Composition Quiz

[Roehre]

Ah, Gerd, you are a man of my own heart. The 2nd piece is the 2nd movement of Schubert's 10th symphony in D major. I have a 2 recordings of it (and the score!) should you want a better recording of this work. It is amazing to see the new direction Schubert was taking so late in his life.

Unmistakingly D936a 2nd mvt.
Which recordings do you have, Hofrat?
Mine are Marriner/ASMF
MacKerras/SCO
and (my very first) Bartholomée/Liège symphony.
IFAIK all these use the Newbould edition, but though having heard it only once I'd prefer (although just slightly) the Gülke.

Btw, I think i have to disagree with "so late in this life", as Schubert was only 31 at that time, and -looking and listening to e.g. this symphony- heading for a next phase in his compositional and social life.



The other music is Mendelssohn: string quartet in f minor opus 80, 4th (final) mvt, one of the very last compositions he wrote.

[Hofrat]

I have the complete Schubert symphonies with Marriner, the Liege orchestra with Bartholomee, and the Mackeras recording. Yikes, that is 3 recordings! Oh well, it was well worth the money. I like the Mackeras the best for the Schubert 10th. Marriner does not take a small repeat in the 1st movement and Bartholomee changed the orchestration. But on the other hand, the Marriner set has the Schubert 7th symphony in E, which is just as amazing as the 10th. Professor Newbould did a fantastic job in his completion of the Schubert 7th and 10th.

[gprengel]

Professor Newbould did a fantastic job in his completion of the Schubert 7th and 10th.

Oh, yes, he did! But not regarding this slow movement! It sounds "nice" with the dominance of neat woodwinds but does not have the depth like the Gülke version with more dominant strings. This version I roughly tried to render in my midi version which is based only on Schubert's sketched notes which makes the orchestration a bit thin, but even this midi I love more than Newboulds CD version.

Roehre, you are right with the string quartett. Congratultations! This string quartett is my favourite quartett in the post-Beethoven time, passionate like only Beethoven's op. 95 in the same key! Every movement is just fantastic, destroying with it's passion any chlichee people have of Mendelssohn.

Gerd

[Bonn1827]

I absolutely defer to your far greater knowledge of these things and give up!!

[gprengel]

For the string quartet I would say Krommer.

Hello Bonn1827,
who is this Krommer? I never heard of him before. Does he really write in the style of this late Mendelssohn quartett or why did you suggest him?

Gerd

[Roehre]

Hello Bonn1827,
who is this Krommer? I never heard of him before. Does he really write in the style of this late Mendelssohn quartett or why did you suggest him?

Gerd

Gerd,

Franz Krommer/ Franticek Kramar (the first is his Germanized name, the latter his original Hungarian one, 1759-1831) is a contemporary of Mozart's and Beethoven's. Composed from a "late Mannheim" to an genuinely "classical" style comparable with Mozart's.
I'd like especially to point at his concertos (the clarinet concerto in E-flat opus 26 e.g.), some of his (9) symphonies (especially D opus 40 and c-minor op.102, plus the Concertante for 2 clarinets) and -in a mozartian vein- his Octet-partitas (especially opp.57 (F), 69 and 79 (both in E-flat)).

Bws, R.

[gprengel]

Here 2 new pieces for our quiz:

a dramatic passage from an Opera:
www.gerdprengel.de/piece6.mp3

and a classical instrumental piece with one of the most beautiful slow melodies
I know (at 2:54):

www.gerdprengel.de/piece7.mp3


What do you think of the pieces?
Gerd

[Roehre]

Here 2 new pieces for our quiz:

a dramatic passage from an Opera:
www.gerdprengel.de/piece6.mp3

and a classical instrumental piece with one of the most beautiful slow melodies
I know (at 2:54):

www.gerdprengel.de/piece7.mp3


What do you think of the pieces?
Gerd

The first is Schubert, I think of Fierrabras D.796/opus 76 (1823)
the second is I think ballet-music or an opera overture, sounds like Mozart but I don't think it is (it starts btw like Beethoven's Gratulationsmenuett WoO 3). It might be Christoph Willibald von Gluck's Don Juan or something similar.

[Bonn1827]

Some of Krommer's chamber works were also favourably compared to those by Beethoven.

[gprengel]

The first is Schubert, I think of Fierrabras D.796/opus 76 (1823)
the second is I think ballet-music or an opera overture, sounds like Mozart but I don't think it is (it starts btw like Beethoven's Gratulationsmenuett WoO 3). It might be Christoph Willibald von Gluck's Don Juan or something similar.

Schubert with Fierrabras is correkt. Very good, Roehre! Did you say this because you know this opera or was this just a guess?
But the second one is not from Gluck ....
Gerd

[Peter]

The second piece is so Mozartian that it has to be, yet like Roehre I'm not certain as it is unfamiliar to me. If not then possibly an overture by Kraus?

[Bonn1827]

This second piece is not from a composer of the first rank. I would say Salieri or possibly Leopold Mozart even. Fingers Crossed!

[gprengel]

This second piece is not from a composer of the first rank...

no, no, no,
he is as first rank as a composer can be ... :-))

[Roehre]

The rhapsodic structure points at a theatrical work. It is not one of Mozart's original ballet scores, but might stem from one of his operas.

The music (slow march, even though it is in three-time) from 2'54" onwards has a stong resemblance with the March of the Priests from Die Zauberflöte or the march from Idomeneo.

But I still do think it is not Mozart. As it is by a first rank composer, this therefore points to Haydn. Unfortunately I haven't much knowledge of the latter's operatic or other theatre works....

[gprengel]

Ok, I redeem you:
Most of you notice the strong evidence of Mozart, but you just have never heard this piece before. So, I tell you. It is Mozart and it can't be from another composer than Mozart.
It is the overture to the fragmentary Opera from around 1783 "Lo sposo deluso" KV.430
Everyone who loves Mozarts operas should get a CD of this beautiful work written shortly before the FIGARO !! Isn't the Andante part just gorgeous?
Roehre, again, you came closest to the right answer ...