Name that piece! The game

[karlhenning]

Fun clip!

It's got kind of a Martinů vibe, though his music is normally just a shade or two more gemütlich.

[Lethevich]

He is definitely a figure of Martinů's type - somebody who was considered to be rather stylistically up-to-date early on, but gradually became eclipsed by more "modern" composers, due to his perfectly reasonable choice to tweak the style that he had developed earlier, rather than overhaul it. Unlike Martinů, however, he lived much longer, which further diminished his "radical"* credentials. His heyday was around 1950.

Edit: *this is not to say that he was ever anything like an ultra-modernist at the beginning of his career, however. Poor choice of word on my part.

[Parsifal]

Makes me think of George Antheil....?

[Coco]

Sounds a bit like Bloch.

[Lethevich]

You both have the right country - this composer was a native rather than an immigrant. He was not such a hell-raiser as Antheil.

He is considered to have a distinctive American voice, while still writing music in a personal style (this sets him apart from composers such as Copland, whose populist music was somewhat externally-derived, and Hanson, whose music was a bit of a European import - both of these descriptions somewhat incorrect generalisations, but this is to help elaborate on the composer in question). This compositional voice was recognised by a very major composer of the time in quite a famous, and rather unusual quote.

[Coco]

Oh, must be David Diamond then!

[Lethevich]

Oh, must be David Diamond then!

Bingo! I would've offered a quote from him which sums up his manner so well, but it would be too easily Googlable, so I shall end with it:

    “It is my strong feeling that a romantically inspired contemporary music, tempered by reinvigorated classical technical formulas, is the way out of the present period of creativity chaos in music… To me, the romantic spirit in music is important because it is timeless.”

Your turn!

Edit: oh wait, I didn't even mention the piece It's his second violin sonata.

Edit2: and for the curious, the "famous quote" about his music was from Schoenberg, who referred to Diamond as an "American Bruckner", with somewhat ambiguous meaning. I believe it was in reply to Diamond asking him whether he should consider writing pieces in the serialist style, and Schoenberg suggesting that he need not.

[Parsifal]

I thought we could only guess once on the thread, no?

[Coco]

I wasn't aware of the rules (haven't been following the thread, just popped in). If anyone has any objections to my posting the next piece, someone else can do it.

[karlhenning]

I wasn't aware of the rules (haven't been following the thread, just popped in). If anyone has any objections to my posting the next piece, someone else can do it.

Go right ahead, I shan't be able to post my clip until this evening.

[Lethevich]

We've been kinda breaking the rules since day one If David has a problem with things, it's his thread and we should definitely do what he prefers, but the evolution feels okay - especially as not many people are chipping in.

[DavidW]

The evolution feels good.  The rules should be fluid to optimize fun.

[Parsifal]

The evolution feels good.  The rules should be fluid to optimize fun.

Sounds good to me! Can't wait till I get a turn to post a clip

[DavidW]

Sounds good to me! Can't wait till I get a turn to post a clip

How about after Coco since we'll be still waiting on Karl anyway?  You can just follow the instructions on my OP, and PM if you have any questions.

[Parsifal]

How about after Coco since we'll be still waiting on Karl anyway?  You can just follow the instructions on my OP, and PM if you have any questions.

Thanks, I'm not home now, so it would be later for me.
Looking forward to hearing Coco's clip.

I love this game, used to play this with record store buddies way back when-- good old 'drop the needle'

[Coco]

All right I'm having trouble uploading to 4shared so I had to use Mediafire: http://www.mediafire.com/?30aqbc7t60ny21g

This should be fun.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Sounds like film music to me...

[DavidW]

Wow it has that movie score like sound.  Kind of RVW like, certainly british neoromantic or thereabouts...

[mc ukrneal]

All right I'm having trouble uploading to 4shared so I had to use Mediafire: http://www.mediafire.com/?30aqbc7t60ny21g

This should be fun.

I don't know it, but it sounds interesting. Sounds like a mix of Mahler, film music and something else. Hmm - will have to listen later.

[Coco]

It's not film music, he isn't British, and the piece was written in 1913, so the Mahler comparison isn't too far off.