Quiz: Mystery scores

[lukeottevanger]

Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Gottfried von Einem 

    (neither of these are quite such well-known names as many of mine which have taken even longer to find (Stravinsky, Elgar, Boulez...). Nor so easily identifiable by a distinct personal style - as for instance the Nancarrow, or the 'Tibetan' one, which in both cases could be by no other composer. Plus, my clues actually give the name of the composer sometimes, no cryptology in sight! You can see why I may be surprised!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_UEFA_Champions_League_Final
Even after looking at this, I'm no closer.

No tricks here - just say the names of the finalists.....

[(poco) Sforzando]

    (neither of these are quite such well-known names as many of mine which have taken even longer to find (Stravinsky, Elgar, Boulez...). Nor so easily identifiable by a distinct personal style - as for instance the Nancarrow, or the 'Tibetan' one, which in both cases could be by no other composer. Plus, my clues actually give the name of the composer sometimes, no cryptology in sight! You can see why I may be surprised!)

No tricks here - just say the names of the finalists.....

I did, I did...
Question: is the Stravinsky a reduction?

[lukeottevanger]

I did, I did...

Do it again - the composer's name isn't exactly the same, but close enough to be clear. A friend of mine once attended a garden party populated by composers and overheard Hugh Wood dismissing the popularity of this composer with a joke based on the similarity of his name to to that of this popular football team

Question: is the Stravinsky a reduction?

No, but it also exists in an ensemble form which was made 13 years later. When you Google the piece it is the piano version which appears most frequently, but personally it is the ensemble version I have in my CD collection.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Do it again

I did.

No, but it also exists in an ensemble form which was made 13 years later. When you Google the piece it is the piano version which appears most frequently, but personally it is the ensemble version I have in my CD collection.

I probably have scores to some 65-75 Stravinsky works, but apparently not this one. Since you brought up Les Cinq Doigts, I'm going to go on process of elimination and say this could be from the Suite #1. (Which I have neither in score or recording, but which I think orchestrated some of those pieces. Not sure, though, 'cause your score is not a 2-piano piece.)

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

A Summer's Tale - my own favourite of Suk's larger pieces.

I agree - an astonishingly powerful piece.

Thanks for the uploads, Luke! I'll turn them into downloads for my delectation shortly...

[lukeottevanger]

I did.

You have me doubting myself!

I probably have scores to some 65-75 Stravinsky works, but apparently not this one. Since you brought up Les Cinq Doigts, I'm going to go on process of elimination and say this could be from the Suite #1. (Which I have neither in score or recording, but which I think orchestrated some of those pieces. Not sure, though, 'cause your score is not a 2-piano piece.)

No, it's not that one. A single movement, stand-alone piece like Ragtime, for instance, but later than both that work and the Suite. 

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Hi Luke! I just started listening to Suk's piano suite - beautiful and very affecting. I think I'll follow it up with A Summer's Tale.

[lukeottevanger]

And on that subject...

I agree - an astonishingly powerful piece.

One of my previous score samples too (in the pre-Jezetha days IIRC). I see that in all hopefullness I put 'I suspect this is fairly well-known, so no clues yet' at the top of it, but IIRC it took quite a long time and a few clues before Larry identified it. So it seems it wasn't as well-known as I thought/hoped. Maybe I should upload that one too, then - it's such a fine work.

[Symphonien]

Ah... so 265 must be Peter Eötvös's Replica, for viola & orchestra then. I do not have that CD, but it does look very interesting. I admire Eötvös's work as a conductor, but have never heard any of his compositions. How would you describe his music? Any stylistic comparisons you can make?

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

263 must be something by Ligeti. But I am no expert...

[lukeottevanger]

Ah... so 265 must be Peter Eötvös's Replica, for viola & orchestra then. I do not have that CD, but it does look very interesting. I admire Eötvös's work as a conductor, but have never heard any of his compositions. How would you describe his music? Any stylistic comparisons you can make?

Very good! For those that didn't follow my clues - this is a piece recorded by Kim Kashkashian on a fantastic ECM CD which also contains the Bartok Viola Concerto and an early viola-and-orchestra piece by Kurtag. Within the score itself the clues, apart from the solo viola, are the six violas in the orchestra who impinge upon the soloist in a sometimes threatening way - if you know this CD you will recognise this element of the score. Stylistic comparisons....tricky! He's a composer who really knows his way around an orchestra in a virtuoso way, like Lindberg for example, but its more hard-bitten stuff - complex, phantasmagorical and completely without aridity.

263 must be something by Ligeti. But I am no expert...

No, not Ligeti. Big clue - the composer is female.

[Symphonien]

260 is Gorecki's 5 pieces for two pianos.

262 is Webern's Movement for Piano. That's all it's known as, I think. It's in Boulez's Complete Webern set, played by Gianluca Cascioli. An interesting piece of juvenilia, but I think he has better works without opus numbers.

263 - Gubaidulina's Piano Sonata?

[(poco) Sforzando]

No, it's not that one. A single movement, stand-alone piece like Ragtime, for instance, but later than both that work and the Suite. 

It is the Tango, a pot-boiler so insignificant it barely rates 3-4 brief mentions in Walsh vol. 2.

[lukeottevanger]

Yes, Sforzando, that's right. I sense exasperation implied in your disdainful description of the piece  so accept my apologies!

262 is Webern's Movement for Piano. That's all it's known as, I think. It's in Boulez's Complete Webern set, played by Gianluca Cascioli. An interesting piece of juvenilia, but I think he has better works without opus numbers.

Yes, and yes he does. It's also been published as a sonata (Webern himself didn't give it a title)

263 - Gubaidulina's Piano Sonata?

Right composer - and the piece is a good guess. But it's not this one.

[lukeottevanger]

Sorry, Symphonien, didn't see your Gorecki guess. It's correct. Amazing the distance he travelled from this implacable, aggressive and hypercomplex serialism, isn't it!?

[Symphonien]

Yes, it certainly is! Coincidentally I was listening to his 2nd String Quartet earlier this afternoon - very different style indeed.

263 - Must be either the Chaconne, Invention or Toccata - Troncata. I'll guess the Chaconne.

255 - Alexander Scriabin's Fantasy for two pianos in A minor?

[karlhenning]

It's a minor piece, even a throwaway, one might say;  but I am indignant at the term pot-boiler being hurtled at Stravinsky's Tango.

You try writing such a "pot-boiler," sforz! (No, really;  I should find it of keen interest.)

[lukeottevanger]

You tell him, Karl!! 

263 - Must be either the Chaconne, Invention or Toccata - Troncata. I'll guess the Chaconne.

Guess one of the others!

255 - Alexander Scriabin's Fantasy for two pianos in A minor?

Yes! Well done. A work chock full of flaws, but with a second subject of strange appeal. I attach a little clip of it in the piano + orchestra version, starting at the top of my sample passage. Horrible clunky recording, but that only adds to the down-at-heel charm to my mind!

[(poco) Sforzando]

It's a minor piece, even a throwaway, one might say;  but I am indignant at the term pot-boiler being hurtled at Stravinsky's Tango.

You try writing such a "pot-boiler," sforz! (No, really;  I should find it of keen interest.)

The term "pot-boiler" is used explicitly by Walsh (vol. 2, p. 131), who claims this piece was written primarily by Stravinsky to make money, and there were hopes it would become as popular as Ravel's Bolero. So please, hurl no further indignities at moi. (Whether I could have written something comparable is not really relevant.)

[lukeottevanger]

You tell him, Sforz!! 


though if the fact that the piece was written 'primarily to make money' is what makes it a pot-boiler, then there are an awful lot of pot-boilers amongst works we tend to think of as among the finest!