Quiz: Mystery scores

[lukeottevanger]

215 - a notational experiment - an attempt to do away with 'tuplet' figures and brackets and replace them with noteheads of different shapes. As I said to Mark re his jest about The Sacred Harp, this composer is associated with a similar phrase - 'The ?? Harp'; he's already been on this thread, a long time back. Karl identified the composer - Cowell - but not the piece yet

219 - composer much more famous as a legendary pianist who died too early; he recorded this piece and it is available on one of the great CDs, though it isn't the major draw. The major draw on those CDs is the pianist playing the works of a greater composer, also one of the great violinists, who he also accompanies. As revealed above, either this one or  234 is by John Ogdon.

223 - this one is really hard, to be fair, even though the title is left in - it's quite an unhelpful title, though. I just really like the sound of this piece, and it's an excuse to post an audio clip later for those who might be interested in hearing something so odd. As you can see, the piece progresses mostly in harmonics, and the guitar is tuned microtonally - the whole thing, as the indication says 'with rapt concentration, as if telling a strange tale'. British composer, quite obscure but linked to the complexity group (if there is such a thing), has written many similarly titled pieces for piano, all of which explore the instrument in similar ways. I don't expect this one to go, but if you're determined to find it, look for a complexity composer associated with Finnissy etc., composer of a series of pieces called 'For Piano' and recorded by Ian Pace among others. With those facts, he ought to be much easier to find.

226 - I put this one up because it is pertinent at the moment, just as my 203 was pertinent when I put it up (a glance at 203 might help to see what I'm talking about). Alright, then - why was 203 pertinent? Because it's by Hoddinott, who, when I posted it, had just died.....ergo....

228 - a quick examination reveals what is going on here. This is one of its composer's most well-known works, I think, though recently his name has been in the news for an altogether larger piece, about which we had a thread here.

229 - I chose a sample which includes this composer's trademark technique in its baldest form. What is going on with the time signatures? Who does this sort of thing a lot?

232 - not quite for the forces it looks like. Guido got the composer - Feldman. Remember that Feldman sometimes distributes his music around the staves as he does in odd ways, to do with keeping things clear, in this case, the various rhythmical strands.

233 - possibly the piano left-hand and the stave beneath will help here. The composer was born on the Russo-Turkish frontier, in either 1866 (he said) or 187(his sister said)!; a kind of philosopher of religion (Christian and Buddhist, mostly) who developed a way of thinking described variously as 'the Fourth Way' or 'the Way of the Cunning Man'. Time said of him that he was 'a remarkable blend of P. T. Barnum, Rasputin, Freud, Groucho Marx, and everybody's grandfather.'

234 - as stated earlier, the composer was much better known as a prodigiously gifted, prematurely deceased pianist with an impressive repertoire ranging from the classics to Boulez and Sorabji. As revealed above, either this one or no 219 is by John Ogdon.

238 - not a composer associated with the piano, which instrument isn't very well suited to the technical concerns he developed later in life. This piece, slightly earlier, isn't quite there yet. It refers to the music and culture of an Asian country often bypassed by western composers looking for an Eastern fix. That country is Tibet; this composer visited Tibet and Nepal, I believe, and was greatly influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism.

240 - a fairly early score by an experimental composer who has now achieved great popularity. British, previously a jazz bassist. Has been on this thread before.

242 - if you closely, you'll see fragments from a well-known piece in here. That's because this is the cadenza to a concerto by probably the finest writer of piano concerti (pace Brahms, Beethoven and Elgar/Wagner/Schnittke/Pettersen/Dittersdorf/Mendelssohn...). It was written by the British composer of another rather cool piano concerto, and demonstrates his typical textural invention and superior powers of imagination.

244 - look at the technique involved here; the composer is quite clear then. We had a piece by this composer a long time back, and Mark identified it then - he spotted that the piece was a complex canon at various speeds, as is this one, though it's much simpler here. Who composes such things.

245 - One of a set of pieces, all of which start with the same letter. This one is the last; it depicts a nightingale with a cold. The letter is R, and thus the piece's title is....

[lukeottevanger]

...and finally, the list again:

Old list:
part one
and
part two

current list

Set by Luke
165 - Schubert - Symphony no 4 - (Sforzando)
166 - Brahms - Serenade no 1 - (Sforzando)
167 - Bartok - Miraculous Mandarin (complete ballet) - (Sforzando)
168 - Janacek - Otce Nas - (revealed by Luke)
169 - Mozart - Sinfonia Concertante (wind solos) - (Sforzando)
170 - Brahms - Neue Liebeslieder waltzes - (Sforzando)
171 - Liszt - Totentanz - (Johan)
172 - Schumann - Mein Wagen rollet langsam- (Sforzando)
173 - Wagner - Rheingold - (Mark)
174 - Stravinsky - Mass - (Mark)
175 - Sibelius - Tapiola - (Mark)
176 - Debussy- Danse sacre et danse profane - (Sforzando)
177 - Berlioz - Roman Carnival - (Johan)
178 - Debussy - Pelleas et Melisande - (Sforzando)
179 - Rossini - La Cenerentola overture - (Sforzando)
180 - Scriabin - Prometheus - (Mark)
181 - Franck - Symphonic Variations - (Sforzando)
182 - Gershwin - Piano Concerto - (Mark)
183 - Busoni - Piano Concerto - (Robert)
184 - Honegger - Pacific 231 - (Greg)
185 - Ligeti - String Quartet no 1 - (revealed by Luke)
186 - Ligeti - String Quartet no 2 - (matticus)
187 - Holst - The Perfect Fool - (Johan)
188 - Tippett - Fantasia Concertante/Corelli - (Johan)
189 - Elgar - Cockaigne - (Johan)
190 - Tippett - Triple Concerto - (Mark)
191 - Ireland - Piano concerto - (Guido)
192 - Tippett - Symphony no 1 - (Mark)
193 - Vaughan Williams - The Lake in the Mountains - (revealed by Luke)
194 - Tippett - A Child of Our Time - (Robert)
195 - Rubbra - Prelude/Fugue theme of Cyril Scott - (Maciek)
196 - Berners - Le poisson d'or - (Guido)
197 - Tippett - The Midsummer Marriage - (Mark)
198 - Howells - Hymnus Paradisi - (Guido)
199 - Lutoslawski - Two Etudes - (Maciek)
200 - Bloch - Schelomo - (Guido)
201 - Thelonius Monk improvisation - (revealed by Luke)
202 - Humperdinck - Hansel und Gretel - (Sforzando)
203 - Hoddinott - The sun, the great luminary of the universe - (revealed by Luke)
204 - Zimmermann - Stille und umkehr - (revealed by Luke)
205 - Ligeti - Cello Concerto - (Guido)
206 - Glass - Vessels (from Koyaanisqatsi) - (revealed by Luke)
207 - Berio - Folksongs - (Symphonien)
208 - Part - Rottkappchen und der Wolf - (Sforzando)
209 - Ligeti - Lontano - (Greg)
210 - Ligeti - Artikulation - (Greg)
211 - Bussotti - La Passion Selon Sade - (Symphonien)
212 - Stevenson - Passacaglia on DSCH - (Johan)
213 - Grainger - Ramble on Love - (Sforzando)
214 - Penderecki - De Natura Sonoris I - (Mark/Greg)
215 - Cowell - ? - (Karl)
216 - Dallapiccola - Quaderno Musicale di Annalibera - (Symphonien)
217 - Xenakis - à r - (Johan)
218 - Ives - Improvisation (transcr. Dapogny) - (Mark)
219 - ? -
220 - Messiaen - Mode de valeurs... - (Guido)
221 - Messiaen - Tombeau de Paul Dukas - (Johan)
222 - Crumb - Agnus Dei (Makrokosmos II) - (Symphonien)?
223 - Emsley - For Guitar 1 - (Johan)
224 - Villa-Lobos - Amazonas - (Johan)
225 - Koechlin - Les Heures Persanes - (Sforzando)
226 - Mussorgsky - Sunless - (Sforzando)
226 - ? -
227 - Schoenberg - Songs op 22 - (Mark)
228 - ? -
229 - ? -
230 - Gould - So you want to write a fugue - (Johan)
231 - Schoeck - Elegie - (Johan)
232 - Feldman - ? - (Guido)
233 - Gurdjieff - something-or-other-I'll-find-out-later - (Johan)
234 - ? -
235 - Rachmaninov - Piano Trio 1 - (Guido)
236 - Britten - Michelangelo Sonnets - (Sforzando)
237 - Wyschnegradsky - Etude sur le carré magique sonore - (Johan)
238 - ? -
239 - Mosolov - Two Dances op 23b - (Johan)
240 - Bryars - Mr Sunshine - (Sforzando)
241 - Francaix - La Promenade d'un musicologue éclectique - (Johan)
242 - Britten - Cadenza for Mozart K482 - (Sforzando)
243 - Sciarrino - Anamorfosi - (Johan)
244 - ? -
245 - ? -
246 - Beethoven - Equali - (Mark)
247 - Boulez - Notations - (Sforzando)
248 - Ustvolskaya - Piano Sonata no 6 - (Johan)
249 - Hamelin - Preambulum to an Imaginary Piano Symphony - (Johan)
250 - Stockhausen - Gruppen - (Sforzando)
251 - ? -
252 - Ravel - Ronsard à son âme - (Johan)
253 - Chopin (aged 7) - Polonaise - (Sforzando)
254 - Chopin reconstr. Kallberg - 'Trill' Prelude - (Sforzando)
255 - ? -
256 - Ravel - Noël des jouets - (Johan)
257 - ? -

Set by Greg
31 - Mahler - Ressurection symphony - (Johan)

Set by Symphonien
1 - Lachenmann - Pression - (Luke)
2 - Stravinsky - Les noces - (Johan)
3 - Schoenberg - A Survivor from Warsaw - (Mark)
4 - Murail - Désintégrations - (Luke)
5 - Schnittke - Prelude in memoriam Dmitiri Shostakovich - (Mark)
6  - Sciarrino - Sei quartetti brevi - (Luke)
7 - Stockhausen - Es (aus der sieben Tage) - (Mark)
8 - Nietzsche - There flows a brook - (Guido)

Set by Guido
21 - Beethoven - Triple Concerto - (Luke)
22 - Ligeti - Hungarian Rock - (Luke)
23 - Bartok - Study for the Left Hand - (Luke)
24 - Miaskovsky - Cello Sonata 2 - (Luke)
25 - Schulhoff - Violin Sonata - (Luke)
26 - Webern - Piece for cello and piano - (Luke)
27 - Tchaikovsky - Rococo Variations - (Luke)
28 - Scarlatti - Sonata K175 - (Luke)
29 - Vaughan Williams - Romance - (Luke)
30a-c - Ives - Skethces for Universe Symphony - (Luke)
31 - Korngold - Romance-Impromptu - (Johan)
32 - Ives - Some Southpaw Pitching - (Luke)
33 - Honegger - Cello concerto - (Luke)
34 - Ysaye - Solo Cello Sonata - (Luke)

Set by Sforzando
1 - Schubert - Reliquie Sonata - (Luke)
2 - Feldman - Last pieces - (Guido)
3 - Griffes - The White Peacock - (Luke)
4 - Ferneyhough - Superscriptio - (Mark)
5 - Ibert - Le petit ane blanc - (Guido)
6 - Ruggles - Sun-Treader - (Mark)
7 - Verdi - original version of Liber Scriptus, Manzoni Requiem - (Luke)
8 - Berwald - Symphony no 3 - (Mark)
9 - Rimsky-Korsakov - Le coq d'or - (Mark)
9(a) - Beethoven - sketchbook for opp 130, 132 - (Luke)
10 - Gluck - Le calme entre dans ma coeur (Iphigénie en Tauride) - (Luke)
11 - Rameau - Les tendres plaintes - (Luke)
12 - Roussel - Le festin de l'araignée - (Luke)
13 - Alfvén - First Swedish Rhapsody (Midsommarvaka) - (Johan)
14 - Panufnik - Jagiellonian Triptych - (Johan)
15 - Respighi - Brazillian Impressions - (Luke)
16 - Beach - Gaelic Symphony - (Luke)
17 - Hoffmann - Piece for Orchestra - (Luke)
18 -  Flothuis - Symphonic Music - (Luke)
19 - von Einem - Philadelphia Symphony - (Luke)
20 - Martin - Concerto pour sept instrument à vents - (Luke)
21 - Bernstein - Serenade - (Luke)
22 - Larry Rinkel - Sonatina - (Luke)
23 - Chabrier - Bourrée Fantasque - (Johan)
24 - Wolf - Er ist's - (Luke)
25 - Berlioz - Benvenuto Cellini - (Luke)
26 - Hummel - Trumpet Concerto - (Luke)
27 - Varese - Density 21.5 - (Luke)
28 - Gottschalk - Grand Tarantelle - (Johan)
29 - Berio - Sequenza XI - (Luke)
30 - Schumann - Fantasy op 17 (orig. ending) - (Luke)
31 - Schmidt - The Fantasticks - (Luke)
32 - Wolf - Ganymed - (Luke)
33 - Wagner - Die Meistersinger.. - (Luke)
34 - Wagner - Das Rheingold - (Luke)
35 - Alkan - Allegro Barbaro (no 5, Etudes Dans Tous Les Tons Majeurs) - (Johan)
36 - Massenet - Don Quichotte - (Johan)
37 - Schumann - Genoveva - (Johan)

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

233 is Gurdjieff.

[lukeottevanger]

Yes it is. And frankly, that will do - I have no idea how you'd track down which of his little pieces this is, nor how I could leave a clue to help you do so, nor (in fact) do I remember myself which one it is. And I don't want to go trawling through all the hundreds of pages of Gurdjieff scores I've found myself owning to find it. So that's the final answer, as far as I'm concerned!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Yes it is. And frankly, that will do - I have no idea how you'd track down which of his little pieces this is, nor how I could leave a clue to help you do so, nor (in fact) do I remember myself which one it is. And I don't want to go trawling through all the hundreds of pages of Gurdjieff scores I've found myself owning to find it. So that's the final answer, as far as I'm concerned!

Thank you, thank you, thank you... 

[(poco) Sforzando]

Sforzando, you are cruel...

Okay - your clues for 19: the composer isn't a major figure, he is mainly remembered for his operas, but is played more in Germany than in America or Britain, and the American title of the work is at variance with his nationality.

And I see this is proving a trial for you, and if you visit his Wikipedia article you'll see he's best known for his operas, and I would have expected the correct answer from one of you, and he's from one later century. 

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

And I see this is proving a trial for you, and if you visit his Wikipedia article you'll see he's best known for his operas, and I would have expected the correct answer from one of you, and he's from one later century. 

For this relief much thanks...

But I'm no nearer to an answer.

Yet.

[lukeottevanger]

and I would have expected the correct answer from one of you...

yes, I'm deeply disappointed too

[karlhenning]

245 - One of a set of pieces, all of which start with the same letter. This one is the last; it depicts a nightingale with a cold. The letter is R, and thus the piece's title is....

Le rossignol

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Le rossignol

Whose? But I don't think so -

No. Nor Couperin's 'Rossignol en amour' (let's not forget the genius of Couperin in our praise of Scarlatti and Rameau!). Nor Satie's 'rossignol qui aurait mal aux dents'.... (though that one is closest as it too has a medical affliction!)

[karlhenning]

Thanks for getting me up to speed on this, Johan!

(I don't know whose, and I certainly didn't take it for Stravinsky's.)

[(poco) Sforzando]

How 'bout posting a few yourself, Karl? 

I have to spend more time with Luke's clues tonight. But as for my two unguessed ones - well, start by thinking about major American cities. I definitely expect the correct answer from one of you! I'm going to attach one more clue below. You don't even need to identify this extremely famous work (though you might as well) to see that it's yet another clue staring you in the face as to Sfz19.

As I say, I expect the answer from one of you eventually.

As for my other - well, I'm sure someone knows it. Just try to remember all the clues I've given you, and you'll get it. This is such a fantastic thread!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

# 223 is Richard Emsley.

[(poco) Sforzando]

# 223 is Richard Emsley.

Whom I've never even heard of! 

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Whom I've never even heard of! 

Neither had I, before I discovered his name a few minutes ago... 

[lukeottevanger]

How 'bout posting a few yourself, Karl? 

I have to spend more time with Luke's clues tonight. But as for my two unguessed ones - well, start by thinking about major American cities. I definitely expect the correct answer from one of you! I'm going to attach one more clue below. You don't even need to identify this extremely famous work (though you might as well) to see that it's yet another clue staring you in the face as to Sfz19.

As I say, I expect the answer from one of you eventually.

Well, that's obviously from Meistersinger, part of the song contest IIRC, and your ever-so-subtle hints above about a 'trial' had already got me thinking on those lines. But no more than that yet.

Richard Emsley is right. Surprised you hadn't heard of him - he's every bit as famous as Richard Hoffmann and Marius Flothuis  It's quite a beautiful piece, this - I may post some of it later....

[lukeottevanger]

Le rossignol

No. I don't think you guys are reading the clue correctly. Be more literal. You all know of this piece, by name anyway, I am sure. And forget about the nightingale; in itself it's not that important.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Well, that's obviously from Meistersinger, part of the song contest IIRC, and your ever-so-subtle hints above about a 'trial' had already got me thinking on those lines. But no more than that yet.

"Trial" is a useful word here, but perhaps another clue should help get me a correct answer from one of you.

As for Luke's, I'm thinking the Tibet-Nepal connection in 238 could refer to Philip Glass, and the piano concerto could be by Bliss - but since I've heard that work once and thought it God-awful, I doubt it. 

[lukeottevanger]

That one's from Rheingold - Alberich climbing the rocks to steal the gold, I think.

The Tibet one (forget Nepal) - no (doesn't look like Glass, does it?)

And the concerto - it's not Bliss. A better, more famous composer. But as I've already said, this is the cadenza to a concerto by a different composer (and a much, much, much, much more famous composer than any of them), so in finding that different concerto (which you can do by looking in detail at the substance of the music) you will have a big help in finding the composer of the cadenza.

[(poco) Sforzando]

1) That one's from Rheingold - Alberich climbing the rocks to steal the gold, I think.

2) The Tibet one (forget Nepal) - no (doesn't look like Glass, does it?)

3) And the concerto - it's not Bliss.

1) True, but the clue I expect a lightbulb to go on from one of you is not specifically rocks, climbing, stealing, gold, or Alberich-specific. A somewhat more noble composer's name.

2) Not at all.

3) That's a relief. Is Mozart the composer of the "different" concerto?