What's the name of that piece?

December 17, 2006 9:22 PM

I'm trying desperately to remember the name of a piece of music (and its composer). It's a twentieth-century piece, and fairly famous. It's quite soft and mournful and titled something like "Miss ______ Died Today." I've known this for years and it's just slipped out of my head.
posted by Bromius to media & arts (11 comments total)

Miss Otis Regrets?
posted by Felicity Rilke at 9:25 PM on December 17, 2006

By Cole Porter, I think.
posted by Felicity Rilke at 9:27 PM on December 17, 2006

No, no, it's symphonic, not vocal. That's a great song but it's not what I'm looking for.
posted by Bromius at 9:30 PM on December 17, 2006

Not sure if it qualifies as "fairly famous" outside of avante-garde circles, but Morton Feldman's Madame Press Died Last Week at 90, for 12 instruments, maybe?
posted by mediareport at 9:40 PM on December 17, 2006

You're not thinking of Pavane for a Dead Princess are you? It's by Maurice Ravel. Originally for piano, widely performed by full orchestra.

Nothing springs to mind with the exact title you mentioned.
posted by Coaticass at 9:40 PM on December 17, 2006

Thanks, that's it. And my description of "fairly famous" is a merely a result of my skewed perspective.
posted by Bromius at 9:41 PM on December 17, 2006

Oh, Feldman! Ha ha, must learn to preview... yes, the fairly famous thing was a tiny bit misleading.
posted by Coaticass at 9:42 PM on December 17, 2006

my description of "fairly famous" is a merely a result of my skewed perspective

Well, us Morton Feldman lovers are a skewed bunch, to be sure. :)

I found the exact title by doing a "Classical Work" search at allmusic.com with your three words; their search engine is loose enough to do a good job with that sort of thing.
posted by mediareport at 9:48 PM on December 17, 2006

If you like that piece, another really beautiful Feldman piece (and probably the most likely to be available in your local Barnes & Noble-scale store) is his piece called Piano and String Quartet, released 1993 on Nonesuch (with Aki Takahashi and the Kronos Quartet).
posted by allterrainbrain at 12:22 AM on December 18, 2006

Man, great great music. I'm listening to John Tilbury's "For Bunita Marcus" right now, solo piano, on the 4 cd box, "All Piano." Possibly the most perfectly realized, beautiful music I know.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 6:20 AM on December 18, 2006

I read this question and I thought, it sounds like Feldman 'Madame Press...' and then instantly I thought 'Naaah, it can't be!' It makes me happy that a question about Feldman is on AskMe.
posted by ob at 7:11 AM on December 18, 2006