The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: What classical music goes best with Super Bowl 47 today since there are fewer live concerts to attend that conflict with the football game?

By Jacob Stockinger

Today is Super Bowl Day.

Can you believe that tickets average $3,500?

Anyway, for Super Bowl 47 today in New Orleans — between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers — it seems like a lot of local music groups have learned the lessons of past years and not scheduled live concerts that conflict with the popular sports event.

Even if the Green Bay Packers aren’t playing in this year’s championship game –- which will start with a 5:30 p.m. CST kickoff on CBS tonight and can be watched on TV or streamed live on the CBS sports web site –- preventing or avoiding the loss of audiences to other events seems a wise choice.

So The Ear asks: Can you name a good classical piece that goes well with the Super Bowl?

Here is some of Aram Khachaturian’s score for the ballet “Spartacus” that seems to capture the right combative spirit:

And maybe Gustav Holst’s popular and dramatic “Mars – The Bringer of War” from his tone poem suite “The Planets” is another appropriate choice.

Can you name other works that capture the same spirit?

Let me know in  the COMMENT section, preferably with a link to a YouTube video.

I will appreciate it for this year – and I expect in future years, when maybe Green Bay will appear again.

And win.

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