Quiz: Mystery scores

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I know what I'm listening to tonight . . . .

No mystery score for you then.

[lukeottevanger]

 

[lukeottevanger]

Anything to drag Johan and Sforzando out of the gutter..... 0:) 0:) 0:)  0:) Time for a recap, gents?

Old list:
part one
and
part two

current list

Set by Luke
165 - Schubert - Symphony no 4 - (Sforzando)
166 - Brahms - Serenade no 1 - (Sforzando)
167 - Bartok - Miraculous Mandarin (complete ballet) - (Sforzando)
168 - Janacek - Otce Nas - (revealed by Luke)
169 - Mozart - Sinfonia Concertante (wind solos) - (Sforzando)
170 - Brahms - Neue Liebeslieder waltzes - (Sforzando)
171 - Liszt - Totentanz - (Johan)
172 - Schumann - Mein Wagen rollet langsam- (Sforzando)
173 - Wagner - Rheingold - (Mark)
174 - Stravinsky - Mass - (Mark)
175 - Sibelius - Tapiola - (Mark)
176 - Debussy- Danse sacre et danse profane - (Sforzando)
177 - Berlioz - Roman Carnival - (Johan)
178 - Debussy - Pelleas et Melisande - (Sforzando)
179 - Rossini - La Cenerentola overture - (Sforzando)
180 - Scriabin - Prometheus - (Mark)
181 - Franck - Symphonic Variations - (Sforzando)
182 - Gershwin - Piano Concerto - (Mark)
183 - Busoni - Piano Concerto - (Robert)
184 - Honegger - Pacific 231 - (Greg)
185 - Ligeti - String Quartet no 1 - (revealed by Luke)
186 - Ligeti - String Quartet no 2 - (matticus)
187 - Holst - The Perfect Fool - (Johan)
188 - Tippett - Fantasia Concertante/Corelli - (Johan)
189 - Elgar - Cockaigne - (Johan)
190 - Tippett - Triple Concerto - (Mark)
191 - Ireland - Piano concerto - (Guido)
192 - Tippett - Symphony no 1 - (Mark)
193 - Vaughan Williams - The Lake in the Mountains - (revealed by Luke)
194 - Tippett - A Child of Our Time - (Robert)
195 - Rubbra - Prelude/Fugue theme of Cyril Scott - (Maciek)
196 - Berners - Le poisson d'or - (Guido)
197 - Tippett - The Midsummer Marriage - (Mark)
198 - Howells - Hymnus Paradisi - (Guido)
199 - Lutoslawski - Two Etudes - (Maciek)
200 - Bloch - Schelomo - (Guido)
201 - Thelonius Monk improvisation - (revealed by Luke)
202 - Humperdinck - Hansel und Gretel - (Sforzando)
203 - Hoddinott - The sun, the great luminary of the universe - (revealed by Luke)
204 - Zimmermann - Stille und umkehr - (revealed by Luke)
205 - Ligeti - Cello Concerto - (Guido)
206 - Glass - Vessels (from Koyaanisqatsi) - (revealed by Luke)
207 - Berio - Folksongs - (Symphonien)
208 - Part - Rottkappchen und der Wolf - (Sforzando)
209 - Ligeti - Lontano - (Greg)
210 - Ligeti - Artikulation - (Greg)
211 - Bussotti - La Passion Selon Sade - (Symphonien)
212 - Stevenson - Passacaglia on DSCH - (Johan)
213 - Grainger - Ramble on Love - (Sforzando)
214 - Penderecki - De Natura Sonoris I - (Mark/Greg)
215 - ? -
216 - Dallapiccola - Quaderno Musicale di Annalibera - (Symphonien)
217 - ? -
218 - Ives - Improvisation (transcr. Dapogny) - (Mark)
219 - ? -
220 - Messiaen - Mode de valeurs... - (Guido)
221 - Messiaen - ? - (Sforzando)
222 - ?
223 - Crumb - Agnus Dei (Makrokosmos II) - (Symphonien)
224 - ? -
225 - Koechlin - Les Heures Persanes - (Sforzando)
226 - Mussorgsky - Sunless - (Sforzando)
226 - ? -
227 - Schoenberg - Songs op 22 - (Mark)
228 - ? -
229 - ? -
230 - Gould - So you want to write a fugue - (Johan)
231 - Schoeck - Elegie - (Johan)
232 - Feldman - ? - (Guido)
233 - ? -
234 - ? -
235 - Rachmaninov - Piano Trio 1 - (Guido)
236 - Britten - Michelangelo Sonnets - (Sforzando)
237 - Wyschnegradsky - Etude sur le carré magique sonore - (Johan)
238 - ? -
239 - ? -
240 - ? -
241 - Francaix - La Promenade d'un musicologue éclectique - (Johan)
242 - ? -
243 - ? -
244 - ? -
245 - ? -
246 - Beethoven - Equali - (Mark)
247 - ? -
248 - ? -
249 - Hamelin - Preambulum to an Imaginary Piano Symphony - (Johan)
250 - Stockhausen - Gruppen - (Sforzando)

Set by Greg
31 - Mahler - Ressurection symphony - (Johan)

Set by Symphonien
1 - Lachenmann - Pression - (Luke)
2 - Stravinsky - Les noces - (Johan)
3 - Schoenberg - A Survivor from Warsaw - (Mark)
4 - Murail - Désintégrations - (Luke)
5 - Schnittke - Prelude in memoriam Dmitiri Shostakovich - (Mark)
6  - Sciarrino - Sei quartetti brevi - (Luke)
7 - Stockhausen - Es (aus der sieben Tage) - (Mark)
8 - Nietzsche - There flows a brook - (Guido)

Set by Guido
21 - Beethoven - Triple Concerto - (Luke)
22 - Ligeti - Hungarian Rock - (Luke)
23 - Bartok - Study for the Left Hand - (Luke)
24 - Miaskovsky - Cello Sonata 2 - (Luke)
25 - Schulhoff - Violin Sonata - (Luke)
26 - Webern - Piece for cello and piano - (Luke)
27 - Tchaikovsky - Rococo Variations - (Luke)
28 - Scarlatti - Sonata K175 - (Luke)

Set by Sforzando
1 - Schubert - Reliquie Sonata - (Luke)
2 - Feldman - Last pieces - (Guido)
3 - Griffes - The White Peacock - (Luke)
4 - Ferneyhough - Superscriptio - (Mark)
5 - Ibert - Le petit ane blanc - (Guido)
6 - Ruggles - Sun-Treader - (Mark)
7 - Verdi - original version of Liber Scriptus, Manzoni Requiem - (Luke)
8 - Berwald - Symphony no 3 - (Mark)
9 - Rimsky-Korsakov - Le coq d'or - (Mark)

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I am serious again... Two errata for your list, Luke - 173 'Reinhold' ---> 'Rheingold' and 202 'Muperdinck' ---> 'Humperdinck'...

[lukeottevanger]

No, this is the little known Muperdinck version..... 

(Changed, to keep it conventionally 'correct')

[karlhenning]

You can hold your head up, Luke; given all the high-density coding you do with those msgs, you are readily forgiven a few typos 

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

No, this is the little known Muperdinck version..... 

(Changed, to keep it conventionally 'correct')

I almost believed you (if that's any consolation...)

You can hold your head up, Luke; given all the high-density coding you do with those msgs, you are readily forgiven a few typos 

Of course he can. Of course he is.

[karlhenning]

Of course he can. Of course he is.

And, of course, Johan, I took (as did, I suspect, Luke) your errata as simply helpful!

[(poco) Sforzando]

Anything to drag Johan and Sforzando out of the gutter.....

"Why from the gutter should we trouble at their ribaldries . . . ."

[karlhenning]

Garibaldi's Ribaldries

[Guido]

I refuse to let this subject go! The Barber violin concerto is rather orgasmic, but I think Rachmaninov's Symphony no.2 is just wave after wave of... anyway. Seriously though, that piece is basically pornographic.

[lukeottevanger]

...and the interlude in Walton's Troilus and Cressida, and the famous passages in Strauss (Rosenkavalier, Sinfonia Domestica)... enough, already!

More clues, to all my remaining ones (some are just repeating clues already given):

To some clues I've appended the name of an inhabitant of this thread if I imagine that they are most likely to identify the score in question - for instance, if there was a Brian score here, I'd add Johan's name (there isn't, though). That doesn't mean that I don't think anyone else could get it, of course. And also, adding this name is itself a sort of clue to the everyone else.

(these are the real numbers, as given in the list, not the incorrect numbers I gave the files themselves)

212 - actually, this piece was given as a guess for another piece on this thread. If you look at the page carefully, you will very likely be able to identify it. I said a few posts back that this composer is equally known as a (fantastic) pianist. JOHAN

215 - a notational experiment - an attempt to do away with 'tuplet' figures and brackets and replace them with noteheads of different shapes. One of music's great experimenters (but most excitingly for him, he once met Janacek...that's not really part of the clue though, just an excuse for me to mention the big J again  ) GUIDO (perhaps, but perhaps not)

217 - a hommage to an earlier composer, written (IIRC) for that composer's centenary by one of the most famous radicals of the 20th century. A very short, pithy title. GREG

219 - composer much more famous as a legendary pianist; he recorded this piece and it is available on one of the great CDs, though it isn't the major draw. Examine the piece carefully and you might notice something somewhat unusual about its layout.

221 - Messiaen, as has been guessed - and it looks like no-one else, does it!? One of his lesser-known pieces, not part of a larger set. But recorded and not completely obscure. GREG

223 - this one is really hard, to be fair, even though the title is left in - it's quite an unhelpful title, though. I just really like the sound of this piece, and it's an excuse to post an audio clip later for those who might be interested in hearing something so odd. As you can see, the piece progresses mostly in harmonics, and the guitar is tuned microtonally - the whole thing, as the indication says 'with rapt concentration, as if telling a strange tale'. British composer, quite obscure but linked to the complexity group (if there is such a thing), has written many similarly titled pieces for piano, all of which explore the instrument in similar ways.

224 - from the following clue, Mark correctly guessed that the composer is Villa-Lobos. This is a piano reduction of an orchestral score, but one of the weirdest ones I've seen. At some points - like here - the composer (who seems to be responsible for the reduction) includes pretty much everything, resulting in music which is utterly unplayable. At other points, the reduction is rather thin and lots is missed out that really ought to be there. I can't see any consistency in this approach. The original piece is a symphonic poem but was intended to be a ballet whose scenario includes a virgin and a monster or two; each action is indicated in the score. It is incredibly orchestrated and includes parts for viola d'amore and violinophone (the latter a violin attached to a horn, invented by the composer who has been called by a reputable voice the finest orchestrator of all). MARK - after all, he was the one to identify the composer

226 - I put this one up because it is pertinent at the moment, just as my 203 was pertinent when I put it up (a glance at 203 might help to see what I'm talking about). But this piece is not at all the sort of thing that springs to mind when this composer's name is mentioned. I love all the markings here, from the tempo marking - 'sly, hypocritical, with fake simplicity' - to the detailed indications for individual phrases - 'dogmatic', 'coy', 'gossip', 'loudmouth', 'crocodile tears', 'feigned regret', 'blushing', 'name dropping', 'pompous unction' and 'gotta go, another appointment' (GUIDO - possibly, but others too, I suspect)

228 - quick examination reveals what is going on here. This is one of its composer's most well-known works, I think. (JOHAN, maybe)

229 - I chose a sample which includes this composer's trademark technique in its baldest form.

232 - not quite for the forces it looks like. (GUIDO)

233 - possibly the piano left-hand and the stave beneath will help here.

234 - as stated earlier, the composer was much better known as a prodigiously gifted pianist with an impressive repertoire ranging from the classics to Boulez and Sorabji; he died young.

238 - not a composer associated with the piano, which instrument isn't very well suited to the technical concerns he developed later in life. This piece, slightly earlier, isn't quite there yet. It refers to the music and culture of an Asian country often bypassed by western composers looking for an Eastern fix.

239 - really very hard - this could be by any one of a number of composers, I suppose. It's Russian; its composer is one of the better-known Soviet composers outside the biggest names. Well, his name is known, anyway - he's famous for one piece, really (not this one).

240 - a fairly early score by an experimental composer who has now achieved great popularity (GUIDO)

242 - if you closely, you'll see fragments from a well-known piece in here.

243 - I'm glad to see that no-one has fallen into the trap of thinking this is Ravel, though those who know their Ravel will see that it is built on one famous piece and morphs towards the end into another. However, there is another tune hiding in the mix... a (slightly kitschy) joy!

244 - look at the technique involved here; the composer is quite clear then (MARK, based on previous answers, but others too, probably)

245 - One of a set of pieces, all of which start with the same letter. This one is the last; it depicts a nightingale with a cold.

247 - the typeface here looks just like that most of this composer's scores appear in, but some of the substance of the music doesn't look likely for this composer.

248 - the only lull in this otherwise relentlessly fortissimo piece. (EDWARD, if he was here, would know this one)

249 - a composer pianist, as I said, more the latter (spectacularly) than the former. This is a Sorabji homage.

[karlhenning]

Seriously though, that piece is basically pornographic.

Honi soit qui pornographic y pense 

[Mark G. Simon]

249 must be by John Ogden, then.

[lukeottevanger]

I nearly wrote 'yes' - then I saw that you'd said 249..... 

[Mark G. Simon]

I refuse to let this subject go! The Barber violin concerto is rather orgasmic, but I think Rachmaninov's Symphony no.2 is just wave after wave of... anyway. Seriously though, that piece is basically pornographic.

I was hired to play bass clarinet in a performance of Rach's 2nd symphony. This was a daytime performance, so I could look out into the audience. In the back row was a couple, and as soon as the 3rd movement started, the man immediately put his arm around the woman.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

# 212 Stevenson - Passacaglia on DSCH (saw the motif...)

[lukeottevanger]

# 212 Stevenson - Passacaglia on DSCH (saw the motif...)

At last - I knew you'd get it!

I chose a page which isn't as spectacular to look at as some other moments in this awe-inspiring piece ('one of the greatest works for solo piano, not merely in our own time' - Wilfrid Mellers) but which contains one of its most extraordinary moments: on the second bar of this system we see Stevenson combing the three subjects of his triple fugue, surrounding his fixed passacaglia theme. The Passacaglia theme, of course, is based on the DSCH motive, in various forms, here in the alto line; one fugue subject is BACH (tenor line); another is the Dies Irae (bass line), and the third is a highly chromatic quasi-serial theme in the soprano.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

At last!

I chose a page which isn't as spectacular to look at as some other moments in this awe-inspiring piece ('one of the greatest works for solo piano, not merely in our own time' - Wilfrid Mellers) but which contains one of its most extraordinary moments: on the second bar of this system we see Stevenson combing the three subjects of his triple fugue, surrounding his fixed passacaglia theme. The Passacaglia theme, of course, is based on the DSCH motive, in various forms, here in the alto line; one fugue subject is BACH (tenor line); another is the Dies Irae (bass line), and the third is a highly chromatic quasi-serial theme in the soprano.

I saw the Dies Irae too, yes...

# 249 I know Michael Habermann, the Sorabji specialist, wrote a piece in homage of him...

[lukeottevanger]

That's interesting. 

a more famous pianist.....