Elliott Carter, 1908-2012

[Joe Barron]

God bless him.

It seems to me that God already has.

[karlhenning]

Aye, so why stop now? ; )

[springrite]

Just listened to the Violin Concerto, a month after obtaining the recording. I like it a lot! Will bring it with me on my next trip.

[Joe Barron]

Just listened to the Violin Concerto, a month after obtaining the recording. I like it a lot! Will bring it with me on my next trip.

Interestingly, one Carter expert whom I am always afraid to name thinks of it as one of the composer's less successful pieces, largely because of the last movement.

[Guido]

I've never been grabbed by it. Should listen again though.

[Joe Barron]

I've been "grabbed" much more by the Oboe, Cello and Clarinet Concertos (to name only those written after 1980), though of course, anything by Carter is worth hearing.

[not edward]

12/10/2010Carter, Elliott: Concertino for Bass Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra (World Premiere)
Virgil Blackwell, bass clarinet / New Music Concerts Ensemble / Robert Aitken
Isabel Bader Theatre, Toronto, ON, Canada

Muahahaha. I've not been massively impressed by the new music scene in Toronto, but this is awesome. Full program:

Poems of Louis Zukovsky (2008)
for soprano and clarinet (Canadian premiere)

Tre Duetti (2008-2009)
for violin and cello (Canadian premiere)

Concertino (2009)
for bass clarinet and ensemble (World premiere)

Nine by Five (2209)
for wind quintet (Canadian premiere)

Flute Concerto (2008)
for flute and ensemble (Canadian premiere)


You will note from the dates given in the NMC announcement that Mr Carter is going to live till he is 300.

[bwv 1080]

Interestingly, one Carter expert whom I am always afraid to name thinks of it as one of the composer's less successful pieces, largely because of the last movement.

Always thought that was one of the most humorous pieces of modern music - a wit worthy of Haydn with the violin trying to catch up with the orchestra

[Joe Barron]

Always thought that was one of the most humorous pieces of modern music - a wit worthy of Haydn with the violin trying to catch up with the orchestra

Thank you! With that image in mind, I shall listen to the piece again today.

[springrite]

Interestingly, one Carter expert whom I am always afraid to name thinks of it as one of the composer's less successful pieces, largely because of the last movement.

I have heard comments to that effect and was pleasantly surprised how much I liked it. No, it does not rank with the piano concerto or the clarinet concerto, but it is a very enjoyable piece.

[Catison]

I've been trying to get into Carter for a decade now.  I loved the early Piano Concerto and the Variations for Orchestra but the later stuff always puzzled me.

But somehow under the stress of finishing my PhD thesis, listening to his music has resolved the complexities in my brain.  This is seriously unexpected.  I was in pure bliss listening to his second string quartet about an hour ago.  Who knew?

So maybe you do need a PhD in order to appreciate Carter.  But it doesn't have to be in music!

[Joe Barron]

Great, now we're in for more charges of elitism. I can only guess what Alex Ross will make of this ...

[Guido]

Is Ross an anti-Carterian?

[Joe Barron]

Is Ross an anti-Carterian?

Oh, my word, yes, though lately he's grown more subtle about it. You'll see occasional little put downs, like calling Carter America's greatest European composer, as though there is some kind of test for Americanness.  I get the feeling he promotes John Adams largely because he regards Adams as some sort antidote to Carter,  though exactly what else Adams has to offer has always eluded me. I remember a couple of years ago when I was attending the Carter festival in St. Paul, someone said to me that they had  tried to get Alex Ross to come out and review the performances,  but he was unavailable. I couldn't help thinking they had dodged a bullet.

[Guido]

Oh, my word, yes, though lately he's grown more subtle about it. You'll see occasional little put downs, like calling Carter America's greatest European composer, as though there is some kind of test for Americanness.  I get the feeling he promotes John Adams largely because he regards Adams as some sort antidote to Carter,  though exactly what else Adams has to offer has always eluded me. I remember a couple of years ago when I was attending the Carter festival in St. Paul, someone said to me that they had  tried to get Alex Ross to come out and review the performances,  but he was unavailable. I couldn't help thinking they had dodged a bullet.

Didn't know that at all - I've not read much by him, but he always seemed open enough in the few things I had read... is it a problem he has with all atonal music? I can understand why some of Carter's scores inspire such ire (the piano concerto for instance - I adore it, but it is madness!) but there's much which anyone who likes atonal music should be able to get along with... And how an intelligent listener could deny themselves the Orchestral Variations, the Concerto for Orchestra, Boston Concerto, the cello sonata, the piano sonata and the Symphonia: sum fluxae pretium spei just to rattle some off of the top of my head is beyond me. I'm a Carter enthusiast though (maybe not quite fan... somewhere between perhaps!)....

[karlhenning]

Didn't know that at all - I've not read much by him, but he always seemed open enough in the few things I had read... is it a problem he has with all atonal music?

Don't know, but he hardly mentions Wuorinen at all in his book.

[Joe Barron]

Don't know, but he hardly mentions Wuorinen at all in his book.

But strangely, he does seem to like Babbitt.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Is Ross an anti-Carterian?

Years ago, Ross described Carter in the New Yorker as "the Max Reger of our time." I don't think he meant it as a compliment. Occasionally though, he shows some grudging respect or approval for a Carter piece.

[karlhenning]

Years ago, Ross described Carter in the New Yorker as "the Max Reger of our time." I don't think he meant it as a compliment.

Comments like that are a bit thick, when he invites us all to regard Steve Reich in the light of a genius.

[karlhenning]

Oh, my word, yes, though lately he's grown more subtle about it. You'll see occasional little put downs, like calling Carter America's greatest European composer, as though there is some kind of test for Americanness.

Right, sort of a one-man Un-American Musical Activities Committee. Here's something amusing along those lines . . . he actually devotes a paragraph to Louis:

The score itself embodies the loudness and lewdness that Plato feared: a swing-band wall of brass, a trio of electric guitars, riff-like themes, funky rhythms. All the same, Andriessen remains a recognizably European composer.

(Italics mine.) An astonishingly irrational assertion. I've been listening to De staat once a day for four days running . . . and if there are any intrinsically European elements in that score*, I am missing them.

Then, of course, I studied with Wuorinen . . . so my judgment must be tainted ; )

* Apart from, say, the language in which the chorus are singing.