# Prize Exhibits



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Have you ever been to a *Village Show*?

Imagine that you are a local gardener & you want to exhibit in the Vegetable Section.
You specialise in* tomatoes*. Which *sub*-section will you show your specimens in?
Green tomatoes - yellow tomatoes - biggest tomatoes - best small edible variety - best grown out of doors?

You also grow *marrows*. Again, pick your best specimen, which must conform to the marrow rules.
Tomatoes are *not* 'better' than marrows, but _tomatoes cannot be entered in the marrow class_.

Do you see where I'm heading? 

You have *a composer* that you like, and you are going to enter one of his/her pieces in the *TC Music Show*.
It's this year's show, which doesn't mean that your exhibit is your choice for all time. 
It's just a chance to exhibit the *specific excellence* of which your composer is capable. 
You can post several suggestions for different classes, of course.

Here is a worked example. 
I am entering *Vivaldi's Stabat Mater* into the *Sacred Music* Section - subsection, *Music on the Passion of Christ*. ('Stabat Maters' would be possible too.)

(Some *explanation* as to why you think your piece is *perfect* of its *class* would be very welcome. I like Vivaldi because I find it elegant and then the music quickens at the words 'Eia Mater' and the way the notes rise (?accidentals?) strikes at the emotions. 
All you music experts would be able to put it much better, of course.)

Thanks in advance for any replies.

(And yes, I have an ulterior motive - another stage in my self-education. )


----------



## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

I am entering J S Bach's Goldberg Variations (BWV 988 to give it it's proper "botanical" name) into the class Variations on a Theme. I suspect that it will win by a country mile! :cheers:


----------



## Guest (Sep 20, 2013)

I was going to make a quip about entering my garden produce into the Fruit section / *Prokofiev*, *Love for Three Oranges* but the organizers said that isn't in the spirit of the venture at all. 
Hey Ingénue, one post to go .....


----------



## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

A subtly different class - the "guess the number of sweets in jar" or "guess the weight of the piglet/shoat" - I'm entering Mr Elgar's Op. 36 (Variations on an Original Theme for Orchestra ("Enigma")) in the "What was the Composer Thinking of?" puzzle category. Entries will be cheap but nobody, except the promoter, is expected to win.


----------



## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

I have an entry for *"Most Evocative"*. As much as I buy into the concept of abstraction in music, I can still be overwhelmed by a work that conjures up powerful images in the mind. Debussy's "La Mer" and Nocturnes are good examples.

But, for my money, Vaughan Williams wrote the most evocative music of all. Much as I love the "Sinfonia Antartica", it's his *Symphony No. 2 "London"* that is my prize nomination, particularly in the *Barbarolli/Halle version* (oddly enough, Barbarolli also wins for Debussy's Nocturnes, in my book). I can't think of another piece of music that brings such vivid images to my mind.

(Sorry if I set a tone of too much seriousness here. Nothing really tongue-in-cheek about this post. How unlike me!)


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

:wave::wave::wave: *This is my 1000th Post*

At every *Village Veggie Show*, there is a quirky *Novelty Class* where people enter potatoes that look like ducks, turnips with markings that look like a witch's face, phallic carrots, and other delights.

So at the TC Music Show, there is a novelty section for art music that sounds like something other.
In this class, the winner by a clear head is *Messaien's Le Merle Noir* - it's far & away *the best*, and as *Oscar Wilde* puts it, 'I have the simplest tastes: I am always satisfied with *the best*.'






Note that this music, though not French *Baroque*, is *French*, and as Dumas puts it, 'Every man has two countries; his own, and France.' So I proclaim, and very loudly, from my soapbox: '*Vive La France*!'

The greatest composers - well the ones I like, anyway - come from France, with the exception of WAM, familiarly known as the Gangerl, or Wolfie. But he's the exception that proves the rule.

Now, just to check my post against *Kieran'*s rules:
!. Don't quote Oscar Wilde
2. Don't soapbox.
3. No references to Wolfie, Gangerl or WAM, as these are copyright under an Ancient Irish Law, 2012.
4. Don't be funny. (No, Le Merle Noir is beautiful; I'm not taking the mick.)
5. Don't be serious. (Well, there's nothing serious about phallic carrots.)

So, let's see - how many out of five?

*Oops!!!*

Ah well. Have a fab weekend, everyone!


----------



## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Absolutely on its way to 7_*6*_ likes!

The relatively unknown Oscar Wilde adds a certain _je ne sais quoi _to any post, a _joie de vivre_, a _je ne sais quoi_ and all the other famous French phrases, like _joie de vivre_!

Huzzah! :tiphat::trp::guitar:


----------



## Guest (Sep 20, 2013)

*@ Ingénue Post #6*
Nice 1000th Ingénue! I can imagine listening to the piece you quote in *Aldeburgh*, not so far from where you live!
I love the image of the beret-wearing *Messaien* wandering around the countryside, mss paper in hand, notating bird song. Sounds not unlike another composer of the Germanic persuasion, no?


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

We all know of chefs who, as well as cooking haute cuisine, make much of their simple recipes using the freshest, most down to earth, seasonal veggies.

Best in its class for a Major Composer's Use of Folk Dances:


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Best 'New Variety' - thanks to PetrB for telling me about it. 






(Thanks also to Mahlerian for telling me about Le Merle Noir.  )


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Every village show has a 'preserves' stall. I adjudge this bottle of damsons pickled in Burgundy to be the winner:


----------



## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Ingenue said:


> Best in its class for a Major Composer's Use of Folk Dances


As much as I love Brahms, I think Bartok is going to kick *** in this category. 

In the guitar concerto category, I enter the concerto no. 1 by Castelnuovo-Tedesco, which beats the hell out of the vastly more famous Aranjuez concerto by Rodrigo.

I nominate Castelnuovo-Tedesco himself as candidate for composer with the most awkward name to type out every time you want to discuss him.


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Thanks, Brianvds. I'd never heard of this composer, but now I shall use him as a sotto-voce expletive, like *rassenfras*!






I shall now listen to the work you recommend - though I feel that the only thing that stops *Aranjuez* from being sublime is its ubiquity. 

(PS Done - I enjoyed it! :cheers


----------



## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

Ingenue said:


> Best in its class for a Major Composer's Use of Folk Dances:


In my opinion that prize would go to Vaughan Williams (maybe because I am biased towards English folk music!)


----------



## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Winterreisender said:


> In my opinion that prize would go to Vaughan Williams (maybe because I am biased towards English folk music!)


This is certainly rollicking, although the folk song suite which originally included this is better. However for sheer musicality, as opposed to oompah, I think the Five Variants on Dives and Lazarus is best.






Don't forget Percy Grainger who also did some good folk arrangements. However, none of these include English *Dance * tunes either country or Morris, so unfortunately they would be disqualified.


----------



## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

Taggart said:


> This certainly rollicking, although the folk song suite which originally included this is better. However for sheer musicality, as opposed to oompah, I think the Five Variants on Dives and Lazarus is best.


I completely agree; Dives & Lazarus is an incredibly moving piece. At the moment I live in Germany but whenever I put that piece on it takes me back to dear old Blighty 

When it comes to English folk song arrangements, I would say that Holst ranks not far behind Vaughan Williams. I find his Somerset Rhapsody particularly good.






I like the contrast between the lively "High Germany" (of Vaughan Williams fame) and the more mellow "Rosebud in June" (of Steeleye Span fame?)


----------



## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Winterreisender said:


> I like the contrast between the lively "High Germany" (of Vaughan Williams fame) and the more mellow "Rosebud in June" (of Steeleye Span fame?)


Another Somerset tune. As well as the Span version, there is a more folksy version by the Watersons.


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Great stuff! Luckily, this year the village committee have split the folk awards into two, dance and song.
Bartok & Brahms share the rosette in dance, and RVW gets first prize for the song.


----------

