Classical Quiz (cont.)

Anyway, I heard Kubelick do Ma Vlast with the Chicago about 18 years ago. Alas, the thing I most remember about the concert was that there was a couple in the audience dressed in identical aquamarine-colored suits. Looked sort of like drawings of leprechauns, except the suits were bluer than would be expected (at least as leprechauns are depicted in the US). The music wasn't all that great.

Phil

two WWII compositions - one took the world by storm; the second spoofed the first. Name 'em.

Phil
back on the air after working for hours to get his modem registered with ATTBI - but at least ATT is now answering their phones quickly and with competence. But who would design a system that authenticates on the basis of MAC addresses????

I think it's Schostokovich Symphony 7
[The Leningrad] which represents the
Nazis marching on Leningrad.

Bartok did not think much of it and
quoted the main theme [but distorted] in
his Concerto for Orchestra.

Personally I like both works but No. 7 is
NOT the best thing Schostokovich ever wrote
[his best symphony IMHO is No. 10].

James H

You got it, James.

The first time I heard the 7th was Bernstien's version with the Chicago, and I started to play it a lot. I hadn't heard Cto for Orchestra in a long time, so I didn't get the reference. Then someone mentioned that Bartok had something to say - the 7th hasn't sounded the sme to me since.

Absolutely, S has composed better works. The Cto for Orchestra is great. (IMHO, of course)

Regards.

Phil

The Bernstein / Chicago SO captures the Mahlerian shades of this symphony rather well. You really need those "starry starry night" moments.

However, in a little while Philips is going to release the live recording by Valery Gergiev and the combined Kirov and Rotterdam Orchestras, and that could very well be a recording that definitively redeems this symphony. I heard the live concert.

Herm

(curious about the new quiz question)

James H

I have a question but I don't know
the answer :

I have the quote [from memory] : "All
selections of notes are acceptable but
at this point in time some sound
conventional and should be avoided". I
know it's Bartok and I wanted to give this
as my question i.e 'Name that quote ...'

So the question is ...
Can you give me a reference to this or
am I mistaken.

Alternativly [an easy one ...]
There are lots of symphonies with choirs
[e.g. Beethoven / Mahler / Schostokovich etc.].
Name a piano concerto with one and name the
composer [so piano concerto no. 1 does not
count].

James H.

quote:

---

There are lots of symphonies with choirs
[e.g. Beethoven / Mahler / Schostokovich etc.].
Name a piano concerto with one and name the
composer

---

Cheese

I don't think Beethoven thought
of it as a concerto.

The work I have in mind was by
[someone] who wrote a piano
concerto and included a chorus
[in the last movemont -- of
course]. And he definitly wanted
it to be a piano concerto.

James H.

The father of a famous conductor is reported to have referred to Joseph Szigeti and said to his conductor son (something like), 'If you had practiced, that could be you up there!'

Who was the conductor?

Phil

Phil

mostly just real busy.

However, a helpful hint would be, er, helpful. Like when are we talking about?

Herm

[This message was edited by Phil Barry on FRIDAY 08 February 2002 at 14:22.]

Someone elkse has to come up with a question.

Phil

Don't you have another question, Phil?

Herm

Why don't I volunteer a Quiz Question?

When Igor Stravinsky died, in 1971, he was working on an orchestral piece. However, there was very little coherent material as yet. It was just a bunch of short sketches.

Still, in 1974 Mrs S. commisioned a young composer (well, young in the sense that in the arts any one under 50 used to be "young and promising") to create a piece of music using Stravinsky's notes and sketches.

So the question is, who is this composer?

Herm

Hi James,

let me quote:

"Robert Craft consulted a number of people about the right person to design a work around these sketches [...]. X, who loved Stravinsky's late music and was very knowledgeable about it, was invited to compose the work. A dinner was arranged to meet with Craft and Mrs. Stravinsky in New York [...].
Mrs. Stravinsky, then in her eighties, was in a wonderful mood, still coquettish and utterly charming. X, meeting her for the first time, was besotted. In fact, we all were besotted with liberal doses of alcohol and teetered out of the Stravinskys' Fifth Ave apartment very late that evening. The next day X received the sketches."

So, once again: who is Mr X?

(He's composed numerous works since then; lives in the US, and, unlike Igor Stravinsky, has a beard.)

Herm

The only American composers I can
think of with beards are Lou Harrison
and Conlon Nancarrow. I am pretty sure
it's not Nancarrow since he was not in
the US after the 1930's so I guess
Harrison.

James H.

serious as this is, there are more bearded composers in America than Harrison and Nancarrow.

We're also talking about another generation.

Mr X was born in 1938, so he's at the height of his powers now. Recently he completed (correct me if I'm wrong - well, how would you do this? ) a Dante trilogy and a piece inspired by a Salman Rushdie book.

There's not many who'd do this.

Herm

I thought the Classical Quiz had quietly deceased on its own volition.

However, too bad it isn't Corigliano. Rather the composer we're dealing with (as if) is on the other end of the musical spectrum. I think he's considered to be of the New Complexity.

His last name starts with a dubya. His stuff is often performed by the Group of Contemporary Music, as it happens.

Herman

Well, he refuses to deny using consciousness raising herbs, spices, and powders....

Phil

on second thought yours is the correct answer!

See, always trust your instinct. Of course Dubya composes music, and it's pretty darn good, too. My personal favorite is his concerto for Banjo and Rubber Band.

Everybody (especially those no-good liberals) are always crackin' jokes about Dubya spending too little time on the job, but hey, the man is handling two work loads, being prez in the morning and retiring to the back porch in the afternoon to work on his music.

Give the guy some credit, right?

(See how even the little booze episode with Mrs Stravinsky fits Dubya's bio? it was so easy!)

Well, Phil, I guess it's your turn.

Good luck

Herman