Quiz: Mystery scores

[lukeottevanger]

So that leaves only 1, 2, 8, 9, 13 and 21. Good work!

Maciek, I have a hunch you will know a few of these. If pushed, I'd say I'd particularly expect that you know no 1 (though I may be wrong)

[Maciek]

If pushed, I'd say I'd particularly expect that you know no 1 (though I may be wrong)

Well, at first I thought it might be from Lutoslawski's Livre - but I checked the score (well, gave it a casual leafing ) and though it does look a bit like some of the ad libitum sections it's not from there. Could it be another Lutoslawski piece? Like the 3rd Symphony (because of that trumpet line)?

(Please don't laugh at me, you can't imagine how difficult this game is for people with knowledge on my level! )

[lukeottevanger]

Not Lutoslawski, no. Not a million miles away, geographically.

[lukeottevanger]

Can you by any chance pin down the publisher? That might help...

[Maciek]

Not me. I've got no more than 20-30 scores at home myself (well, not counting piano, of course ), and they all come from the same publisher. And I've seen maybe 10 more in my entire life...

[Maciek]

A million miles is such a long way... Could it at least be the same continent? (I mean Europe?)

[lukeottevanger]

Yes, I meant to narrow it down a little more than 'it is either terrestrial or lunar'. Europe is correct; somewhere fairly near Poland even more so.

I'm surprised you don't have a big score collection - your success rate in this game suggests otherwise!

[Maciek]

Nope, that's just pure luck - just groping around in the dark...

Could no. 8 be the Scelsi??

[lukeottevanger]

It could and it is. Do you know the piece? But I need to update my list, I think!!


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 - Scelsi - ? - (Maciek)
9 - ?
10 - ?
11 - Cage - Concerto for Prepared Piano - (Maciek)
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)

Now come on, let's finish them off

[Maciek]

It could and it is. Do you know the piece?

I don't think I do. As you said, the instrumentation probably leaves little to choose from: violins are present, and a saxophone! My knowledge of Scelsi is good enough to see that those are clues but not good enough to use them. I might try though... Are there any vocal parts in this piece?

[lukeottevanger]

No voices. How many violins?

[Maciek]

Is it one written on 3 staves?? That would probably mean Anahit...?

[lukeottevanger]

We got there! That's the one, and what a piece it is - one of his finest and most beautifully balanced works.

Interesting score, this. I have no idea why he transposes some parts (horn, for example) but not others (clarinets, for example). The one-violin-on-three-staves thing is no joke or eccentricity - it is necessary for reasons of clarity, as all strings are constantly in use on very closely adjacent notes (the violin has scordatura in this ravishing piece). He carries this notation to its limit in the 4th Quartet, written on 16 staves - one for each string!

[greg]

alright, Luke got #7.

i'll put out 3 more and won't post any more until all are succesfully guessed.

here's a couple of hints:
#1 is an American composer
#2 is a sort of European composer... use your imagination on this one

[greg]

g8

[greg]

g9 and g10

[greg]

any more clues on 21, Luke?
I'm dying to figure out which one that is......

[lukeottevanger]

No, man.....


As for these three new ones of yours, they are tricky. The first one...well, for no particular reason I'm going to chuck out the names Eotvos and Dutilleux....or maybe Lindberg (yes, it looks like his work, I think), or Saariaho. Basically, I don't know!

The second one looks like I should know, but it isn't ringing any bells right now

The handwriting in the third looks like Ligeti's, though I can't place the piece right now, which probably means it is something like San Francisco Polyphony or Melodien......

[greg]

none of your guesses are right

the first one is a powerful piece, the second one a famous piece, the third is by a composer who should be a bit more well-known

[Larry Rinkel]

No, man.....


As for these three new ones of yours, they are tricky. The first one...well, for no particular reason I'm going to chuck out the names Eotvos and Dutilleux....or maybe Lindberg (yes, it looks like his work, I think), or Saariaho. Basically, I don't know!

The second one looks like I should know, but it isn't ringing any bells right now

The handwriting in the third looks like Ligeti's, though I can't place the piece right now, which probably means it is something like San Francisco Polyphony or Melodien......

Are the really familiar ones the hardest to get? #2 is from the second movement of La Mer.