Quiz: Mystery scores

[lukeottevanger]

We still have a lot of yours we can't figure out from weeks ago!

I'm only too aware of it - later on I'll have to see if I can fashion a set of additional clues for which make things even easier without actually telling you the names of the pieces 

[(poco) Sforzando]

270 - yes, a piano concerto, and correct nationality.

(edit - genre, nationality and key - ought to help narrow it down!)


Sfz 45 - this is a complete guess, as to my shame I haven't heard this piece, nor do I have a score to it - Barraque's piano sonata?

Yes it is. Now how about the three others of mine? Clues soon.

[lukeottevanger]

Yes it is. Now how about the three others of mine? Clues soon.

Patience, Sforzando! I'm quite happy to get the Barraque! In the meantime, there are 24 more of mine you could be looking at 

[(poco) Sforzando]

Patience, Sforzando! I'm quite happy to get the Barraque! In the meantime, there are 24 more of mine you could be looking at 

I know, I know. Problem is, once they get this old, they start to feel "stale" 'cause you feel you can't go any further. So no clues from me just yet.

[lukeottevanger]

I thought 44 might be part of some short score version of Chavez's Sinfonia India. But it isn't. Just FWIW...

[lukeottevanger]

I know, I know. Problem is, once they get this old, they start to feel "stale" 'cause you feel you can't go any further.

I know what you mean - though some of mine are still sparkling new! But I'm sure that most of the remaining ones are only a hairsbreadth away. Further reinforcment on the oldest ones:

215 - you know the composer (Cowell), and the innovation shown in the piece (differently-shaped noteheads for triplets, quintuplets etc)

219 - you know it's by a great pianist who was the protege of a great violinist-composer. I may not have mentioned this before, but it also shares a characteristic with a score of Bartok than Guido tested us with a week or two back.

229 - I don't get it! Look at the time signatures. Get the composer, at least.

232 - you know the composer (Feldman). And I put you out of your misery - what instruments is this for? - last time by revealing that, in fact, it's only for one instrument. The complex use of three staves is only to clarify the rhythmic layers.

[(poco) Sforzando]

229 - I don't get it! Look at the time signatures. Get the composer, at least.

What modern composer doesn't change time signatures every measure? could be anyone!

No, 44 is not Chavez or anyone on that particular continent. It is a deliberate attempt by a Western-trained musician to appear "ethnic," and it is a piano reduction (which the composer claims is completely inadequate), but we need a different ethnicity.

Russian piano concerto - can't tell for sure if this is C# minor or E major; if the former, the Rimsky is a possibility, though I don't have a score and my recording is 10 miles away at home.

[lukeottevanger]

What modern composer doesn't change time signatures every measure? could be anyone!

True, if that is all it was doing. But it's more than that, though.

No, 44 is not Chavez or anyone on that particular continent. It is a deliberate attempt by a Western-trained musician to appear "ethnic," and it is a piano reduction (which the composer claims is completely inadequate), but we need a different ethnicity.

OK, there's something to go on...

Russian piano concerto - can't tell for sure if this is C# minor or E major; if the former, the Rimsky is a possibility, though I don't have a score and my recording is 10 miles away at home.

Rimsky is a good guess. Because it's right.

[(poco) Sforzando]

I know what you mean - though some of mine are still sparkling new! But I'm sure that most of the remaining ones are only a hairsbreadth away. Further reinforcment on the oldest ones:

215 - you know the composer (Cowell), and the innovation shown in the piece (differently-shaped noteheads for triplets, quintuplets etc)

219 - you know it's by a great pianist who was the protege of a great violinist-composer. I may not have mentioned this before, but it also shares a characteristic with a score of Bartok than Guido tested us with a week or two back.

229 - I don't get it! Look at the time signatures. Get the composer, at least.

232 - you know the composer (Feldman). And I put you out of your misery - what instruments is this for? - last time by revealing that, in fact, it's only for one instrument. The complex use of three staves is only to clarify the rhythmic layers.

229 - Honestly, I can't think of anyone who writes 3-4-5-6-7/8. Maybe if it were 2-3-4-5-6-7/8 I'd have it. I doubt it's Bartok, but who knows at this point.

232 - If one instrument, it would have to be piano music.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Russian piano concerto - can't tell for sure if this is C# minor or E major; if the former, the Rimsky is a possibility, though I don't have a score and my recording is 10 miles away at home.

Has to be C# minor now that I look more closely, from the piano cadenza.

[lukeottevanger]

229 - Honestly, I can't think of anyone who writes 3-4-5-6-7/8. Maybe if it were 2-3-4-5-6-7/8 I'd have it. I doubt it's Bartok, but who knows at this point.

I do.  The metre doesn't just follow a 3-4-5-6-7 pattern, though, does it. It's a more intricate arithmetical scheme, the like of which was certainly this quite famous composer's major innovation. (It was partly inspired by the twelve-tone technique). He was also the teacher of the composer of one of your scores of recent days.

232 - If one instrument, it would have to be piano music.

Yes it would

[(poco) Sforzando]

I do.  The metre doesn't just follow a 3-4-5-6-7 pattern, though, does it. It's a more intricate arithmetical scheme, the like of which was certainly this quite famous composer's major innovation. (It was partly inspired by the twelve-tone technique). He was also the teacher of the composer of one of your scores of recent days.

Yes it would

Desperate guess: Messiaen.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Desperate guess: Messiaen.

I think so, too...

[lukeottevanger]

I don't

(I'm not sure Messiaen's 'personnages rhythmiques', to which I think you may be refering, constitute his single main innovation; also, he doesn't tend to enact them on the level of the time signature, either - Messiaen's usual procedure is to slot this sort of process into a single meter, as in the Magi number of the Vingt Regards or throughout Turangalila)

[lukeottevanger]

The composer was born in China - does that help?

[Guido]

Sorry, just wanted to try something.

I love Saul's music. He is better than Janacek.

[Guido]

It works!

[greg]

I love Saul's music so much, I'd drink the ink from his ink pen if he wanted me to.

isn't that charming?

[(poco) Sforzando]

You mean you can insert any text within HTML quote tags?

[(poco) Sforzando]

The composer was born in China - does that help?

Not yet.