenhagen comic clown music stand-up Danish grammar
Victor Borge Clair De Lune

January 3rd, 1989. Victor Borges 80th birthday celebration at Wolf Trap in Virginia and he performs Debussys Clair De Lune. Its great....enjoy!!
Victor Borge — Träumerei

A musical legend of the 20th century ends a concert with panache and poignancy.
Victor Borge Träumerei Traumerei Schumann Kinderszenen Piano Bosendorfer Comedy Concert
Victor Borge - Debussy's "Clair de Lune"

Heres a more serious Victor Borge playing Claude Debussy's "Clair de Lune," from Suite bergamasque. This isn't the original composition, he seems to add a few notes here and there, maybe for resonance or added harmony.. who knows. Either way, its Victor Borge, one of the 20th Centuries few true piano geniuses. this piece was composed in 1890. (forgive the quality, the video is old and he's playing a Bosendorfer (zing)) :D
victor virtuoso borge claude debussy clair lune suite bergamasque piano classical impressionistic impressionism pianist
Victor Borge - 80th birthday - English subtitles available

Excerpt from Victor Borges 80th birthday concert in Tivoli Concert Hall, Copenhagen, Denmark (1989). Mr. Borge accompanies Danish recorder player Michala Petri. The piece is "Czardas" by the Italian composer Vittorio Monti, which was inspired by the Hungarian folk dance of the same name. It was written in 1904. I have uploaded this video with English subtitles, as a gesture to all non-Danish speaking fans of Mr. Borge. Enjoy !
Victor Borge Michala Petri Tivoli 80th birthday Czardas Csárdás Vittorio Monti stigekalder
Victor Borge (Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Frederic Chopin, Johannes Brahms, Franz Liszt, Johann Sebastian Bach, Richard Wagner, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Strauss, Irving Berlin & Modern Music) - Variations on "Happy birthday to you"

Victor Borge is an enigma for me. Though many would consider him to be simply a clown, albeit a clown spoofing classical music, some of his work is, to say the least, strikingly acute and tantalizingly interesting. The present piece is proof of this. The variations form is well-known and appears in virtually any classical music period. It would seem almost impossible to do anything new with the form but Borge proves us wrong by adopting a very unusual approach. He chooses a painstakingly well-known theme, here - "Happy birthday to you", and sets about to create variations to it. But it is only the top of the iceberg: each variation is, effectually, the way a certain composer would write the theme itself. All in all, there are eleven variations of very different composers: we start by passing through Bach and Mozart and finish with Irving and some modern composer whose name I do not know (and Borge's hilarious pronunciation does not help :P). Some of these variations are preceded by a snatch on the composer's original work from which Borge then proceeds to develop the variation. Moreover, some of his variations are rather charming (Brahms or Bach (in spite of a ridiculously humorous long descending line repeated two times)) or even, dare I say it, moving (Beethoven, in spite of some goofing on Borge's part, gets one of the better treatments). I've marked the movements in the video itself but you can also check the title which includes all composers presented in the order <b>...</b>
Victor Borge Pyotr Tchaikovsky Frederic Chopin Johannes Brahms Franz Liszt Johann Sebastian Bach Richard Wagner Ludwig van Beethoven Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Strauss Irving Berlin
Borge Ring - Anna & Bella

Requested by the author. Börge won an Oscar with this one in 1985. "Oh my darling" was nominated for an Oscar in 1978. Want to talk to Borge himself? He's alive and kicking and spends a lot of time on internet. Go to www.borgering.com and click "talk to Borge". This website was designed and published for him at his 90th birthday by his daughter Anne-Mieke Bovelett-Ring (www.gepresenteerd.nl) with the assistance of Mark Reed (www.multiintech.com).
Borge Ring Oscar winner academy award Joanika Ring Anne-Mieke Bovelett animation art Danish animator Hans Perk
Victor Borge New Years Show in the Royal (National) Theater, Copenhagen 1996 1:2

Victor Borge New Years Show (and the celebration of his 70 jubilee) in the Royal (National) Theater, Copenhagen 1996 1:2 In his native language, Danish.





































