Topic: Possible future blind tests

[Ken B]

Ken, I mean for an arts student I was unusually good at math(s), and didn't know anybody else like that.

Ah. As a math student I was unusually interested in the arts, and didn't know anybody else like that.  When I audited a graduate Shakespeare course for instance, I had read more literature than any of the English majors.

I did have a friend who did a music major with math minor, and another math major who liked classical. So cross-over is better in that direction. (Insert obligatory remarks about mathematicians as ubermenschen here).

[Mirror Image]

Solo piano, piano duo, orchestral suite or the extended ballet version?

Complete ballet. Why listen to just the suite? It's like listening to Bartok's Miraculous Mandarin in it's suite form.

[North Star]

Complete ballet. Why listen to just the suite? It's like listening to Bartok's Miraculous Mandarin in it's suite form.

Well yes, if Mandarin had been originally the suite, written for two pianos..

[Cosi bel do]

I haven't entirely lost interest in organizing blind comparisons, but there are many of them now (and I remain quite proud to have imported this fabulous exercise here ).

But the (ridiculous and organized...) failure of my blind comparison on Mahler's 2nd Symphony is still a great frustration. I am still wondering if it would be interesting to start it again, but for such a work we'd need to be around 15 participants at least, if we want to take it seriously.

Other works I think interesting for such comparisons are :

- Bach: cantata BWV 82
- Beethoven: Overture Egmont (or Coriolan?)
- Beethoven: Kreutzer Sonata
- Brahms: Alt-Rhapsodie
- Brahms: Quintet op. 34
- Chausson: Poème
- Debussy: Préludes (short comparison on 2-3 of them)
- Franck: Symphony
- Haydn: one symphony (49? 50? 59? 88? 94?)
- Haydn: a piano sonata
- Hindemith: a symphonic work (Symphony Mathis de Maler? Metamorphoses? ...)
- Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du temps
- Mozart: a piano sonata (K.475/457? or just the Fantasy K.475?)
- Prokofiev: piano concerto no. 3 (or 2?)
- Schubert: an Impromptu (op. 90/3?)
- Scriabin: Poem of Ecstasy
- Shostakovich: Symphony 10

If anyone is interested to launch one of these quickly we can co-organize some

[Cosi bel do]

Also, I think there should be a topic listing all past comparisons and their results (with winners and final ranking). That would be a very useful thing.

[amw]

- Brahms: Quintet op. 34
- Debussy: Préludes (short comparison on 2-3 of them)
- Haydn: one symphony (49? 50? 59? 88? 94?)

Interested in all of these. Can't contribute a lot of recordings of any of them though

[aukhawk]

Also, I think there should be a topic listing all past comparisons and their results (with winners and final ranking). That would be a very useful thing.

This is probably only a partial list of Blind Comparisons on this forum
(in approximate order of start date, for completed projects):
(in reverse order of start date, for current and incomplete projects):

Holst Jupiter  (jun 2007)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,2387.0.html
Schumann Symphony 4  (feb 2012)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,20042.0.html
J.S. Bach, Fuga sopra il Magnificat BWV 733 (feb 2012)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,20041.0.html
Bach Toccata (hpschd) (mar 2012)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,20245.0.html
Mahler 6 (april 2012)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,20334.0.html
Debussy La Mer (may 2012)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,20461.0.html
Monteverdi, Lamento della ninfa (june 2012)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,20609.0.html
Strauss Zarathustra (June 2012)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,20657.0.html
Mahler 1 (aug 2012)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,20853.0.html
Berlioz SF (Oct 2012)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,21089.0.html
Chopin etude mini-blind (jan 2013)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,21316.0.html
Mendelssohn Violin mini-blind (mar 2013)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,21584.0.html
Ravel Gaspard (mar 2013)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,21672.0.html
Beethoven Waldstein mini-blind (feb 2014)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,22915.0.html
Bruckner 6 (may 2014)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,23157.0.html
Schubert String Quintet (july 2014)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,23409.0.html
Liszt Funerailles mini-blind (dec 2014)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,23818.0.html
Bach Cello Suites midi-blind (jan 2015)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,23936.0.html
Bach Violin Sonatas & Partitas (nov 2015)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,25338.0.html
Chopin Ballade No.2 mini-blind(s) (feb 2017)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,26686.0.html
Sibelius Symphony No.7 mini-blind (march 2017)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,26783.0.html
Shostakovich String Quartet No.8 mini-blind (april 2017)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,26927.0.html

Mendelssohn Octet mini-blind (sep 2017, inconclusive)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,27404.0.html
Scarlatti K27 on piano mini-blind (july 2017, inconclusive)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,27204.0.html
Bartok SPC (oct 2015, stillborn)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,25260.0.html
Mozart Fantasia K.475 (dec 2014, stillborn)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,23815.0.html
Mahler 2 blind (feb 2014, incomplete)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,22742.0.html
Brahms 2 blind (dec 2013, incomplete)
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,22639.0.html

[Ken B]

Thanks for this.

Most interesting bit: how Sarge managed vote against the Cleveland Symphony, even in the string quintet contest ...

[Brian]

An unexpected opportunity has arisen for me to do a blind test "speed round" on Liszt's "Funerailles". I am thinking one round only, and I have 5-6 recordings to consider, for a total of about 60-70 minutes of listening. A mixture of old and new recordings, from a newly reissued live-from-Moscow rarity to a 2013 recording.

Would there be any interest in this?

[mc ukrneal]

An unexpected opportunity has arisen for me to do a blind test "speed round" on Liszt's "Funerailles". I am thinking one round only, and I have 5-6 recordings to consider, for a total of about 60-70 minutes of listening. A mixture of old and new recordings, from a newly reissued live-from-Moscow rarity to a 2013 recording.

Would there be any interest in this?

Sure. It's a piece I barely know, which makes it perfect for this sort of thing. But then you knew I'd agree!!

[Ken B]

An unexpected opportunity has arisen for me to do a blind test "speed round" on Liszt's "Funerailles". I am thinking one round only, and I have 5-6 recordings to consider, for a total of about 60-70 minutes of listening. A mixture of old and new recordings, from a newly reissued live-from-Moscow rarity to a 2013 recording.

Would there be any interest in this?

Sure. Like Neal says, terra incognita.

[Jo498]

Go ahead. At least it is rather short. (I do not know it well, but it is probably one out of a handful of Liszt's piano pieces I'd recognize)
Schubert's quintet is definitely too long fo this kind of thing, heck, the first movement alone is too long for extended comparisons.

[aukhawk]

But not as long as 2 Mahler symphonies, 1 Bruckner, and 1 Berlioz, that have so far been enjoyably blind-tested.

[Jo498]

yeah, you guys are obviously much tougher than I am.
And the quintet is longer than the SF and about as long as Mahler's 1

[Ken B]

But not as long as 2 Mahler symphonies, 1 Bruckner, and 1 Berlioz, that have so far been enjoyably blind-tested.

Yeah, mostly by those of us who just watched! 

[Scherzian]

An unexpected opportunity has arisen for me to do a blind test "speed round" on Liszt's "Funerailles". I am thinking one round only, and I have 5-6 recordings to consider, for a total of about 60-70 minutes of listening. A mixture of old and new recordings, from a newly reissued live-from-Moscow rarity to a 2013 recording.

Would there be any interest in this?

My fault, I failed to mention I'd be interested in participating in your blind test.    I hope it's not too late to register?

(Already listened twice to No.3 and No.5.)

[Brian]

My fault, I failed to mention I'd be interested in participating in your blind test.    I hope it's not too late to register?

(Already listened twice to No.3 and No.5.)

No registration is necessary. Anybody can listen and post comments!

[Scherzian]

Thanks Brian!