Alphabet associations - I

[JFLL]

Edit: I do hope we have not frightened JFLL off, but, as it's a Friday night perhaps he's out on the razz ..........

Not exactly, Anna, unless the razz includes a homemade pizza, a bottle of wine, a glass or three of pear schnaps and the last two mvts of Schubert D 850 with Imogen Cooper (don't much like her rubato, makes Schubert sound like Chopin, much prefer sober, limpid, classical Brendel). But did enjoy the Gesang der Geister über den Wassern with JEG and wonderful VPO strings + Monteverdi Choir afterwards, and the early quartet from the Italian Quartet in 1956 (the latter two not advertised at all in the schedules, of course – too much space needed for trumpeting the 'Schubert Lab', 'Play it Again, Schubert' (is that it?) and suchlike).

Anyway, to business. This is probably far too easy for all the savants, but here goes:

We sing the praises of English queens, Napoleon, Birth, Death and Immortality, and the International Exhibition of 1862. (The letter's 'O')

[Flay]

Wow, far too easy, I don't think

Could it be the Ode to Napoleon by Schoenberg?

[Flay]

No I don't think it is. <sigh>

[Nick Armstrong]

Not exactly, Anna, unless the razz includes a homemade pizza, a bottle of wine, a glass or three of pear schnaps and the last two mvts of Schubert D 850 with Imogen Cooper (don't much like her rubato, makes Schubert sound like Chopin, much prefer sober, limpid, classical Brendel). But did enjoy the Gesang der Geister über den Wassern with JEG and wonderful VPO strings + Monteverdi Choir afterwards, and the early quartet from the Italian Quartet in 1956 (the latter two not advertised at all in the schedules, of course – too much space needed for trumpeting the 'Schubert Lab', 'Play it Again, Schubert' (is that it?) and suchlike).

Anyway, to business. This is probably far too easy for all the savants, but here goes:

We sing the praises of English queens, Napoleon, Birth, Death and Immortality, and the International Exhibition of 1862. (The letter's 'O')

I can't improve on Flay's suggestion of Ode... I'm sure it's right: e.g. William Sterndale Bennett set Tennyson's "Ode written for the Opening of the International Exhibition" (Op. 40, 1862)

Re: Schubert, I heard the first part of Ms Cooper's concert, the Impromptus sounded very good to me - I recorded the rest of it so shall bear in mind your comment about rubato when I listen to it, JFLL. I did her the choral piece and the quartet: just the sort of stuff I shall enjoy discovering this week. I don't much mind that it wasn't listed - I quite like the serendipity of catching unexpected pieces. As long as there is not too much patronising phone-in style cr•p.... But yes, what the •••• is all that Schubert Lab stuff??!?!??

[Flay]

Me and my big mouth

Ode to Queen Anne's Birthday - Handel
Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington - Tennyson
Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood -Wordsworth

Excellent first contribution, but can an we just have three in future please, Jifll?

[Don Petter]

Can we just have three in future please, Jifll?

This might explain it:

http://arxiv.org/abs/nlin/0003039

Then again, it might not. (Just keeping an eye on you!)

[Flay]

We're going to town soon, Mrs Flay will be Peed off if I delay....

A P then:

Meg would not have predicted this, its creatures, and a miniature oratorio by our hero of the day.

[Flay]

This might explain it:

http://arxiv.org/abs/nlin/0003039

Then again, it might not. (Just keeping an eye on you!)

The singularity analysis is carried out for a system of four first-order quadratic ODEs with a parameter, which was proposed recently by Golubchik and Sokolov. A transformation of dependent variables is revealed by the analysis, after which the transformed system possesses the Painlev\'{e} property and does not contain the parameter.

Very helpful, thanks Don.

[Norfolk Born]

We're going to town soon, Mrs Flay will be Peed off if I delay....

A P then:

Meg would not have predicted this, its creatures, and a miniature oratorio by our hero of the day.

Is the answer bound to be Prometheus?

[JFLL]

Me and my big mouth

Ode to Queen Anne's Birthday - Handel
Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington - Tennyson
Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood -Wordsworth

Excellent first contribution, but can an we just have three in future please, Jifll?

You see, Flay, FAR too easy, despite the disclaimer - got it in half an hour, by Jove! I shouldn't have included Napoleon, on reflection, that was a bit of a giveaway, should have put Lenin (Khachaturian) instead. Particularly well done, Caliban, for getting the Exhibition one -- I was damn sure that was google-proof! (I'd hoped someone had set McGonagall's Ode to Torquay, but no-one's set it to music, alas (yet):

"All ye lovers of the picturesque, away
To beautiful Torquay and spend a holiday
‘Tis health for invalids for to go there
To view the beautiful scenery and inhale the fragrant air,
Especially in the winter and spring-time of the year,
When the weather is not too hot, but is balmy and clear."

Also a mistake to have put five or six instead of three, as it lessens the odds, but I think whoever started this malarkey said three to six words?
One learns, one learns. At least I've lost my virginity, perhaps to Anna's dismay.

(But, composer of Intimations of Immortality? Birth? and I hadn't intended the Duke of Wellington as the 'death' one.)

So, who's next? Flay, I think it has to be.

[Flay]

Well I jumped the gun, JFLL and proposed Prometheus, as Norfy has already rightly confirmed.

Mrs Flay's "just an hour in town" was a 4-hour spending spree

So Norfy is next in the Q

[Nick Armstrong]

So, who's next? Flay, I think it has to be.

I think so too. I'm in the mood for p-p-p-problem solving...

Mind you, with this idyllic weather (except for farmers and hosepipe-jockeys), AA is likely to slow down. I just remembered that last summer, it lapsed for a while entirely...

PS is Norfy around? I'm just watching the melodramatic dénouement of the Frank murder story! Blood and knives!! Phew wot a shocker!!

Oh! are we on Q?!? I missed that

[Norfolk Born]

Gosh- I didn't think I'd done enough to be asked to set the next question! Led by the refernce to 'creatures', I then came upon a chamber opera called 'Prometheus Bound' by Christopher Lord. Dunno where Meg fits in.
However... if I can't manage a Q, I'll work on an 'R'. (And there I was, all set to do a bit of gardening...)

[Norfolk Born]

Which 'R' links:
- an accompaniment to bread
- an upcoming celebration
- lots of beer in a tent
- a sudden revelation?

[Nick Armstrong]

Which 'R' links:
- an accompaniment to bread
- an upcoming celebration
- lots of beer in a tent
- a sudden revelation?

Intriguing, norfs. Going out for a spin on the bike to do some chores. Shall attempt to solve senza wiki

Did you really spot who done Frank in before it was announced? What gave it away for you?