Quiz: Mystery scores

[Mark G. Simon]

Guido's no. 1 has to be Sorabji. Who else would write a marking like "Presto vertiginoso confuria"?

[Guido]

Sorry can't upload the pictures right now...

Anyway - Luke you are right on the Schumann too! When you say it looks like Schumann, do you mean it sounds like Schumann, or could you literally tell by looking at it?!

[Maciek]

Guido, when did you suddenly make the jump from 270 to 287? Wow, that's SEVENTEEN more!

[Guido]

Hadn't updated for a while!

And now its 293!

[lukeottevanger]

Anyway - Luke you are right on the Schumann too! When you say it looks like Schumann, do you mean it sounds like Schumann, or could you literally tell by looking at it?!

I haven't played it, though it looks like it sounds like Schumann, if you see what I mean. But I really meant it looks like him, texturally (with its roots in horn writing, for starters), plus the expression mark could only be Schumann. It is amazing how the personality of a composer's music can be stamped so clearly by just a few notes; factoring in the look of the various editions/handwritings/notations etc. (though not in this case) often makes these questions quite straightforward (though not always, I hasten to add)

Is the first one Sorabji, as I and then Mark guessed?  Not just the tempo marking that Mark mentions, but also the look of the score - fistfulls of obscure chords in semiquavers, no barlines, angular l.h. and so on, all say Sorabji very strongly to me. I am still plonking for the 1st Sonata, but only because I know they have it on IMSLP!! (and if I wasn't busy I pull up the file and check it...)

[m_gigena]

................

[lukeottevanger]

The Sorabji - it is surely Sorabji! - is not the First Sonata, so I'm not sure what it is. I played through the Opus Clavicembalisticum years ago, and I don't remember this page, but that means nothing!

Manuel, I can't place yours offhand; the texture looks like early Rachmaninov (it reminds me of the Moments Musicaux for instance, though it certainly isn't one of those), and I'm sure I know it, but obviously not well enough!

[Maciek]

I think Manuel's looks like Prokofiev's 2nd PC (the cadenza) but am too lazy to get my score (finally something I actually own...? ).

[lukeottevanger]

Maciek, you are right, Manuel's is the Prokofiev PC2 - I am listening to it to see if Greg's no 7 comes from it, and I hear Manuel's first!

[Maciek]

Well, all I have is a 2 piano reduction but I'm fairly positive greg's is not from the 2nd PC. (?) Maybe it's the 3rd? Yeah, come to think of it, it looks like the third... ...?

(Can you tell I'm uncertain? )

edit: no, it's definitely not the 3rd...

[lukeottevanger]

I know Greg's, but I can't remember where from (and it's bugging me!); Prokofiev is a bit of a thin spot in my knowledge I must admit, at least compared to most people here, but Greg's sample reminded me of something like the PC2. However, I don't think it is any more! Back to the drawing board....

[lukeottevanger]

Got it! I was nearly right - it's the Prok First PC - which I should have know as I think that's my favourite Prok. PC! But I don't have the score, only the two-piano, which I've only looked at once or twice. Still should have got it eariler [kicking myself]

[lukeottevanger]

Can I just say - I love this thread! Scores are just addictive, aren't they?

[Maciek]

Well, it's a good thing you chimed in before I mentioned Rachmaninov... I do feel excused though, on the grounds of not being particularly fond of Proko's 1st.

[Maciek]

Could someone with a lot of time and patience draw up a list of the ones that haven't been guessed yet? 0:)

[lukeottevanger]

I think Larry's have all been traced; at least two of Greg's remain, and of mine, this is how things stand:

1 - ?
2 - ?
3 - Feldman - Why Patterns (Mark)
4 - Khachaturian - Piano Concerto - (Mark)
5 - Ferneyhough - Sieben Sterne - (Larry)
6 - Schoenberg - Jakobsleiter - (Larry)
7 - Part - If Bach had been a beekeeper - (Karl)
8 - ?
9 - ?
10 - ? (I'm surprised this wasn't got straight away)
11 - ? (and ditto about this one)
12 - Xenakis - Oresteia - (Greg)
13 - ?
14 - Ives - The Housatonic at Stockbridge - (Larry)
15 - Nancarrow - Player piano study (37) - (Mark)
16 - Tippett - 3rd Symphony - (Mark)
17 - Villa-Lobos - Bachainas Brasileras 2 (the train one...) - (Larry)
18 - Boulez - Le soleil des eaux (Maciek)
19 - Liszt - Dante Symphony - (Larry)
20 - Ligeti - Violin Concerto (Larry)
21 - ?
22 - Vaughan Williams - Symphony 9 - (Larry)

I particularly like that we're trying to find interesting scores with personal styles and clues aplenty. More fun than playing hardball - it would be so easy to upload impossible ones, but where would the fun be in that!

[Maciek]

Well, I say no. 11 is Cage... What do you say?

[edit: and groping my way further, I'd go for Concerto for Prepared Piano and Chamber Orchestra...??]

[lukeottevanger]

I say 'at last' - that inimitable handwriting could be no one else, could it! Now, can you name the piece - one of his most important works, in fact.

[Maciek]

Concerto for Prepared Piano and Chamber Orchestra??

[lukeottevanger]

Bingo! And that's a bit harder than it looks to get because I think he only writes 'piano' in the score.