Whooee! This NTT is a doozie. But I feel like I say that every week.
The trouble is, this 36-second clip sounds like the work of three distinct composers. The first part is pretty dissonant, slightly chromatic, with pedal tones and a somewhat apocalyptic sonority. At first I was thinking it was 20th century, maybe even someone like Scriabin (or Ives for that matter!)
Then there was a melody that sounded a tad chorale-like, so I leaned German.
And then... Borodin! And the Borodin flavor of that final passage was so strong that I feel I will have to include him in my bucket.
Now if I were going to combine those flavors into one, I think the guy to go to has to be Franz Liszt—he was the ne plus ultra of 19th century pianism, and you can basically find everything under the sun lurking in his oeuvre. But does it jibe with the hint? I'll admit that I don't know terribly much about Liszt's bio, but of course I do know that he was the original superstar touring musician, invented the piano recital, had ladies throwing their knickers or whatever at him so... seems like a ripe candidate for an active romantic life.
Other paramour-laden composers that I can think of off the top of my head are Debussy and Puccini, but I don't think this is either of them.
Final basket: Borodin, Liszt, and Glazunov. Again, I know nothing about Glazunov other than that he was a drunk (which may or may not be indicative of a roving love life) but I'm more so going with the musical content since I think he leaned Borodinesque from time to time.
Jun 12, 2023·edited Jun 13, 2023Liked by Tone Prose
My 1st guess, even before I saw Will's note, was Liszt, too. Based on what tidbits I know of his personal life, his rock star status, and the NTT's stylistic amalgam.
My other guess was also Debussy, just based on what I have read of his history. Stylistically though, as Will noted, I'd be surprised it it's him.
My 3rd guess will be Stravinsky. And why not? He checks the box for 20th Century and potential Russian flare: and he's written a number of pieces in stylistic homage to a variety of other composers, so that makes him a candidate in my mind. Don't know anything about his love life, except I remember being surprised about rumors (and I even saw a movie trailer online) about a fling between him and Coco Chanel! Certainly hadn't seen that one coming. So he may be full of surprises, and I'll throw him in the basket.
I'm also adding in Ethel Smyth based on what I read about her personal life as I was following up after her Mass turned out to be that gorgeous horn quartet in a recent NTT. I didn't listen to any of her piano music, although she had some interesting titles like a Prelude and Fugue for Thin People and some sort of variations on an Exceedingly Dismal Theme 😉. Hahaha. Listened to some of her opera and some other things. She seems to have somewhat of an eclectic style. And her not-so-private life fits the bill.
Would the the CGF folks intentionally try to trick us with the same composer twice in short succession? Well, WORDLE throws in double and multiple letter words because we don't usually expect them to do it. So, yeah, maybe . . .
P.S. Omigosh - was so surprised to have guessed the Ives answer last week! But now even after reading several comments about Schoenberg's quote about him, I'm still not entirely sure if it was an insult or a compliment . . .
Definitely that stylistic whiplash in clip...I'm also zeroing in on the Russian flavor at the end, though I don't know if I could really be narrowing things down more based on either the clip or the clue...I'll just fill my basket with a different set from Will and go with: Balakirev, Arensky, and I'll steal the Scriabin he left out of his just in case.
I too got major Scriabin vibes at the beginning, but despite his nationality, I don't associate him with the type of "Russian"-ness at the end of this excerpt. Somewhat kicking myself for having never read that Sex Lives of the Great Composers book because the clue doesn't help much. Thinking of composers who might make such abrupt stylistic shifts as in this snippet (and might have composed in the represented styles), I'm landing with Prokofiev and Leo Ornstein.
Whooee! This NTT is a doozie. But I feel like I say that every week.
The trouble is, this 36-second clip sounds like the work of three distinct composers. The first part is pretty dissonant, slightly chromatic, with pedal tones and a somewhat apocalyptic sonority. At first I was thinking it was 20th century, maybe even someone like Scriabin (or Ives for that matter!)
Then there was a melody that sounded a tad chorale-like, so I leaned German.
And then... Borodin! And the Borodin flavor of that final passage was so strong that I feel I will have to include him in my bucket.
Now if I were going to combine those flavors into one, I think the guy to go to has to be Franz Liszt—he was the ne plus ultra of 19th century pianism, and you can basically find everything under the sun lurking in his oeuvre. But does it jibe with the hint? I'll admit that I don't know terribly much about Liszt's bio, but of course I do know that he was the original superstar touring musician, invented the piano recital, had ladies throwing their knickers or whatever at him so... seems like a ripe candidate for an active romantic life.
Other paramour-laden composers that I can think of off the top of my head are Debussy and Puccini, but I don't think this is either of them.
Final basket: Borodin, Liszt, and Glazunov. Again, I know nothing about Glazunov other than that he was a drunk (which may or may not be indicative of a roving love life) but I'm more so going with the musical content since I think he leaned Borodinesque from time to time.
My 1st guess, even before I saw Will's note, was Liszt, too. Based on what tidbits I know of his personal life, his rock star status, and the NTT's stylistic amalgam.
My other guess was also Debussy, just based on what I have read of his history. Stylistically though, as Will noted, I'd be surprised it it's him.
My 3rd guess will be Stravinsky. And why not? He checks the box for 20th Century and potential Russian flare: and he's written a number of pieces in stylistic homage to a variety of other composers, so that makes him a candidate in my mind. Don't know anything about his love life, except I remember being surprised about rumors (and I even saw a movie trailer online) about a fling between him and Coco Chanel! Certainly hadn't seen that one coming. So he may be full of surprises, and I'll throw him in the basket.
I'm also adding in Ethel Smyth based on what I read about her personal life as I was following up after her Mass turned out to be that gorgeous horn quartet in a recent NTT. I didn't listen to any of her piano music, although she had some interesting titles like a Prelude and Fugue for Thin People and some sort of variations on an Exceedingly Dismal Theme 😉. Hahaha. Listened to some of her opera and some other things. She seems to have somewhat of an eclectic style. And her not-so-private life fits the bill.
Would the the CGF folks intentionally try to trick us with the same composer twice in short succession? Well, WORDLE throws in double and multiple letter words because we don't usually expect them to do it. So, yeah, maybe . . .
P.S. Omigosh - was so surprised to have guessed the Ives answer last week! But now even after reading several comments about Schoenberg's quote about him, I'm still not entirely sure if it was an insult or a compliment . . .
Definitely that stylistic whiplash in clip...I'm also zeroing in on the Russian flavor at the end, though I don't know if I could really be narrowing things down more based on either the clip or the clue...I'll just fill my basket with a different set from Will and go with: Balakirev, Arensky, and I'll steal the Scriabin he left out of his just in case.
I too got major Scriabin vibes at the beginning, but despite his nationality, I don't associate him with the type of "Russian"-ness at the end of this excerpt. Somewhat kicking myself for having never read that Sex Lives of the Great Composers book because the clue doesn't help much. Thinking of composers who might make such abrupt stylistic shifts as in this snippet (and might have composed in the represented styles), I'm landing with Prokofiev and Leo Ornstein.