Name That Tune
This week’s Name That Tune was submitted by Listener Jeremy. Here’s your hint: this composer is very strongly associated with their country.
As always, your goal is to provide as much accurate analysis as possible. First try to get the nationality, year, and genre, then make educated guesses about the composer and — if possible— the piece. If you know the piece immediately, send us an email at toneprose@substack.com instead of commenting so the rest of us can have fun guessing.
Last Week’s Results
Tone Prose 77
Grieg, Symphonic Dances, mvmt. 3
This one really surprised me (Will) with the guesses. In the main part, the guesses were American, which I never would have predicted: Joey guessed MacDowell (along with Strauss Jr. and Elgar), Listener Kevin guessed Grofé, Delius, and Chadwick, and Listener Ellen guessed Grofé with a hint of Gershwin.
Meanwhile, I thought that people would be guessing Rimsky-Korsakov and Sibelius!
I’m happy to say that Listener Laurie wrote in almost immediately with the correct answer, so our streak is unbroken, but I enjoyed this one mainly because it shows what you hear when you know who wrote it and what you hear when you don’t.
Think you can stump your fellow Listeners? Go ahead and try!
Head to our Google Form to upload a 30-second clip of an unidentified piece of classical music for us to try to identify.
The Case of the Rich Foodie Maestro
Ahh how I (Will) love it when the internet drops a bit of dumb gossip into the lap of my very profession!
The above post has been spreading like wildfire among my cohort, primarily because it asks more questions than it answers. Who is the millionaire middle-aged conductor in San Francisco dining out on thousand-dollar tasting menus??
The funny thing is that so many people guessed my friend Ming Luke, but let’s be honest, there’s no way Ming is pulling in close to seven figures, and if he is (and if he’s reading this, which he’s probably not) then he needs to give me outright a gift of $100,000.
VAN has said that they’re on the case, and I hope they can crack it!
Movie Review: She Came to Me
In Tone Prose 76, I (Will) included the trailer for a new indie movie containing one of the most improbable plots in recent history: Peter Dinklage plays a frustrated contemporary opera composer, married to his former psychiatrist (Anne Hathaway) who falls in love with a tugboat captain (Marissa Tomei) who inspires him out of his artistic slump.
In the post I said that I’d be looking for a way to watch it, and it turns out you can rent it for three bucks on Amazon Prime.
So watch it I did, and in fact I watched it with a member of the Tone Prose aristocracy, Listener Jeremy, when he came to Seattle to hear the premiere of the Clarinet Quintet I wrote for him. I think I can speak for both of us in saying that we liked it, and I’ll speak for myself in saying that I liked it better than I thought I might.
From the classical music perspective, the occupation of “contemporary opera composer” is surprisingly well portrayed! The opera bits are sung by real opera singers, and even the rehearsal pianist is a real pianist (Timo Andres, no less!) The score is written by Bryce Dessner, and I begrudgingly have to admit that it’s well executed.
The Dinklage storyline is only one element of a clever bit of plotting. The film’s main protagonists are a pair of teenage lovers set upon by the girl’s creepy stepfather.
Let’s just put it this way: it’s not a movie I’d recommend to everyone, but to the right person, they might really like it!
To Sing or Not to Sing
I (Will) can highly recommend this post by fellow Substacker Leah Partridge that’s been making the rounds of the opera world lately. Leah is an opera singer (an IU grad!) who spent the early part of her career covering major soprano roles at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and that’s the subject of her recent post.
The gist of the story is that she covered for Natalie Dessay during the long rehearsal process for Hamlet in 2010, was treated abominably by the production team and the management, and had to find peace. I think it’s a great reflection of what singers, particularly sopranos, have to endure in their careers.
After she finishes recounting the story, she offers some takeaways:
Somewhere along the way, both directly and indirectly, we are taught that our careers are made by the approval of others. You don’t get to ask for things. You get to dream and hope, but you’ll risk losing it all if you demand too much.
...
If I could go back and do it all over, I would never have taken any cover contracts. I’d like for singers to understand that without clarity in your contract, you should know you will most likely be the absolute last choice, and if given enough time, they will try to get a star or someone 'up and coming' to fill your place. The idea of going on for someone and launching your career into stardom like Scotto going on for Callas is gone. At places like the MET, when you step into their roster as a cover, you no longer have the status of a singer they will promote or even care about.
Sounds like being an assistant conductor!
Tone Prose is a co-production of William White, Joseph Vaz, and the Listeners (i.e. you.)
Gosh this NTT is a real stumper for me. 20th century, maybe a woodwind quintet (though I don't think I heard a horn). Stravinskyish bits abound, but it's way too groovy for Stravinsky imo.
Somehow between the piece and the clue, I have a sneaking suspicion this may be a piece that I just heard in concert (but don't remember a note of 😬) Because I have such a low confidence interval, I'll write my guess here (and because my punishment will be embarrassment if I'm wrong). Could it be the Carl Nielsen Quintet?
Among the tiny amount of chamber music I have ever performed is actually the Nielsen quintet, and I don't think this is it. I'll travel along the Baltic coast and guess Gorecki?