Quiz: Mystery scores

[(poco) Sforzando]

Haha, I figured that people gave up on this thread already. I figured I'd check again today, though, and I was happy to see that this wasn't the case.

As for the "An American in Paris" -- you have the right composer (in response to my previous hint, Gershwin took Ravel to jazz clubs and remained close friends during Ravel's tour of America in the late 1920s). Gershwin wrote An American in Paris as a type of souvenir from his later trip to Paris. The piece I posted is also a souvenir of sorts -- but from someplace warmer.

Has to be the Cuban Overture, then - a score to which I do not possess.

[EigenUser]

I was initially thinking that amw#3 was contemporary (due to the rebellious nature of the key signature), but I'm starting to wonder if it is early (pre-Bach) violin writing. It doesn't seem "modern" at all.

Has to be the Cuban Overture, then - a score to which I do not possess.

Yes, it is the Cuban Overture. Only #4 is left, so I'll post some more.

#5


#6


#7


#8


#9

[rappy]

#6 is Debussy Jeux (easy, but unfortunately I can't prove that I've recognized it because the title is shown on the bottom right).

#8 Stravinsky Agon?

[amw]

I was initially thinking that amw#3 was contemporary (due to the rebellious nature of the key signature), but I'm starting to wonder if it is early (pre-Bach) violin writing. It doesn't seem "modern" at all.\

Yes, it is in fact Sonata XI from Biber's Mystery Sonatas, each of which uses a different scordatura (XI is the most well-known one, "the Resurrection", with symbolically crossed strings tuned d'-d-g-G). It may be edifying to compare the "transposing score" with its actual sound, as realised:



#5, which no one seems to have attempted, is Janáček's Řikadla. I bet Luke would have gotten that one.

EigenUser's #7 is Ives but I'm not sure what. I will guess The Fourth of July.
(edit: on second thought, I don't recall there being two pianos in the Holidays Symphony. Central Park in the Dark? I don't remember the Orchestral Sets well enough, if it's one of them I'm lost)

This is a little-known piece by a well-known composer. The composer should be identifiable from these three bars.
#6


This is a late-20th-century masterpiece, in the opinion of some people at least (including me)
#7

[EigenUser]

I remember seeing a picture of two strings crossed on the wikipedia page for scordatura a long time ago. I just checked and it was from the same piece (the Biber Mystery Sonatas). I originally thought "Is that really necessary", but then I saw the 10ths in measures 6-7, which are a real pain in the neck to play (there is this series of 10th-interval double stops in Stravinsky's Violin Concerto, 2nd movement, which sticks out in my mind).

#6 is Debussy Jeux (easy, but unfortunately I can't prove that I've recognized it because the title is shown on the bottom right).

Correct (I didn't see that the title was at the bottom, though!).

#7 is Ives but I'm not sure what. I will guess The Fourth of July.
(edit: on second thought, I don't recall there being two pianos in the Holidays Symphony. Central Park in the Dark? I don't remember the Orchestral Sets well enough, if it's one of them I'm lost)

Ives' Central Park in the Dark is correct.

#8 Stravinsky Agon?

Correct.

#4, #5, and #9 remain...

[rappy]

#7 (amw) should be Quatre Chants pour franchir le Seuil (Grisey).

[amw]

#7 (amw) should be Quatre Chants pour franchir le Seuil (Grisey).

Yep. Referred to on this forum as a spectralist Lied von der Erde, though it's not spectral, or as boring as Das Lied.

#8


#9


Also 6 above.

No further guesses for now on EigenUser's, though the orchestration of 5 suggests Ravel. Too good to be any other Frenchie I can think of.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Yep. Referred to on this forum as a spectralist Lied von der Erde, though it's not spectral, or as boring as Das Lied.

#8


#9


Also 6 above.

No further guesses for now on EigenUser's, though the orchestration of 5 suggests Ravel. Too good to be any other Frenchie I can think of.

No idea on 8, though it's clearly contemporary; 9 looks like a French impressionist but not Debussy or Ravel; could be Fauré or even Koechlin - but I'm not confident of either of these guesses and don't have time to dig through scores right now.

[EigenUser]

Is sfz#8 a Stockhausen score, by any chance (perhaps "Kontakte")? I don't know his work very well and haven't seen many of his scores, but I can imagine that they look something like this.

My #5 is Ravel. The most recognizable thing here would be the clarinet part for the last measure of the page shown.

[amw]

Is sfz#8 a Stockhausen score, by any chance (perhaps "Kontakte")? I don't know his work very well and haven't seen many of his scores, but I can imagine that they look something like this.

8 is an electronic piece, but not by Stockhausen. Same time period, though.

My #5 is Ravel. The most recognizable thing here would be the clarinet part for the last measure of the page shown.

It seems a lot more 'impressionist' than a lot of Ravel's music, for some reason. Like, I never think of Ravel as one of those soft pastel-colour composers the way Debussy is for instance.

I'd love to say I figured it out without loading up iTunes and listening to the first few seconds of any Ravel orchestral music that I thought might qualify, but honesty is a virtue. It's Un barque sur l'océan. Which I probably would never have figured out otherwise since I always think of it as a piano work.

[EigenUser]

It seems a lot more 'impressionist' than a lot of Ravel's music, for some reason. Like, I never think of Ravel as one of those soft pastel-colour composers the way Debussy is for instance.

I'd love to say I figured it out without loading up iTunes and listening to the first few seconds of any Ravel orchestral music that I thought might qualify, but honesty is a virtue. It's Un barque sur l'océan. Which I probably would never have figured out otherwise since I always think of it as a piano work.

Yeah, Barque is correct. There's no shame in looking things up for the right answer. I'm still waiting for someone to post a score that I'll recognize!

I love the piano suite "Mirroirs", but I enjoy listening to this more than the original for solo piano. Apparently Ravel didn't think so because he didn't include it in his list of works and it was published posthumously.

[EigenUser]

I'm still surprised that no one got this one yet (#4). I guess it's harder than I thought.


And this one, for that matter (#9).

[EigenUser]

This one is in honor of Luke's return . I found this at my university's library yesterday. Something is not quite right, though...

[Luke]

Hello, what a shame I missed the fun. The old thread was just a thing of beauty. FWIW I think I'd have got a good number of those last ones straightaway, but you'll have to take my word for it.  This new one is the first movement of Schoenberg's op 16, I think, but in an arrangement, I am guessing

[Luke]

Schoenberg's own, or Greissle's?

[(poco) Sforzando]

Hello, what a shame I missed the fun. The old thread was just a thing of beauty. FWIW I think I'd have got a good number of those last ones straightaway, but you'll have to take my word for it.  This new one is the first movement of Schoenberg's op 16, I think, but in an arrangement, I am guessing

Well, hullo, Luke! Long time.

There was a lot more energy on the old thread, which I have to say was the best experience I've ever had on this board. As for EigenUser's 4 and 9, I can't place the exact pieces, but 4 looks like Bartok and 9 Stravinsky, and that's the best I can do. Maybe someone should tally the whole lot and see what's yet unidentified. (Not that I couldn't do it, but laziness gets the better of me.)

[Luke]

Mr Sfz! A pleasure, as always!

I haven't actually looked carefully through the previous page, I just assumed they had all been guessed a long time ago. The Grieg and the Janacek jumped right out at me though, and maybe one or two others. I've just knocked up a few for anyone who wants a go, but I should say I probably won't be able to give this thread quite the time and effort I gave its older brother, although I hope to be proved wrong.

Some of these are very hard, I wouldn't get them myself unless I spent many long hours looking at them. I've put them up because I think they are just interesting pieces. But others are much easier. There is a vague chain of (sometimes very tenuous) associations linking #1 with #2 and #2 with #3 and so on up to about #9. The others are just a random collection, though 14 and 15 are by the same composer, and they are only here because I think they are fun (an odd composer, this one, quite the bare-faced plagiarist!).

Knock 'em dead!

[Luke]

next 4...

[Luke]

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[Luke]

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