Alphabet associations - I

[Norfolk Born]

Original title Walpurgis!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

So that's three Walpurgisnachts:
Mendelssohn's original - his cantata Der erste Walpurgisnacht Op 60
Disney's use of Mussorgsky's St John's Night on a Bald Mountain , re-set to incorporate Walpurgisnacht "traditions".
Black Sabbath's War Pigs from their album Paranoia - originally called Walpurgis, but words hastily re-written to avoid associations with Satanism after a notorious case of ritual murder just before the album was released.

I think the next letter is yours, Norf!

[Norfolk Born]

I know a lot more about Black Sabbath than I did when I sat down to my supper tonight!
Which 'Y' connects four composers, two of whom were winners of the Mendelssohn Scholarship, while the third reportedly preferred Satan to the States and the fourth played alongside Brian Eno?

[Norfolk Born]

Just popped in to apologize for keeping you all waiting (Double Corrie + Borgen Episode 2), only to find that all's been very quiet on the Northern front.

[Nick Armstrong]

Just popped in to apologize for keeping you all waiting (Double Corrie + Borgen Episode 2), only to find that all's been very quiet on the Northern front.

Apologies from me, I had an unexpectedly busy evening and bed now awaits...

I couldn't get into Borgen, for some reason. My dad loved it, having got into Killing II (and found Killing I under the Christmas Tree...)

[mercia]

composers, two of whom were winners of the Mendelssohn Scholarship

of the better known (to me) winners have been Humperdinck, Weill and Goldschmidt and in the UK, Sullivan, Dyson, Jones, Arnold, Leighton, Ferneyhough and LeFanu plus many more

so many to choose from

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

shedloads of information about Mr Eno. don't know if Bryars or Nyman are the names relevant here.

[Anna]

I thought it might be easier to start with Eno to find a link but fear I went down the wrong path with Phillip Glass trying to find a link, mercia might be on track perhaps with his suggestion. Are we looking for a musical answer?

[Norfolk Born]

of the better known (to me) winners have been Humperdinck, Weill and Goldschmidt and in the UK, Sullivan, Dyson, Jones, Arnold, Leighton, Ferneyhough and LeFanu plus many more

so many to choose from

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

shedloads of information about Mr Eno. don't know if Bryars or Nyman are the names relevant here.

Dyson and Leighton are two of the four composers concerned.

[mercia]

Dyson and Leighton are two of the four composers concerned.

thanks for that generous help

they were both Y-Y-Y-Yorkshiremen

every time I read about Dyson his advice on throwing grenades catches my eye

[Anna]

And Gavin Bryars comes from Yorkshire. Baffled by the last one though, is it someone connected with Heavy Metal?

[Norfolk Born]

mercia has established the link and named two of the composers, and Anna has named another. George Dyson was born in Halifax, Kenneth Leighton in Wakefield and Gavin Bryars in Goole. We still need the name of the second composer (who was born in Huddersfield) and, for the sake of completeness, the musical link between Gavin Bryars and Brian Eno.

[Anna]

for the sake of completeness, the musical link between Gavin Bryars and Brian Eno.

Sorry, forgot to say that Bryars' Sinking of the Titanic first recording of this appeared on Brian Eno's Obscure Records in 1975. Edit: But there may be further links?

[mercia]

the second composer (who was born in Huddersfield)

more generous help
Edward Bairstow said he would "rather go to the devil" than go to live and work in the US

[Norfolk Born]

Edward Bairstow is our remaining Yorkshire-born composer. mercia clearly gets to set the next question (Z or A).
Although I like to think I'm generous by nature, I also needed to help move things along as I shall be offline for much of the day. Gavin Bryars and Brian Eno were both members of the Portsmouth Sinfonia.

[Anna]

Well done mercia. I spent an hour last night trying to find a musical work to connect with a Y but it's not wasted time, it justs adds to knowledge, particularly in respect to composers generally unknown to me such as Dyson. Like Norfy I am offline now until some time this afternoon.