# Sweet & 'Sour'



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Not really 'sour' - just any quality that contrasts with sweet, such as astringent, sharp, dark, refreshing etc.

I stumbled upon a late Romantic composer, Cyril Scott, whose early work was criticised for its use of over-sweet harmonies. Alban Berg criticised his music as 'mushy'. Towards the end of his life, Scott sharpened up a bit. All the same, I like his Aubade (1905) though it certainly is a bit sugary. 





To cleanse the palate, I'd choose the piece that *PetrB of Famous Memory* :tiphat: recommended to me - Robert Moran, Requiem: Chant du Cygne (1990): 





It would be nice to have Sweet/Sour musics recommended, with any interesting comments on the background of the works or personal experience of them.

Please provide any examples as *links*, not embedded videos - thank you. 
Looking forward with thanks to any replies - :tiphat:

And if there are none, I've enjoyed myself, anyway.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

I'm doing a couple of contrasting pieces for my piano exam.

A nice piece of romantic sugar - big chords, lots of pedal - Mendelssohn U136

And now for something completely different - Morton Gould's China Blue - unusual oriental style harmonies with a Jazz feeling. This performance by Mirian Conti is more restrained than some on you tube and she carries it off with conviction. I find the sparseness of this piece more attractive.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Astringent: Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2.

Antidote: Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 3.


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

Sweet - Almost anything by Mozart (in major key): Clarinet Concerto, Piano Concerto no. 9, Symphony no. 36 'linz' as examples

Sour - Almost anything by Bartok - String Quartets 4 & 5 as examples


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

I prefer my music either very sweet or very sour, but I try to avoid either extreme when it comes to my TC posts, making them just slightly astringent


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Astringent: Ives Holidays Symphony.

Antidote: Ives Concord Piano Sonata.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Astringent: Beethoven Grosse Fuge.

Antidote: Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 32.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Sweet:
Bang on a Can All-Stars playing Brian Eno's _Music for Airports_





Sour:
Bang on a Can All-Stars playing Kate Moore's _Ridgeway_





... heard both these pieces live on Saturday, part of a great day.


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

Sweet: Rachmaninov Piano Concerto 2
Sour: Schnittke, Viola Concerto


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Sweet: Morton Feldman's For Bunita Marcus
Sour: Morton Feldman's Neither


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Sweet - C. P. E. Bach, Sonata for Harp in G Major - 




'Sour' (more like sharp/astringent) - Benjamin Britten, Harp Suite -


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

Bittersweet - Takashi Yoshimatsu - Threnody to Toki


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## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

Sour: 1st movement of Prokofiev 2
Sweet: 2nd movement of Prokofiev 2


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Stress: Vaughan Williams _Symphony #4_
Antidote: Vaughan Williams _Symphony #5_ - while it has its dark moments, it often serves to soothe this fevered brow

RVW said about the 4th _"I'm not at all sure that I like it myself now. All I know is that it's what I wanted to do at the time."_


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