Classical Quiz (cont.)

So it's your turn now!

Erm. Hell, this is the problem with geeting one right. Erm. OK. What were the mediavel "Goliards", and what is their contribution to C20th music?

quote:

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Originally posted by 1st Pentacostal Church of Vuksanovic:
... What were the mediavel "Goliards", and what is their contribution to C20th music?

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Carmina Burana, Orff?

Jonathan

quote:

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Originally posted by 1st Pentacostal Church of Vuksanovic:
Spot on Steve - the collective name for the defrocked priests, dodgy monks, bad-mannered minstrels etc that penned them there lyrics that Orff then used... your turn...

Jonathan

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Ooh I forgot to say that but but thanks for passing the baton on ...

How might Lucier receive and record a message from Lamb?

Also I guess Lamb is "Alan Lamb" who has
recorded the sounds of electrical high-tension
wires flapping about in the wind.

So I suppose the answer is that they would
exchange messages by wire and maybe record them
on an antique wire [non tape] recorder ??

James H.

Lucier found after a couple of installations that the sine wave oscillator wasn't necessary. And Lamb recorded from telegraph wires.

Try 'Austral Voices' New Albion NA028CD for the Lamb and Lovely Music LCD 1011 for four versions of the Lucier piece.

SteveC

quote:

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Originally posted by James Hamilton:
My guess is that Lucier is "Alan Lucier" who
installed the work "Music on a long thin wire"
consisting of 80 ft of piano wire stretched
across a room in New York and tuned as a
monocord. The wire was driven by a sine-wave
oscillator and contact microphones picked up
the sounds caused by temperature fluctuations,
people moving around the room etc.

Also I guess Lamb is "Alan Lamb" who has
recorded the sounds of electrical high-tension
wires flapping about in the wind.

So I suppose the answer is that they would
exchange messages by wire and maybe record them
on an antique wire [non tape] recorder ??

James H.

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This composer is more usually associated with the
piano but in his youth played the Viola.

Who is/was he ??

James H.

Are we talking about Anton Dvorak?

I have a recollection of his being an orchestral violist first. (Problem is you don't generally think of him as a piano player / composer.)

Herm

If not, I also offer Hindemith and Bridge as two alternatives, though they are not especially renowned for their piano music.

It's Beethoven. Your turn !!

James H.

Are we looking at Sofia Gubaidulina here? It kind of depends on one's definition of the frase Classical Personage , G's music often being wild, weird and raw (there's one with a big hammer in it, I recall) - but the picture sure looks like her. She was a student and GF of Shostakovich' wasn't she?

Herm

It's a simple question. What was Brahms wearing, way back, when he was working on the original material for the C minor Piano Quartet?

I'll help a little. Black lace bra and panties is wrong. High heels too.

So let us know.

Herm

Brahms had this habit of making self-depreciatory remarks every time he sent off a big piece of work to the publisher (calling the 4th Symphony "a set of waltzes & polkas").

In the case of the Third Piano Quartet he was alluding to a major novel of the 18th Century (major major), to indicate what kind of mood he was in when he first conceived of the C minor.

Gentlemen, need I say more?

Herm

Well I guess I do.

So what Brahms was referring to was, I'd say, the most famous German novel ever, a book which inspired a lotta folks to imitate the eponymous protagonist - with fatal results.

(This was the 18th C, when they didn't have any Naim gear to play with. So what could they do on a bad day?)

Herm

You mean like the guy with long black thing down there?

'Fraid not.

But you're awfully close, Cheese, and I'm sure your native lingo is a great help, since the author is spot on!

Remember, Brahms, as he was starting out, had a thing for Clara Schumann, who was
1) an older woman
2) but married too!

So, as far as German fiction was concerned, there was only one way out

and in that case your example was .....

Cheese

so we're talking about Goethe, and a world-famous novel of his, that drove a lot of young fellows to distraction - always in the correct garb, though.

Even Brahms came close, when he met the lovely and talented Mrs Robert Schumann.

Brahms said of himself that while writing his first piano quartet he was wearing a blue cutaway and a yellow waistcoat ("blauen Frack und gelbe Weste" in German), like the main character in Goethe's novel who commits suicide in the end. Meaning of course that Brahms himself was very close to suicide at that time. Goethe's book was a huge success and inspired a lot of young men to follow Werther's example!

Fortunately Brahms decided against becoming a "fashion victim"...

So now it's on me to ask the next question, right?

There is a good movie, called "Monsieur Hire", by the French director Patrice Leconte, after a novel by George Simenon. The main character has a habit of watching his beautiful neighbour through the window, while listening to Brahms... :-) As it happens, the music used in the film is an excerpt from one of Brahms' piano quartets: Which one, and which movement?

If nobody knows the movie except me, I'll think of something else... :-) It's worth watching, though. And Brahms wrote only three piano quartets...

Btw, can anybody suggest a good recording of these pieces?