Quiz: Mystery scores

[greg]

Please forgive another new one - I just discovered this one, and thought I'd share...

uhhhhhhh
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[Maciek]

Luke has almost posted a hundred already, and I've only posted 10 so far. So I figure it's about time added some more of those nationally challenged scores of mine. Coming up in a moment...

[Maciek]

16 of them in all. Here are the first 5.

MM11
MM11 is one of the most beautiful pieces of contemporary music I've heard recently - I was a bit obsessed with it for a while recently. It is played extremely slowly (this is page four of the score, and it begins past the fourth minute of the piece!). The piece quotes a certain composition by a certain very, very famous composer extensively. MM11 is one in a series, all written using a similar "technique".


MM12
This is not my favorite piece by this composer but I've come to appreciate it much more recently. And it is certainly the most interesting of his scores that I've seen. If you've ever heard the piece it won't take you a minute to recognize the sung melody noted in the middle of the page. Incidentally, the composer of MM13 has also written a large piece which has a section with very similar melodic elements (at least to my ear). I think they both quoted from the same (folk) material but am not sure.


MM13
This piece contains lots of minuscule quotes from a certain composer, most of them difficult to notice at first. One especially blatant one is the last couple of notes before the strings come in...  The quotes won't lead you to the composer or title of this piece straight away but at least you'll get a hint at the subtitle of it.


MM14
I've left a major clue here so I don't think any comment will be necessary.


MM15
What you may take to be some sort of lead here, may in fact turn out to be very misleading... How's that for a cryptic clue?

OK, a bit more: young composer. I'm not really that much of a fan, and this piece isn't exactly a masterpiece - but I love the way it manages to look relatively simple while it is at times very complex rhythmically (well, perhaps not on this page...).

Next 5 coming up in a sec.

[lukeottevanger]

[whilst Maciek's new ones are loading!]

OK, believe it or not but I had no idea Godowsky's transcriptions were such an enormously thick volume (re the first clue you gave us) - that really had me searching in the wrong direction. Plus, of course, the Chopin's Studies happened to be one of the last volumes I leafed through - and you deliberately chose the LAST ONE! Argh! (I actually suspected some sort of foul play, and went for all the odd meters first... )

It was great fun, actually!

My answer:
LO 63 - Leopold Godowsky - Studies after Frederic Chopin - Trois Etudes... No. 2, First Version (Second Version, not all that different, is for the left hand alone )
based on Chopin's A flat Major, actually no. 3, from Trois nouvelles etudes

If I'll be playing through anything at all this week - it will most certainly have to be the original of this one!

Yes, this is it of course - obvious in retrospect, isn't it?

Actually, I think this first version is a lot harder than the left hand only one, and also, obviously, much more sophisticated - one of the finest of the whole set. Godowsky's elaborations are often maligned, but there are a good handful of them that are really stunning reimaginings of the originals, and this is one of them. Hamelin calls this one

a true marvel....four hyperflorid, beautifully complex variations [e.g. 3 against 4 against 6 against 9] all totally different in their rhythmic intricacies - the closest relative to this transcription....is Henry Cowell's short piano piece Fabric. Godowsky's level of inspiration reaches new heights in this setting, especially in the last section [my sample page] where a gorgeous countermelody soars above the main music.

[lukeottevanger]

So I suppose your new no 14 must be Vytautas Bacevičius  - Vision

The other ones look tricky, though!

[Maciek]

[Edit: I've added a link to MM18 and MM20, so you can download it and see it full size - just click on the image to do that.]

MM16
Relatively famous where I live... And the text is massively famous. (Nice choice of adverb, don't you think?)


MM17
This contemporary composer is quite well known. He isn't very prolific, and not all of his pieces are top shelf material. This one, IMHO, happens to be one of the more effective ones, even if the effect is reached through the use of a very stripped down technique. This is one of the more striking pages (it may not look striking but in its context it does sound quite striking, especially with a good vocalist).


MM18
You'll notice there's a quote here right away. But I'm not sure if recognizing that will lead you any closer to the answer - unless, of course, you know the piece. It happens to be the last thing this composer ever wrote. And perhaps his best composition (IMO).


MM19
I have come to believe that cycle might be the composer's very best work, even if it isn't as celebrated as many of his other pieces.


MM20
I believe this page is proof that this composer still had it in him, despite the fact that most of his output at the time he composed this was rather mediocre. It is sometimes thought that the reason for that was the quite traditional style he chose to employ but this piece (and a few others) show that he was in fact capable of writing quite effective stuff as long as he kept it short. Not a masterpiece perhaps but an enjoyable entry into the choral repertoire.

Actually, I think this first version is a lot harder than the left hand only one, and also, obviously, much more sophisticated - one of the finest of the whole set. Godowsky's elaborations are often maligned, but there are a good handful of them that are really stunning reimaginings of the originals, and this is one of them.

Yes, and the page you posted is very beautiful.

So I suppose your new no 14 must be Vytautas Bacevičius  - Vision

That was quick! But then that really was an enormous clue, wasn't it? Can't think of another Grażyna it could be...

[Maciek]

And 4+2 more coming in a moment.

[Maciek]

MM21
I'm guessing this will be very, very easy... VERY famous composer, and we've had him here before.


MM22
For clues - see above (though this is somebody else).


MM23
This looks quite nice, doesn't it?


MM24
Looks very much like everything else by this composer that I've ever seen. I've seen very little, mind you!


Last 2 in a moment.

[Maciek]

MM25
One of the very few "serious" piano pieces by this composer that is easy enough for me to play. And an especially beautiful one, IMO. (Strange. I feel as if I had already used that phrase today...)


MM26
Oh, I just couldn't resist it...


That's all for now, folks! Have fun!

[lukeottevanger]

Trying to keep up with Maciek's new ones - time for an updated list (sorry if this list's frequent recurrence is getting tedious, but it's easiest to keep it near the top, I think)

Oh, the no 25 is just loading - looks like one of Bartok's Bagatelles - no 3 IIRC

and no 23 is Cowell - Banshee

This bunch aren't Polish at all, are they!

Set by Sean:
1 - Bach - D minor Cello Suite - (Larry)
2 - Bach - E flat Cello Suite - (Larry)
3 - Bach - C minor Cello Suite - (Larry)
4 - Messiaen - Excerpt from Vingt Regards - (Larry)
5 - Messiaen - Excerpt from Vingt Regards - (Larry)
6 - Messiaen - Excerpt from Vingt Regards - (Larry)
7 - Messiaen - Excerpt from Vingt Regards - (Larry)

Set by Larry:
1 - Bach - B minor Mass 'Quoniam' - (Novitiate)
2 - Nielsen - Sixth Symphony - (Mark)
3 - Beethoven - Quartet op 95 - (CS)
4 - Schumann - Carnaval 'Chopin' - (Mark)
5 - Elgar - Cello Concerto - (Novitiate)
6 - Falla - Harpsichord Concerto - (Mark)
7 - Rzewski - The People United... - (Luke)
8 - Brahms - G major Sextet - (Luke)
9 - Berg - Wozzeck Act II interlude - (Luke)
10 - Mahler - Ninth Symphony - (Maciek)
11 - Boulez - Le Marteau sans Maitre - (Luke)
12 - Petterssen - 7th Symphony - (M Forever)
13 - Carter - SQ 1 - (Luke)
14 - Shostakovich - Symphony 15 - (Luke)
15 - Monteverdi - Orfeo - (Novitiate)
16 - Elgar - String Quartet - (Luke)
17 - Gorecki - Symphony 3 - (Luke)
18 - Bizet - Carmen - (Luke)
19 - Ligeti - Etude 'L'escalier....' - (Luke)
20 - Weber - Sonata 2 - (Luke, but I refused to say because I Googled it; Guido was first to identify it)
21 - Stockhausen - Klavierstucke IX - (Luke)
22 - Handel - Orlando - (Luke)
23 - aka 1a - Verdi - Requiem - (Luke)
24 - aka 2a - Wagner - Götterdämmerung - (Mark)
25 - aka 3a - Holst - Jupiter - (Mark)
26 - aka 4a - Haydn - F minor Variations - (Luke)
27 - aka 5a Liszt - Petrarch Sonnet - (Mark)
28 - aka 6a Schoenberg - Pierrot - (Mark)
29 - aka 6 - six samples plus 'what is the link'
    Bach - Double Violin Concerto (Luke)
    Schumann - Davidsbundlertanze - (Luke)
    Mendelssohn - Scottish Symphony - (Luke)
    Tchakovsky - Serenade for Strings - (Luke)
    Webern - Symphony - (Luke)
    Ravel - Tzigane - (Luke)
    Link = all used by Balanchine - (Luke)
30 aka 21 - Wolf - String Quartet - (Luke)
31 aka 22 - Delius - Irmelin Prelude - (Luke)
32 aka 23 - Wolf - Der Corregidor - (Luke)
33 aka 24  - Crawford Seeger - String Quartet - (Luke)
34 aka 25 - Lutoslawski - Third Symphony - (Luke)
35 aka 26 - Goldmark - Rustic Wedding Symphony - (Luke)
36 aka 27 - Orff - Antigone - (Luke)
37 aka 'Last'! - Bolcom - Songs of Experience - (Luke)
38 aka 41 - Shapero - Symphony for Classical Orchestra - (Guido)
39 aka 42 - Machaut - Mass (Credo) - (Luke)
40 aka 43 - Rouse - Gorgon - (Luke)
41 aka 44 - Beethoven - Merkenstein (duet op 100) - (Luke)
42 aka 45 - Markevitch - L'Envol d'Icare - (Luke)
43 aka 46 - Markevitch - Icare - (Luke)
44 aka 47 - Kupferman - Symphony 3 - (Luke)
45 aka 48 - WF Bach - Polonaise in C minor (Luke)
46 aka 49 - Grofe - Grand Canyon Suite - (Mark)
47 aka 50 - Carter - Concerto for Orchestra - (Luke)
48 aka 51 - Barraque - Sequence - (Luke)
49 aka 52 - Glass - Akhenaten - (Luke)

Set by Luke:
1 - Martinu - Symphony 6 - (Larry)
2 - Tavener - In Alium - (Larry)
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 - Anahit - (Maciek)
9 - Kurtag - Grabstein fur Stephan - (Edward)
10 - Havergal Brian - Gothic Symphony - (Larry 1st by exclamation; Karl 1st by use of English language)
11 - Cage - Concerto for Prepared Piano - (Maciek)
12 - Xenakis - Oresteia - (Greg)
13 - Adams - Harmonielehre - (Maciek)
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 - Nyman - Drowning by NUmbers - (Maciek)
22 - Vaughan Williams - Symphony 9 - (Larry)
23 - Dvorak - Violin Concerto - (Guido)
24 - Finnissy - Red Earth - (Maciek)
25 - Varese - Nocturnal - (Larry)
26 - Dvorak - String Quartet op 9 - (Larry)
27 - Martin - Mass for double choir - (Maciek)
28 - Respighi - Feste Romane - (Maciek)
29 - Balakirev - 1st Symphony - (Maciek)
30 - Janacek - Suite for Strings - (Edward)
31 - Schnittke - String Trio - (Guido)
32 - Reger - Mozart Variations - (Larry)
33 - Bernstein - Chichester Psalms - (Larry)
34 - Maxwell Davies - Ressurection - (Maciek)
35 - Britten - Nocturnal - (Manuel)
36 - Boulez - Rituel - (Larry)
37 - Stockhausen - Formulas for Licht - (Edward)
38 - Enescu - Cînt Tăcut - (Maciek)
39 - Cardew - Treatise - (Maciek)
40 - Kancheli - Symphony 5 - (Edward)
41 - Martinu - Fantasie for Theremin (etc) - (Edward)
42 - Partch - Castor and Pollux - (Maciek)
43 - Kurtag - from Jatekok - (Karl)
44 - ?
45 - Rzewski - Coming Together - (Edward)
46 - Schnittke - Violin Sonata 2 - (Edward)
47 - Powell - Serebryaniy vek - (Maciek)
48 - Rihm - Jagden und Formen - (Edward)
49 - Takahashi - Sa - (Maciek)
50 - Komitas [Vardapet] - Dances - (Maciek)
51 - [Pavel] Haas - Suite for Oboe and Piano - (Maciek)
52 - Burgess - Concertino - (Maciek)
53 - ?
54 - Takemitsu - From Me Flows What You Call Time - (Steve)
55 - ?
56 - Bryars - Cello Concerto - (Guido)
57 - ?
58 - Schoenberg - something for male voice choir, TBC - (Larry)
59 - ?
60 - ?
61 - Respighi - Violin Sonata - (Maciek)
62 - ?
63 - Godowsky - Study after Chopin no 45 - (Maciek)
64 - Finnissy - Song 9 - (matticus)
65 - Debussy - ? - (Steve/Maciek)
66 - R Strauss - The Castle by the Sea - (Larry)
67 - Satie - Messe des Pauvres - (Maciek)
68 - Korngold - Piano Trio - (Mark)
69 - ?
70 - ?
71 - Souster - Sonata - (Guido)
72 - ?
73 - ?
74 - ?
75 - ?
76 - Messiaen - Et Expecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum - (Steve)
77 - Casella - A la Maniere de Richard Strauss - (Maciek)

Set by Greg:
1 - Corigliano - Symphony 1 - (revealed by Greg)
2 - Takemitsu - Distance - (Maciek)
3 - Reich - Piano Phase - (Larry)
4 - Ligeti - Viola Sonata - (Edward)
5 - Adams - Phrygian Gates - (Guido)
6 - Kagel - String Sextet - (revealed by Greg)
7 - Prokofiev - PC 1 - (Luke)
8 - Xenakis - Jonchaies - (revealed by Greg)
9 - Debussy - La Mer - (Larry)
10 - Norgard - Symphony 6 -(revealed by Greg)
11 - Takemitsu - Corona - (Luke)
12 - Takemitsu - November Steps - (Luke)
13 - Webern - Canons op 16 - (Karl)
14 - Stravinsky - Soldier's Tale - (Karl)
15 - Lachenmann - Mouvement (- vor der Erstarrung) - (Luke)
16 - Ferneyhough - Lemma-Icon-Epigram - (Larry)
17 - Grisey - Les Espaces Acoustiques (Partiels) - (Luke)
18 - Shostakovich - Violin Concerto 1 - (Luke)
19 - Xenakis - Terretektorh - (Maciek)
20 - Xenakis - ATA - (Maciek)

Set by Guido:
1 - presumably Sorabji - ? Guido doesn't know which - (Luke)
2 - Schumann - E flat Variations - (Luke)
3 - Ives - first of 114 Songs - (Luke)
4 - Stravinsky - for the five fingers - (Luke)
5 - Barber - Piano Sonata - (Larry)
6 - Previn - Cello Sonata - (Maciek)
7 - Finzi - Cello Concerto - (Luke)
8 - Piazzolla - Libertango - (Maciek)
9 - Bernstein Clarinet Sonata - (Mark)
10 - Poulenc - Cello Sonata - (Larry)
11 - Stravinsky - Requiem Canticles - (Mark)
12 - Kodaly - Solo Cello Sonata- (Larry)
13 'buggered up'
14 - Carter - Cello Concerto - (Luke)
15 - Holst - Invocation - (Luke)
16 - Dietrich - 1st mvt of FAE Sonata - (Luke)
17 - Bloch - Suite for Viola arr. Cello - (Luke)
Couldn't find no. 18...
19 - Ives - Fourth Symphony - (Larry)
20 - really not worth putting up, Guido! This is a little fragment from a larger set by me, this bit in particular called 'A cage went in search of a bird' (from Kafka)

Set by Manuel:
1 - Prokofiev - PC 2 - (Maciek)
2 - Rzewski - Which Side Are You On - (Luke)
3 - de Beriot - Violin Concerto 9 - (Luke)
4 - Wieniawski - Four Etudes (no 2) for Two Violins - (Luke)

Set by Maciek:
1 - Szymanski - Piano Concerto - (Luke)
2- Kilar - Piano Concerto (Luke)
3 - Lutoslawski - Paganini Variations - (Mark)
4 - Szymanowski - 4th Symphony - (Luke)
5 - Serocki - Fort e piano - (Luke)
6 - Meyer - SQ 3 - (Luke)
7 - Zarebski - Piano Quintet - (Luke)
8 - Penderecki - String Quartet 1 - (Greg)
9 - Chopin - Cello Sonata - (Luke)
10 - Gorecki - Genesis I - (Luke)
11 - ?
12 - ?
13 - ?
14 - Bacevičius - Vision - (Luke)
15 - ?
16 - Moniuszko - Rybka - (Luke)
17 - ?
18 - ?
19 - Szymanowski - 6 Kurpain Songs - (Luke)
20 - ?
21 - Cage - Bacchanale - (Luke)
22 - Ives - Song Without (Good) Words - (Luke)
23 - Cowell - Banshee - (Luke)
24 - ?
25 - Bartok - Bagatelle no 3 - (Luke)
26 - Zarebski - Les Roses et Les Epines - (Luke)

Set by Steve:
1 - Stamp - String Quartet No. 556(b) for Strings In A Minor (Motoring Accident) - (Maciek)
2 - Bartok - String Quartet 4 - (Larry)
3 - Falla - Homenaje a Debussy - (Luke)
4 - Webern - op 10 Pieces - (Luke)
5 - Stravinsky - Rite of Spring - (Karl)
6 - Coltrane - Giant Steps - (Luke)
7 - Albeniz - Suite Espanola (Sevilla) - (Luke)
8 - ?
9 - Scarlatti - Sonata S3/K513 - (Luke)
10 - Stockhausen - Gesang der Jünglinge - (Luke)
11 - Cordier - Belle, Bonne, Sage - (Luke)
12 - Stravinsky - Octet - (Larry)
13 - Brouwer - La Espiral eterna - (Luke)
14 - Carter - Changes - (Luke)
15 - ?
16 - ?
17 - ?
18 - Ponce - Sonata Meridional - (Luke)
19 - Liszt - Nuages Gris - (Larry)
20 - Bach - Fugue  BWV 997 - (matticus)
21 - Bach - Cantata BWV 21 - (Larry)

[Maciek]

Oh, the no 25 is just loading - looks like one of Bartok's Bagatelles - no 3 IIRC

Precisely!

and no 23 is Cowell - Banshee

Correct!

This bunch aren't Polish at all, are they!

I hope you appreciate this entertaining element of surprise!

[lukeottevanger]

22 - Ives - Song Without (Good) Words

That l.h. part reminded of l.h. parts in other Ives works (Three Page Sonata, IIRC), even though the rest of the piece is somewhat simpler than one would expect from an Ives score, so I tried lesser-known Ives first, and luckily hit the answer (I think). Though, typically for Ives, the performance on my CD didn't entirely match Maciek's score - it had the odd restrained but Concord Sonata-like accretion!

[Maciek]

22 - Ives - Song Without (Good) Words

That l.h. part reminded of l.h. parts in other Ives works (Three Page Sonata, IIRC), even though the rest of the piece is somewhat simpler than one would expect from an Ives score, so I tried lesser-known Ives first, and luckily hit the answer (I think). Though, typically for Ives, the performance on my CD didn't entirely match Maciek's score - it had the odd restrained but Concord Sonata-like accretion!

No need for apprehension - you are correct, as always! I chose it because it seems to be the only Ives score I own (and I own next to none ) that I can (almost) play.

[lukeottevanger]

Good morning - I got very tired last night and had to give up in the middle of guessing. A couple more, I think: is no 16 by Moniuszko (the title of song being the first line of the text: Od dworu, spod lasa)? And no 26 never loaded beyond the tempo indication last night - I thought it was some kind of obscure joke! But now I can see the whole thing: it is the opening of the first movement of Zarebski's Les Roses et Les Epines, op 13. A very fine piece.

[Maciek]

Good morning - I got very tired last night and had to give up in the middle of guessing. A couple more, I think: is no 16 by Moniuszko (the title of song being the first line of the text: Od dworu, spod lasa)?

Well, I can see how you got to that answer ( ) but it's only partially correct... It is a ballade by Moniuszko (not one of the 3 or 4 most famous ones though) and it is sometimes (if rarely) referred to by the first words of the text but the title is in fact different. It is the same as that of the poem - so discovering it shouldn't be all that difficult.

And no 26 never loaded beyond the tempo indication last night - I thought it was some kind of obscure joke!

Me and obscure jokes? Come on! Obscure - perhaps. Jokes - never!

But now I can see the whole thing: it is the opening of the first movement of Zarebski's Les Roses et Les Epines, op 13. A very fine piece.

Yes, it is!

You rule, Luke, did you know that?

[lukeottevanger]

Well, I can see how you got to that answer ( ) but it's only partially correct... It is a ballade by Moniuszko (not one of the 3 or 4 most famous ones though) and it is sometimes (if rarely) referred to by the first words of the text but the title is in fact different. It is the same as that of the poem - so discovering it shouldn't be all that difficult.

Is it Rybka, then? I was getting rather confused....

[Maciek]

Bingo! You are storming through these.

[lukeottevanger]

What I'm happiest about is that I've actually known a few of these straight off! 

[lukeottevanger]

21 - Cage - Bacchanale.

Mostly by old fashioned stylistic analysis, because the print doesn't remind me of other Cage scores.

[lukeottevanger]

19 - Szymanowski - 6 Kurpian Songs (no 2)?