Quiz: Mystery scores

[lukeottevanger]

And I did say that it sucked that he hadn't been identified! 

Yes, of course!  I ought to clarify that one of the 'quotations' - that in the second sample - is actually no such thing. In fact, the later work quotes from this piece, of course. Though the fact that the musical idea is shared between the two works remains. And the self-quotation in the first sample definitely is such a thing.

Once this piece is identified I won't be able to resist posting some samples, I warn you.

[lukeottevanger]

Two more, with similar titles.

LO 272

[lukeottevanger]

LO 273

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Things Lived and Dreamed, op. 30

273 is Brian! John Dowland's Fancy.

[lukeottevanger]

Phew! I hoped you'd get that one!

The Suk isn't that piece, though you're only a few opus numbers out. Remember that it's a memorial, like Asrael, though only to one of the two people memorialised in that piece.

[lukeottevanger]

Re my new two - they have similar titles, as I said, so if one is called 'John Dowland's Fancy' the other will share a name of a similar sort. So, a hint would be - play through 272 - it is a varied quotation from one of the better-known works of the composer whose name is part of the title.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Josef Suk, "O Mamince", op. 28

[(poco) Sforzando]

Ooooh, oooh, my turn! I guess that Saul will write something called 'Prelude in F flat minor' in the next few years.

Malheureusement....

[(poco) Sforzando]

I think Luke is becoming impatient with how slow and dense the rest of us are. 

232-  Don't know just yet, but it's something like Piano, Piece, Intermission, for, 4, or Intersection
244 - Nancarrow
261-  Stravinsky (but not Les Cinq Doigts) - yet I can't place it
262-  One of Ravel's gemstones

More later I hope....

[(poco) Sforzando]

267 is Igor Markevitch's Variations on a Theme by Handel.

[lukeottevanger]

I think Luke is becoming impatient with how slow and dense the rest of us are. 

No, just surprised 

232-  Don't know just yet, but it's something like Piano, Piece, Intermission, for, 4, or Intersection

Yes

244 - Nancarrow

Yes

261-  Stravinsky (but not Les Cinq Doigts) - yet I can't place it

Really? Why not?  (no, of course it isn't)

262-  One of Ravel's gemstones

No. Another precious stone digger...

More later I hope....

Me too

Just seen the Markevitch one - that's correct. The theme is....?

[lukeottevanger]

Josef Suk, "O Mamince", op. 28

That's the one - an utterly devastating masterpiece IMO, just as much so as his louder, bigger, more public works. Samples coming soon. 

[(poco) Sforzando]

No, just surprised 

- You know what happens. When so many come down the road at once, it's harder to focus, especially when 3-4 people are throwing 10 examples apiece. You're literally opening 3-4 instances of the thread at once trying to find the examples.

YesYesReally? Why not?

- I don't know!

No. Another precious stone digger...

- Then it must be Webern.

Me too

Just seen the Markevitch one - that's correct. The theme is....?

- It is from one of the harpsichord suites in E major, to which Handel also wrote his set of variations. Something about a contrapuntal ironmonger, or the like.

[lukeottevanger]

Webern is correct.

And the Tuneful Tinker is also correct.

[(poco) Sforzando]

271 must be Franz Schreker, though I don't know which.

[lukeottevanger]

271 must be Franz Schreker, though I don't know which.

Like I said, this is the piano arrangement of a piece in a form which AFAIK was invented by Schoenberg. There have been other examples by many composers - pieces by Enescu, Adams and Ades are the first to spring to mind.

And oh yes, Schreker is correct.

[lukeottevanger]

That's the one - an utterly devastating masterpiece IMO, just as much so as his louder, bigger, more public works. Samples coming soon. 

Forget about samples - here's the whole thing, and for once at a proper bit-rate. Pianist is Ivan Moravec, who it seems rated these pieces very highly, as do I.

Suk's O Mamince ('About Mother', or simply 'Mother') was written for his son following the death of Otylka, Dvorak's daughter, Suk's wife and, obviously, the boy's mother. Otylka is also remembered in the last two movements of the mighty Asrael symphony (whose first three movements are memorials to Dvorak) but here the memories are much more personal, relevant to Suk himself and to the boy.

The first two movements depict Otylka as a young girl - the first, from which my first sample came, quotes Suk's op 7 no 1 Love Song, his big popular hit.

The third movement is a lullaby which, like Ravel's Le gibet but to very different effect, is hung around a persistent tolling B flat. Suk's characteristically sensitive chromatic harmony creates a spellbinding, suspended effect.

The fourth movement - my second sample - depicts 'Mother's heart', and eventually her death. It begins with the same idea that later began the orchestral work A Summer's Tale - my own favourite of Suk's larger pieces. Obviously the unstable repeating octaves through this piece depicts the sick heart (as in e.g Strauss's Death and Transfiguration). Finally a fifth movement is simply title 'Remembering'

It's safe to assume there are plenty of other quotations in this piece, I suspect, and a little digging might uncover them. But those are the only ones I know of so far.

I've also uploaded Moravec's reading of the Love Song quoted in the first 'Mother' piece, for comparison. A much less subtle work than O Mamince, but one can see why it was so successful (it's great fun to play too!)

About Mother 1 - When Mother was still a little girl
About Mother 2 - Once in springtime
About Mother 3 - How Mother sang at night to the sick child
About Mother 4 - Mother's heart
About Mother 5 - Remembering

Love Song

[Guido]

Fantastic - like you say in a similar vein to Janacek's piano music in more than one way... Really truly wonderful stuff - I love making 'discoveries' and being introduced to new gems like this. Cheers!

[lukeottevanger]

Glad you liked it - it makes the best possible parallel to Janacek's Overgrown Path, which has a similar intimacy and is also IMO a work filled with memories and personal loss- in that case, the loss of Janacek's daughter Olga.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Lots of mine left. Looking through my old clues, I am shocked some of these haven't been identified, to the extent that I haven't been able to hold off from the odd 

Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Gottfried von Einem 

NEW CLUE - surprised you need it. This composer is better-known as one of the finalists in the Champion's League this season. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_UEFA_Champions_League_Final

Even after looking at this, I'm no closer.