# VERY unusual pieces...



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

...either in themselves or in the circumstances of their composition. Here's one by my current avatar, Enrico Chapela: Íngesu. It's described as "a symphonic poem recreating a soccer game between Mexico and Brazil" and seems to be based on reporting by Tania Molina Ramirez in the Mexica City daily La Jornada (as far as I can tell anyway). And it's pretty entertaining!


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Hi, KenOC.

There are several musical works that come to my mind, but, before I deposit them into this thread, could you elaborate more on what you consider to be VERY unusual?

Some of the pieces I'm thinking of could be described as atypical or infrequent, but I'm not sure they'd be considered very unusual if they are based upon literature or a religious object or a death of an artist, etc.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

There's a lot like this in contemporary classical. Its quite common to have pieces based on things that one would think have little to do with music. One I can remember is a piece using sounds recorded by NASA of the planet Saturn. It was by Australian composer Rosalind Page, and I remember it as interesting, I liked it.

Dunno if this is 'unusual' enough? I can give more examples of esp. Australian works I have heard like this. One by Matthew Hindson was based on fibre optics, another one by Nigel Butterley about something like the chemical structure of sugar.

I have tended to enjoy these works, but they are by composers who are known here - at least their names - by people into new/newer classical music.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I guess William Schuman wrote an opera about baseball. I like a lot of his work, but I have never felt the urge to hear an opera based on the most overrated of sports.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Excluding anything that is "avant-garde" and going back further in history...

JS Bach's Coffee Cantata is quite unusual imo. Especially coming from Bach.  Maybe comedic things were actually popular back in the Baroque period, but it is definitely unique and unusual.

There's this other work I know of from the Baroque era that I forget the composer, but it's something about a particular saint's feast day that is celebrated with, well... eating a huge amount of beans. And you know what that means.  Features a "prominent" bassoon part. :lol: Anyone know the work I'm speaking of? I forget the details.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> JS Bach's Coffee Cantata is quite unusual imo. Especially coming from Bach.  Maybe comedic things were actually popular back in the Baroque period, but it is definitely unique and unusual.


Coffee Cantata is a very good example.

I just thought of a brilliant one! One of the weirdest things out of the 19th century by a composer of any stature is Charles Valentin Alkan's "Funeral March on the Death of a Parrot."


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Other strange works can be found in unusual instrumentations.

HarpsichordConcerto posted this one once:




Georg Druschetzky's Concerto for 6 Timpani and orchestra.

On a similar note from a later period, is Alexander Tcherepnin's Sonatine for Piano and Timpani:


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

clavichorder said:


> I guess William Schuman wrote an opera about baseball. I like a lot of his work, but I have never felt the urge to hear an opera based on the most overrated of sports.


William Schuman : Casey at the Bat, A Baseball Cantata (1976) / Publisher - Associated Music Publishers Inc
Chorus and Orchestra/Ensemble --Duration: 40 Minutes
Solo Voice(s): Soprano, Baritone [Reciter]; Chorus: SATB
Orchestration: 2+pic.2+ca.2+bcl.2/4331/timp.3perc/pf/str

LOL, ole Casey at the Bat, though I follow no sport whatsoever, is one of those near archtypical period pieces of Americana. In what is usually deemed cliche ryhme scheme, running a number of verses, the parody 'epic' of 1888, the narrative runs a good number of verses, and is very much in that tone of 'inflated importance' which was the general American trend at the time, a rage for Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe and the rather florid style of speech was widespread.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_at_the_Bat

Though William Schuman was also a fine choral composer, (ex. His Carols of Death, for mixed chorus, on texts of Walt Whitman; The Last Invocation; To All, To Each; The Unknown Region) I doubt if I would want to listen to, live anyway, a 40 minute long cantata with two soloists and narrator with 'Casey' at its core


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Isn't there something by Hindemith about soccer? Can't find it...


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Ah, so it is a *cantata*. And yes, the Americana and other inflated business is a turn off to me as well. Copland does it better than anyone and even that has its limits.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

The Schuman piece's title reminded me of Harry Partch's _US Highball_, a musical about when he was a hobo riding trains across the USA in the 1940's. Not the 'traditional' story of musicals, but Partch's music is what I call wierd and wonderful.







KenOC said:


> Isn't there something by Hindemith about soccer? Can't find it...


Maybe you're thinking of Honegger's _Rugby_?


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Sid James said:


> The Schuman piece's title reminded me of Harry Partch's _US Highball_, a musical about when he was a hobo riding trains across the USA in the 1940's. Not the 'traditional' story of musicals, but Partch's music is what I call wierd and wonderful.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Partch's topics might be the least unusual thing about his music. He is possibly the strangest composer I have ever heard of. Fascinating individual though.

I had forgotten about Honegger's Rugby.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Sid James said:


> Maybe you're thinking of Honegger's _Rugby_?


Yeah, I bet I am. A scrumful of thanks!


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## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)




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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Alvin Lucier ~ _*Nothing is Real*_ for piano, amplified teapot, recorder, & mini-sound system 
The performer is given a list in the score of equipment, then must seek out and decide upon their own teapot, obtain it and the other electronic elements, and construct the electronic 'instrument' to work with in performing the piece.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

KenOC said:


> Yeah, I bet I am. A scrumful of thanks!


You're very welcome.

Another one on a similar sports topic is Debussy's _Jeux_. The title in French is of course 'games' and the ballet scenario concerns a kind of menage a trois. A guy and two girls playing tennis (in whites!). But its never worked as a ballet with that original scenario (which, reading it, does sound a bit silly), I think its more performed as a purely concert hall type work (or I'd guess with other scenarios?).


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Are we just talking about unusual topics for pieces? Or pieces that are unusual sounding or what?

In any case, Robert Ashley sounds like a composer that write works that fit the description in the OP. Most of his pieces consist of music accompanying some weird narrated story that is both very mundane and very surreal at the same time. Very unusual (and cool, in my opinion) music.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

violadude said:


> Are we just talking about unusual topics for pieces? Or pieces that are unusual sounding or what?


Yes. That's right.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Another funny one that I can't find the story behind(maybe there isn't much of one). Its by Anthony Pateras, and the title is a bit profane, but its classical music and I'm just putting the link so I don't scar our younger and more impressionable members...lol.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

clavichorder said:


> Another funny one that I can't find the story behind(maybe there isn't much of one). Its by Anthony Pateras, and the title is a bit profane, but its classical music and I'm just putting the link so I don't scar our younger and more impressionable members...lol.


That is the best title of anything ever.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

violadude said:


> That is the best title of anything ever.


That album cover picture of a salamander is pretty epic too.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

violadude said:


> Are we just talking about unusual topics for pieces? Or pieces that are unusual sounding or what?
> 
> In any case, Robert Ashley sounds like a composer that write works that fit the description in the OP. Most of his pieces consist of music accompanying some weird narrated story that is both very mundane and very surreal at the same time. Very unusual (and cool, in my opinion) music.


These pieces definitely qualify for this thread, they are both very interesting and bizarre. Leave it to violadude to come up with things like this that nobody has heard of.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Tame enough piece, but it is for piano and snare drum....
Howard Skempton - Surface Tension (Gemini Dance No. 6)


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## Rapide (Oct 11, 2011)

PetrB said:


> Tame enough piece, but it is for piano and snare drum....
> Howard Skempton - Surface Tension (Gemini Dance No. 6)


That music is souless drivel.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)




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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

violadude said:


> Are we just talking about unusual topics for pieces? Or pieces that are unusual sounding or what?
> 
> In any case, Robert Ashley sounds like a composer that write works that fit the description in the OP. Most of his pieces consist of music accompanying some weird narrated story that is both very mundane and very surreal at the same time. Very unusual (and cool, in my opinion) music.


one of his pieces i would mention is automatic writing, a composition based on his involuntary speech (Ashley has a mild form of Tourette syndrome).
Anyway Harold Budd has some of the weirdest ideas for a piece of music I've ever heard. "Solo Madrigals Of The Rose Angel" is a piece for a female choir of topless singers. I have never heard the piece, but i'd like to see a performance of it.
He is also the author of Intermission piece, a piece that must be performed without an audience, and Lirio, a solo piece for Gong of 24 hours.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


>


Jesus! The tempo sure is fast in order for the whole notes to sound that quickly.


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## Norse (May 10, 2010)

I always found this amusing, especially since we're talking about well-known composers from the 1500's. First Clement Janequin makes a song called "Of beautiful breasts" (That's what the whole song is about). And then Clemens non Papa makes a parody called "Of ugly breasts." (That's what the whole song is about.)


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

norman bates said:


> one of his pieces i would mention is automatic writing, a composition based on his involuntary speech (Ashley has a mild form of Tourette syndrome).
> Anyway Harold Budd has some of the weirdest ideas for a piece of music I've ever heard. "Solo Madrigals Of The Rose Angel" is a piece for a female choir of topless singers. I have never heard the piece, but i'd like to see a performance of it.
> He is also the author of Intermission piece, a piece that must be performed without an audience, and Lirio, a solo piece for Gong of 24 hours.


Topless females eh? I'd like to see a performance of that too.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

*Perotin:* I'm getting interested in him, ever since I read that he was a big influence on Steve Reich. The way he sustains notes while other stuff is happening on top, and the short, repetitive nature of his phrasing make him, indeed, sound like an early "proto-minimalist." I gotta get some!

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Also: Jeffrey Stolet: *Concerto for Cow, Chainsaw, and Orchestra*
Stockhausen's *Helicopter Quartet*

Erik Satie: *Vexations *

(from WIK
The piece bears an inscription which says that "In order to play the theme 840 times in succession, it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, and in the deepest silence, by serious immobilities". From the 1960s onward, this text has mostly been interpreted as an instruction that the page of music should be played 840 times, though this may not have been Satie's intention.

*Vexations* appears to have had no performance history before the idea gained ground that the piece was required to be played 840 times. The first of the 'marathon' performances of the work in this way was produced by John Cage and Lewis Lloyd at the Pocket Theatre in Manhattan by the Pocket Theatre Piano Relay Team, organized by Cage. Pianists included: John Cage, David Tudor, Christian Wolff, Philip Corner, Viola Farber, Robert Wood, MacRae Cook, *John Cale*, David Del Tredici, James Tenney, Howard Klein (the New York Times reviewer, who coincidentally was asked to play in the course of the event) and Joshua Rifkin, with two reserves, on September 9, 1963. Cage set the admission price at $5 and had a time clock installed in the lobby of the theatre. Each patron checked in with the clock and when leaving the concert, checked out again and received a refund of a nickel for each 20 minutes attended. "In this way," he told Lloyd, "People will understand that the more art you consume, the less it should cost." But Cage had underestimated the length of time the concert would take. It lasted over 18 hours. One person, an actor with The Living Theater, Karl Schenzer, was present for the entire performance.

Harmonically the *Vexations* appear to be an exercise in non-resolving tritones, one of the anathemata of conventional harmony (i.e.: in conventional harmony tritones are not forbidden as such, but they should be immediately resolved in the next chord, which doesn't happen in the *Vexations*).

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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Kurt Scwitters' Ursonate is pretty weird.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Manxfeeder said:


> Kurt Scwitters' Ursonate is pretty weird.


There's a CD of it, as well.

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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

millionrainbows said:


> There's a CD of it, as well.


Hmm. There's something that won't be on my Christmas list.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Manxfeeder said:


> Hmm. There's something that won't be on my Christmas list.


Well, that's good, considering that this particular CD issue is OOP, and going for $74.94 on Amazon.:lol:


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

violadude said:


> Topless females eh? I'd like to see a performance of that too.


Here's young Japanese female performers - both topless and bottomless!






norman bates and violadude will need to log into their YouTube accounts to view this age-restricted video.


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

_Byzantine Prayer_, for 40 flautists with 72 flutes, was written by Horatiu Radulescu as a requiem on the death of Giacinto Scelsi.


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Catch _The Plague_!

"good" serialist Roberto Gerhard adapts the existential Albert Camus source into a cantata, with narration.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Rapide said:


> That music is souless drivel.


Remarkable contribution to the thread you've made there.


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Want somethin' outta-this-world?

Climb onboard ANIARA, the first opera set in space by Karl-Birger Blomdahl.






(excerpts)


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Prodromides said:


> Want somethin' outta-this-world?


Wow, that is out of this world.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

In fact, I recently borrowed the recording of Schuman's baseball opera "The Mighty Casey" on library interloan, along with his othe ropera, " A Question of Taste" conducted by Gerard Schwarz ,taken from a live recording by Juilliard vocal students .
It's based on the famous poem about Casey striking out, and in fact, it's a lot of fun ! I never realized that you could make an entertaining opera babout this subject . 
The other opera also has a rather unusual subject, namely a bet over guessing what kind of wine is being drunk as a wager . The performances at Juilliard were in honor of Schuman's 80th birthday in 1992 .
I forget the label, but I believe it's still available at amazon.com. IBoth are definitely worth hearing .


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Correction. William Schuman's 80th birthday was in 1990.


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## xuantu (Jul 23, 2009)

Toy Symphony


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

My candidate is the Metropolis Symphony by Michael Daugherty, based upon the world of Superman.






With regard to Schwitter's Ursonate, it reminds me of the Swedish chef on the muppets. This 'poem' is the basis for Ligeti's Aventures and later New Aventures, which are quite interesting and remarkably precise in their instruction.






Of course, Ursonate predates this by about 20 years, but I find that Ligeti deceloped the original idea very well. Not to most people's tastes, however.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Some of the above are very bizarre,I'm glad to say I've never heard of most of them.
As to operas on unusual subjects,Barber wrote one titled "A Hand of Bridge". as a bridge player I can tell you that it does get fairly operatic at times.
I have an LP of Charles Ives' ' Music For the Theater Orchestra',"Old Songs Deranged".which is pretty tumultuos.
Also another Ives LP "Music For Chorus" which contains 'General William Booth Enters Into Heaven'--fairly strange.
If you want exotic sounds then John Antill's ballet "Corroboree" which contains all sorts of Australian aboriginal instruments is a huge blast.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

This below may be the weirdest thing Shostakovich ever composed:






:lol: Discovered it just in time for the Holidays!


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

moody said:


> Some of the above are very bizarre,I'm glad to say I've never heard of most of them.
> As to operas on unusual subjects,Barber wrote one titled "A Hand of Bridge". as a bridge player I can tell you that it does get fairly operatic at times.
> I have an LP of Charles Ives' ' Music For the Theater Orchestra',"Old Songs Deranged".which is pretty tumultuos.
> Also another Ives LP "Music For Chorus" which contains 'General William Booth Enters Into Heaven'--fairly strange.
> If you want exotic sounds then John Antill's ballet "Corroboree" which contains all sorts of Australian aboriginal instruments is a huge blast.


Ives can get weird! I also have that Columbia LP, with the black-and-white woodcut on the cover. 
Here is _the_ collection of his short works, originally released as _Calcium Light Night_ on Columbia vinyl LP. Gunther Schuller conducts, and the remastering is good. A rather unassuming cover, though, and neither the short pieces nor Gunther Schuller are mentioned on the front:

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Also, here is Ives playing the piano and singing. It don't get much weirder.






The _General William Booth Enters Into Heaven_ you mentioned is about the guy who started the Salvation Army. It depicts him, leading an 'army' of bums, homeless, and drunks into heaven.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Maybe a stranger name than music: Adams, John's Book of Alleged Dances. Here's Habanera.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Huilun's Shostakovich song reference reminds me of Beethoven's "Song of the Flea,"






I wish I could find the lyrics. Such light silliness from Beethoven, he must have been quite the revolutionary in anticipating Gilbert and Sullivan. Listen to the repeated words at 2:11 and you'll see the G&S for sure.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

millionrainbows said:


> Ives can get weird! I also have that Columbia LP, with the black-and-white woodcut on the cover.
> Here is _the_ collection of his short works, originally released as _Calcium Light Night_ on Columbia vinyl LP. Gunther Schuller conducts, and the remastering is good. A rather unassuming cover, though, and neither the short pieces or Gunther Schuller are mentioned on the front:
> 
> ---------------------------->
> ...


I think I should join General Booth,by the look of it I would feel at home.
My feelings re:Ives are somewhat mixed---I'm never sure whether or not he's just having a laugh at us all.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

moody said:


> My feelings re:Ives are somewhat mixed---I'm never sure whether or not he's just having a laugh at us all.


There is humor in Ives, but also serious moments. _The Housatonic at Stockbridge_ is one. My wife hears Ives and says, "He's that guy who always blows up at the end."

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