Quiz: Mystery scores

[greg]

The ones on page 222 make me laugh...

[Guido]

I just scanned a bunch of scores, but oddly, all the ones that weren't cello related didn't come out!!

Anyway, here they are the ones that worked.

[sul G]

I'm guessing from the look, the language and above all the scordatura (my cellists instincts saw that quite quickly!) that this is Duttiluex's 3 Strophes sur le nom de Sacher, which uses the same scord as this piece.

[sul G]

....plus I can see lots of [e]S A C H... stuff going on...

[Guido]

G61

[Guido]

g62

[Guido]

G63

[Guido]

G64

[Guido]

G65 These are both from the same score

[sul G]

Fourth one - is it French?

[sul G]

65 is clearly Feldman - Patterns in a Chromatic Field?

[Guido]

Yes you are right about the Dutilleux - an extraordinary piece, one which I have extolled the virtues of many times here. It's also extraordinarily difficult, so there are few truly satisfying accounts of the piece which completely transcend the technique required to pull it off. Emmanuelle Bertrand is the cellist for this piece. This is maybe my favourite page of the whole score - that shrieking high eS A C H bit is just incredible cello writing - I would never have thought it would have worked that well. And that really high bit afterwards! The whole thing, as with the concerto too, is brilliantly written for the intrument, and there no other piece in the repertoire quite like it.

And yes, right with the Feldman Patterns too... that rhythmic complexity is just insane - the rhythms of the piano and cello parts on the second page so subtle... and the first page for that matter... no idea how anyone could do this...

by fourth one do you mean g63 or g64?

[sul G]

63. Just a feeling. But you can tell me if 64 is too, if you'd like to 

[sul G]

...because, yes, looking at it, that would seem possible too.

[Guido]

No, 63 is not French. Neither is 64.

And while we're on the subject of G64 - those last two bars had the power to make my dad weep. True story!

[Guido]

Wow! Some score that Luke actually has to think about!

[sul G]

...though I'm more inclined to think 64 might be English. The print style is quite Novello-esque, pr Curwen or someone, though probably not them. And the melodic line too looks a little more English.

[sul G]

I have to think about most of them, Guido, if they're not standard rep, or if my detective skills don't find a quick clue like that scordatura, or if the composer's style isn't immediately evident like that Feldman. Those two were nice ones for me! 

[sul G]

Oh, I'm thick - is 63 Dvorak's Waldesruhe? I'm fairly sure it is.

[Guido]

Yes it is! This is, for me, a perfect piece - a real minor masterpiece of the late romantic. It's even more beautiful with orchestral accompaniment. On the surface it couldn't be simpler, but the quiet autumnal shadings that Dvorak miraculously and so subtly achieves here with the orchestration and harmony make it one of his most affecting pieces.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25LaOobHkik (Yo-Yo Ma) or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dasjimQ9PU (Jian Wang) though my favourite recording is Jacqueline DuPré's - it's one of her best. (I will upload it if anyone here hasn't heard it and wants it.)