Comments on: What's the name of that piece?

Question: What's the name of that piece?

Bromius — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 21:22:48 -0800

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.

By: Felicity Rilke

Felicity Rilke — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 21:25:32 -0800

Miss Otis Regrets?

By: Felicity Rilke

Felicity Rilke — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 21:27:46 -0800

By Cole Porter, I think.

By: Bromius

Bromius — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 21:30:24 -0800

No, no, it's symphonic, not vocal. That's a great song but it's not what I'm looking for.

By: mediareport

mediareport — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 21:40:02 -0800

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?

By: Coaticass

Coaticass — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 21:40:58 -0800

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.

By: Bromius

Bromius — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 21:41:42 -0800

Thanks, that's it. And my description of "fairly famous" is a merely a result of my skewed perspective.

By: Coaticass

Coaticass — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 21:42:51 -0800

Oh, Feldman! Ha ha, must learn to preview... yes, the fairly famous thing was a tiny bit misleading.

By: mediareport

mediareport — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 21:48:42 -0800

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.

By: allterrainbrain

allterrainbrain — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 00:22:00 -0800

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).

By: Joseph Gurl

Joseph Gurl — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 06:20:10 -0800

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.

By: ob

ob — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 07:11:35 -0800

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.