Re: CHAT: A flat minor (was: ATTN: Pablo Flores (VIRUS WARNING))

H.S. Teoh wrote:


>I don't think you have to look at such modern composers. I'm sure Chopin
>has this in some of his pieces (although I'm hard-pressed to say which).
>With more modern composers like Shostakovich, you're probably more likely
>to find a lot of music written without any key signature -- not C major,
>but highly-chromatic music that's best left unencumbered with key
>signatures. Of course, Shosty is still quite tonal in many ways, but he
>often doesn't stick around the same key long enough to make it worthwhile
>to change key signatures.
I'd have to check my Chopin Preludes, Bach 48 and Shosty 24.  Generally I
"praetereo in silentio" anything with too many sharps and/or flats....

Three of my favorite pieces are in formidable keys-- Griffes' "White
Peacock" and Sonata have D-flat signatures, though it's irrelevant; he might
as well have written in C-major, there would have been just as many
accidentals........ And the Schubert G-flat min. Impromptu, which makes a
beautiful piece unncessarily complex....

Make that four:  Bolcom's "Graceful Ghost" (a beautiful ragtime piece), also
officially in D-flat.

Additions to the Index of Musical Mispronounciations:  I once heard an
announcer refer to those well-known Russians, [SOs't&kovitS] and
['prokofajf]. (And I've always been partial to that Frenchman, Jackie Bear.)

Other Great Moments in Musical History:  During a broadcast of a Parsifal
recording over a college station, the announcer was summarizing the plot--
he came to the point where Parsifal touches Amfortas' (?) wound with his
magic sword...unable to contain himself, he exclaimed over the air "Omigod,
how gay!!".

Replies