Name that piece! The game

listener · July 22, 2011, 01:29:49 PM

not Mrs. Mills Since we're at the 48 hr. point on this one, more hints. The composer is more known as a player, and you might associate him with Mozart or Debussy.

Brian · July 22, 2011, 01:49:04 PM

WOW.

I just found it and I literally can't believe who the composer is. What an ingenious puzzle! Never would have expected that.

I'm off to Spain in 15 hours so unless there is desire for a Lightning Round, I'll let the next guesser take the prize.

mszczuj · July 22, 2011, 01:54:21 PM

Robert Casadesus?

Brian · July 22, 2011, 01:55:37 PM

Ack! My copy of Audacity has gone completely haywire!!!
I just tried opening an MP3 to edit for the game, but during the import process it automatically stretched the MP3 to 27 minutes! When I sped up the music to its original tempo, the sound was nasty and the pitches were all wrong! What's happened? Help!??!?!

mszczuj - not Casadesus

Brian · July 22, 2011, 02:03:10 PM

Okay, folks, time for a LIGHTNING ROUND!

listener's clip was by Walter Gieseking: "Schorschi-Batschi"
played (I think) by Marc-Andre Hamelin

I'd love to hear more about this work, had absolutely no idea Gieseking composed, let alone composed jazz!

[EDIT: He also has a really nice dance suite with a foxtrot and a Charleston, if you liked listener's clip!]

In the mean time, here is my new challenge! That really ugly second at the start is NOT part of the music! It's the best I could do with my copy of Audacity gone absolutely haywire/unusable.

I am heading out on holiday at 2 p.m. London time tomorrow, so I will post the answer when I go unless it's been guessed.

Two hints:
1. The music was written by a composer from the country where I'm going on my holiday
2. The number of performers you hear in the clip may be deceptive

Amfortas · July 22, 2011, 02:38:12 PM

Is that a viol being played...something by Marin Marais perhaps?

Brian · July 22, 2011, 03:34:45 PM

Quote from: Amfortas on July 22, 2011, 02:38:12 PM
Is that a viol being played...something by Marin Marais perhaps?

Well the ~~country~~ ~~instrument~~ ~~century~~ continent is correct!

Amfortas · July 22, 2011, 04:38:48 PM

Quote from: Brian on July 22, 2011, 03:34:45 PM
Well the ~~country~~ ~~instrument~~ ~~century~~ continent is correct!

Spain, a theorbo?

petrarch · July 22, 2011, 04:52:02 PM

Quote from: Amfortas on July 22, 2011, 04:38:48 PM

Spain, a theorbo?

No, the piece sounds distinctly irish or scottish (the mention of going on vacation to a different country suggests the former). A theorbo is plucked not bowed. It could be a violin, fiddle or high viol, but the drone implies something like a hurdy gurdy.

Amfortas · July 22, 2011, 05:16:34 PM

Quote from: petrarch on July 22, 2011, 04:52:02 PM
No, the piece sounds distinctly irish or scottish (the mention of going on vacation to a different country suggests the former). A theorbo is plucked not bowed. It could be a violin, fiddle or high viol, but the drone implies something like a hurdy gurdy.

I agree with that already, but Brian may be sneaky with this clip...

listener · July 22, 2011, 05:30:17 PM

Walter Gieseking was correct, source is
Rarities Of Piano Music At Schloss Vor Husum (1994)

Release Date: 01/18/2006
Label: Danacord Catalog #: 429 Spars Code: DDD
Composer: César Franck, Nikolay Myaskovsky, Nikolai Medtner, Percy Aldridge Grainger, Stephen Reynolds,
Manuel de Falla, Xavier Montsalvatge, Frank Martin, Sigismund Thalberg,
Charles Valentin Alkan, Walter Gieseking
Performer: Igor Zhukov, Oleg Marshev, Hamish Milne, Stephen Hough, Enrique Perez de Guzman,
Paul Badura-Skoda, Marc-André Hamelin
Number of Discs: 1
Recorded in: Stereo

Brian · July 23, 2011, 12:28:00 AM

The correct country has been mentioned!

It should be noted that this is by a well-known composer, and not just in the GMG sense of well-known. His composing career was inextricably linked to this, his own instrument.

Quote from: Amfortas on July 22, 2011, 05:16:34 PM
I agree with that already, but Brian may be sneaky with this clip...

Could be.

mc ukrneal · July 23, 2011, 12:49:40 AM

Quote from: listener on July 22, 2011, 05:30:17 PM
Walter Gieseking was correct, source is
Rarities Of Piano Music At Schloss Vor Husum (1994)

Release Date: 01/18/2006
Label: Danacord Catalog #: 429 Spars Code: DDD
Composer: César Franck, Nikolay Myaskovsky, Nikolai Medtner, Percy Aldridge Grainger, Stephen Reynolds,
Manuel de Falla, Xavier Montsalvatge, Frank Martin, Sigismund Thalberg,
Charles Valentin Alkan, Walter Gieseking
Performer: Igor Zhukov, Oleg Marshev, Hamish Milne, Stephen Hough, Enrique Perez de Guzman,
Paul Badura-Skoda, Marc-André Hamelin
Number of Discs: 1
Recorded in: Stereo

How is this series? Are there 1-2 that are especially good?

mszczuj · July 23, 2011, 01:02:40 AM

Alexander Mackenzie?

Brian · July 23, 2011, 01:23:46 AM

Quote from: mszczuj on July 23, 2011, 01:02:40 AM
Alexander Mackenzie?

A LOT more well-known than that!

mszczuj · July 23, 2011, 02:11:05 AM

Oh, I probably didn't understand your mention about vacations.

So it must be one of Airs Écossais of Pablo de Sarasate.

Amfortas · July 23, 2011, 02:28:15 AM

Pablo Casals?

Brian · July 23, 2011, 03:24:29 AM

Quote from: mszczuj on July 23, 2011, 02:11:05 AM
So it must be one of Airs Écossais of Pablo de Sarasate.

Close enough!

The clip is the opening of Muiñeiras, by Pablo de Sarasate. The extract features a plain old Vuillaume violin (not a hurdy-gurdy, theorbo, fiddle, or viol) as played by 24-year-old Tianwa Yang; I cut the sample off right before the entrance of the Navarra Symphony Orchestra.

[asin]B004OZROY2[/asin]

Over to mszczuj

mszczuj · July 23, 2011, 05:27:17 AM

Probably it is easy even if it sounds not too familiar:

http://www.4shared.com/audio/u1dYc3iM/wtf.html?

Amfortas · July 23, 2011, 06:37:14 AM

Maybe one of the arrangements of Kurt Weill for clarinet and piano?