Your top 8 (or any number of) chamber works (or any other kind)

[71 dB]

Unbelievable that people were still posting 2 player sonatas after your second post Maciek!

My mistake. I corrected it. I wonder in what category 2 player sonatas belong to if they are not chamber music...

[bhodges]

Shostakovich: Prelude and Scherzo for String Octet
Schnittke: Piano Quintet
Copland: Sextet
Ligeti: Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet
Stravinsky: Octet
Gubaidulina: Silenzio
Bartók: Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion
Perle: Critical Moments II

--Bruce

[karlhenning]

That's a great list, Bruce, and if my own list were not cluttered with pieces of my own, it might well duplicate much of yours 

[karlhenning]

I wonder in what category 2 player sonatas belong to if they are not chamber music...

You are making things up.  The fact that the OP gives as a guideline "3 to 9 players" does not mean that pieces for two, or for ten, players are "not chamber music."

Gosh, I hope you're a better engineer than your reading and logic skills promise . . . .

[bhodges]

That's a great list, Bruce, and if my own list were not cluttered with pieces of my own, it might well duplicate much of yours 

Thanks, Karl!  The Perle is a bit off the radar, I guess.  But I've now heard it some three times by two different ensembles, including eighth blackbird (for whom it was written, I believe) and it has a grace and wit that are totally engaging.  (And to think, I used to be totally unmoved by Perle's work...another example of how one's tastes grow and change.)

--Bruce

[karlhenning]

(And to think, I used to be totally unmoved by Perle's work...another example of how one's tastes grow and change.)

Or, you know, Perle could be writing better now.  (I speak only of the possible;  I cannot answer to his music, which I don't remember ever hearing.)

[bhodges]

Or, you know, Perle could be writing better now. 

And a big "yeppers" to that possibility.  I haven't liked enough of his work to follow his progress, so now I'm having to backtrack, to discover what he might have done that I might enjoy with new ears.

--Bruce

[Larry Rinkel]

If we write in a vibraslap, the Elgar Violin Sonata will have three players . . . .

Mind you, I like the Elgar Violin Sonata as it is, and should not normally suggest adding anything.

Only I thought Maciek did it clear (and part of the ensuing discussion underscored) a guideline of "from 3 to 9 players."

And he said 8 works!!! there are people here who are listing 5, 6, 7, even 9 works! Next thing you know someone will make a list of 10!! and there where will we be?

How can this forum expect to stay afloat when people can't follow simple directions?

[Maciek]

Guys, guys, peace!

I didn't want pieces for 1 and 2 instruments because I felt that would make matters far more difficult (there is a real lot to choose from there!).

The 9 is completely arbitrary, of course, as is the 8 in the title.

Part of the fun was supposed to be obeying these, admittedly very complicated , guidelines - and, as usually, finding ways to discreetly disregard them (such as the customary "I wish I could have included X, Y and Z" sentence). But discreetly disregarding is not the same as plain ignoring...

(Isn't it?)


Cheers,
Maciek

[bhodges]

The 9 is completely arbitrary, of course, as is the 8 in the title.

Well, I certainly took it with a chuckle from the beginning.  The whole point (or one of them) is to ponder the universe of chamber works, and generate discussion on favorites.  Didn't we have a thread on the old board devoted solely to sextets? 

--Bruce

[karlhenning]

Hey, I thought you were having fun, Maciek.

And I was having fun, too.

[Maciek]

I was, I was - but I think all flame wars should be redirected only to Luke's infamous thread...

[Larry Rinkel]

Guys, guys, peace!

I didn't want pieces for 1 and 2 instruments because I felt that would make matters far more difficult (there is a real lot to choose from there!).

The 9 is completely arbitrary, of course, as is the 8 in the title.

Part of the fun was supposed to be obeying these, admittedly very complicated , guidelines - and, as usually, finding ways to discreetly disregard them (such as the customary "I wish I could have included X, Y and Z" sentence). But discreetly disregarding is not the same as plain ignoring...

(Isn't it?)


Cheers,
Maciek

If people can list 9 works when 8 were called for, then they can also list works for 2 instruments. This is like the people who bring 15 items to the express lane in the supermarket, when the limit is 12! Mere anarchy is being loosed upon the world, and who is to stop it?

[Maciek]

Larry, why don't you start your own thread in the Diner where you'll be able to discuss these fascinating fine points to heart's content? Here's a good question you can move on to, once you're done with the anarchy subject: You don't like "poll" threads of this sort, so why do you keep reading/disrupting them?

[karlhenning]

I've got an idea, though . . . .

[Larry Rinkel]

Larry, why don't you start your own thread in the Diner where you'll be able to discuss these fascinating fine points to heart's content? Here's a good question you can move on to, once you're done with the anarchy subject: You don't like "poll" threads of this sort, so why do you keep reading/disrupting them?

I am trying to ensure people do not cheat or bend the rules. As the founder of this poll, you of all people should appreciate that. I am deeply hurt by this response.

[karlhenning]

Be strong, Larry!

[Maciek]

OK, I admit it. Starting this thread was a mistake. In fact, I've been regretting it since post no. 10 or thereabouts...

But there's a faint chance that somehow at some point we'll get back on topic. Come on, people, give me those lists! We only have (about) fourteen hours to save the Earth!

[Drasko]

I'd just like to clarify that the Martinu Nonet I listed is the later one from 1959 not the earlier piece from 1930 (I think).

Carry on.

[orbital]

I'd just like to clarify that the Martinu Nonet I listed is the later one from 1959 not the earlier piece from 1930 (I think).

Carry on.

Is the Martinu Nonet from earlier that bad a piece that you don't want to be associated with it ?