Quiz: Mystery scores

[Maciek]

No, no, it's not.

I thought at first maybe you meant 168, because your question made me notice how 168 is perhaps a bit similar to Autumn Music...? Though Autumn Music is a bit more "sparse", in terms of texture, isn't it (as far as I remember)? Anyway, neither 168, nor 169 is Panufnik.

[Luke]

Just looked a bit 'pattern-making' in a Panufnik way, and also very similar, though not precisely the same as his handwriting in those of his scores I have that are handwritten.

BTW, just got you message, didn't see it earlier - don't worry! And I will reply shortly, though I have to go out for a while now 

[Maciek]

Just looked a bit 'pattern-making' in a Panufnik way, and also very similar, though not precisely the same as his handwriting in those of his scores I have that are handwritten.

Well, I never thought of this composer as similar to Panufnik before, but once you guessed it could be Panufnik, I realized there were similarities that I had ignored. 'Pattern-making' is probably the right way to put it, since the composer sometimes seems interested in pursuing ideas of a... I don't know, a sort of geometrical nature? Though I think the music probably does not sound quite as "abstract" as Panufnik's sometimes does. By the way, I don't have the full score at home to verify this, but I'm pretty certain the horn and clarinet are actually transposed, even if it may seem at first blush that they aren't. I also suspect there should be a flat in the first bar of the horn part on the second page? Or maybe not... No way of verifying that easily, I guess.

BTW, for me, this is one of a series of most touchingly beautiful passages in modern music. (Is that a clue? Maybe for those who have known me for a while and remember some of the composers who fascinate me...)

There's a DVD with an interview with the composer where he says that when his wife comes into the room when he's working, she usually asks him whether he's composing or editing/correcting (I don't remember the exact term he uses) - and that his reply is always the latter, so he's not sure when the actual composing takes place (or maybe whether it takes place at all - I need to find that interview and relisten...). No idea why I'm sharing this, other than that I felt like sharing it...

BTW, just got you message, didn't see it earlier - don't worry! And I will reply shortly, though I have to go out for a while now 

OK, I'm reassured.

[Maciek]

A (serenely) sparkling gem from the 1940s.

(As a counter-example perhaps?)

[Luke]

Ah, that one I do know, and love - it is Panufnik this time, the Lullaby. Gorgeous. 

[Maciek]

It is, isn't it? Doesn't sound abstract at all - even if the precision might remind one of a clockwork mechanism. (No?)

[Maciek]

Earlier today I was reading a conversation between Tadeusz Kaczynski (Polish musicologist) and Nigel Osborne (British composer). It was about Panufnik. While reading it I was wondering whether Kaczynski wasn't going a bit too far with his "Polishness" of Panufnik's music approach. But listening to the Lullaby just now, I realized the piece is fundamentally linked to Chopin's nocturnes. I mean the polyrhythmic tension between 6:4 and 4:4 (both on the horizontal plane - the melody switches between the two rhythms, and on the vertical - the melody in strings is mostly 6:4, the harp "accompaniment" is 4:4). And of course there is the flowing type of the melody itself, a bit reminiscent of the nocturnes, I think? It's almost like a Chopin Nocturne for strings and harp, with clusters and microtonality included for additional color.

Or is that going a bit too far? What do you think?

[EDIT: listening once more, and looking specifically at the melody: the repeated sounds remind me of Chopin too]

[Luke]

Oh, I completely agree. Also that fragrant, sharp-laden chromaticised tonality - reminds me of the C sharp minor and the B major Nocturnes, for instance (which are also my favourite Nocturnes, give or take a couple of others)

[listener]

tidying up the not quite recognized one (the Brahms and Chopin parodies)
The Collection "Anton Notenquetscher am Klavier" is a parody of the student scene from  Goethe's Faust and was written for the 70th birthday of Carl Bechstein by Moritz and Alexander Moszkowsky.  The variations are on a popular song "Im Grunewald ist Holtzauktion" which starts off like the Brazilian national anthem.
There is a recording, Danacord 479, from the Schloß vor Husum 1996 Festival with the spoken text, a translation is supplied.

So I'll add three new ones to replace the old ones.  (identify as 607, 608 and 610),  The first one should be a familiar one.

[Maciek]

The first one should be a familiar one.

Hmmm, I don't think I recognize it.

Oh, I completely agree. Also that fragrant, sharp-laden chromaticised tonality - reminds me of the C sharp minor and the B major Nocturnes, for instance (which are also my favourite Nocturnes, give or take a couple of others)

Good to know I'm not alone then.

[Maciek]

Let me post a few more.

172

[Maciek]

173

[Maciek]

174, 175

[Maciek]

176
(EDIT: replacing it with TWO pages )

[Maciek]

177, final one in this batch.

[EigenUser]

176

This one definitely looks like Penderecki, though I'm not sure which piece. Is it one of the Da Natura Sonoris? (which are awesome, by the way, though I have to be in a very rare mood to enjoy them).

[Maciek]

Yes, I can see why you would think this is Penderecki (I think one of the De natura sonoris scores was even published in the same series as this), but the mystery score here is actually a bit different. It comes from one of the pieces that marked the move away from the avantgarde idiom in Poland. The page I've given might be the most famous moment of the piece, and quite characteristic, but most of the score looks completely different, so in that sense it is a bit misleading.

Also, there's a link between 176 and 177.

[EigenUser]

25.
This is the biggest score I have ever come across. I picked it up from the library (an ILL order) before class and everyone in classes was asking what the big book was for. I put a 1-ft ruler on it for comparison.



I also got really bored during my second class so I started sketching short sections of pieces from memory (just single iconic lines) in the class notes (a very interesting class, but I took it last year and got an 'A-', so it's very hard to pay attention!). Then, about halfway through, I realized that it might be fun to post (kind of like Luke's page of very short lines from famous works). I'll post that later. I wrote the name of the work on each one so I'll have to cover it up with sticky notes. They are all from memory so they're not perfect, but anyone who knows the piece will be able to get it.

[Luke]

Boulez: Figures, Doubles, Prisms, jumped into my mind as soon as I saw that, but I don't know why - it doesn't look right, the handwriting is off I think, and I've seen the score to FDP, and it didn't look like this IIRC. I've also just listened to FDP and couldn't hear this page, though there were lots of similar things, so I may have missed it. So I'm sure it isn't that, but I'm going to guess it anyway!

[(poco) Sforzando]

Boulez: Figures, Doubles, Prisms, jumped into my mind as soon as I saw that, but I don't know why - it doesn't look right, the handwriting is off I think, and I've seen the score to FDP, and it didn't look like this IIRC. I've also just listened to FDP and couldn't hear this page, though there were lots of similar things, so I may have missed it. So I'm sure it isn't that, but I'm going to guess it anyway!

FWIW, I thought Boulez as well, though Luke jumped in first.