Elliott Carter, 1908-2012

[Joe Barron]

Sir Elliott? What's up with that, Karl?

[karlhenning]

Sir Elliott? What's up with that, Karl?

Oh, unofficial homage, that's all!

[Joe Barron]

Oh, unofficial homage, that's all!

Well, OK, but it's just so ... so ... English.

[karlhenning]

Well, OK, but it's just so ... so ... English.

Eh bien, nous changerons vite! 

[bwv 1080]

Well, OK, but it's just so ... so ... English.

It is better than Elliott Carter Khan or Don Elliott

[Joe Barron]

A little bit more news from the Boosey Web site:
On 15 November James Levine conducts the first performance of Elliott Carter's Horn Concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and its principal horn James Sommerville. Further performances at Symphony Hall in Boston take place on 16 and 17 November, and a performance at Carnegie Hall is planned for 2008.

Carter's new 15-minute work for piano and orchestra, Interventions, receives its premiere in the 2008/09 season with Daniel Barenboim and the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Levine. The work is co-commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall and the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin.

Carter Centenary
Elliott Carter celebrates his 100th birthday on 11 December 2008, a remarkable creative milestone as his compositional flow continues unabated. Over the past months he has composed Three Mad-rigales for six solo voices, Sound Fields for strings, and new works for solo piano and for double bass.

The Carnegie Hall performance of the Horn Concerto and the new Sound Fields were the bits most interesting to me. If you'll recall, I said in my review of the Boston Concerto that I wished Mr. C. would write a string symphony. Maybe this is it. Unfortunately, there's no more info at the publisher's site. I'm wondering how long the piece is and just how many strings it uses.

Mad-rigales also sounds exciting. It's a clever title, and Mr. C. has not written for unaccompanied voices since the nineteen frickin' forties.

[Joe Barron]

Ah, sometimes I get the feeling I'm talking to myself.

In any event, below is a list of concerts I'm planning or hoping to attend this year in celebration of Mr. Carter's centenary. If anyone knows of more on the east coast, please do list them. And send me an email if you'd like to join me for any of them.  For people I've met on the net, you're all fairly harmless.

2007
Nov 17    Horn Concerto, Boston
Dec. 11    What Next? NYC

2008
Jan 18    Complete Piano music, Ursula Oppens, NYC
Jan 25    Penthode, Tripe Duo, Clarinet Concerto, Juilliard NYC
Jan 29   All-Carter program, Joel Sachs conducting, NYC
Jan 30   Complete Quartets, Pacifica, NYC
Feb 02   Cello Concerto, Symphonia, NYC
Feb 27   Piano Quintet, NYC
Mar 18   Diversions, Aimard, Philadelphia
Apr 04   All-Carter program, St. Louis Symphony, St. Louis
Apr 12   Partita, Wilmington, Del.

Here's the St. Louis program:

ELLIOTT CARTER Holiday Overture
ELLIOTT CARTER Of Rewaking
ELLIOTT CARTER Four Pieces for Timpani
ELLIOTT CARTER Oboe Concerto

I'm not too crazy about the way they've filled it out. Of rewaking and the Oboe Concerto are exciting, but the Holiday Overture and the timpani pieces? Come on, people. You can do better than that. But ne does have to be sympathetic. Rounding out the program with other mature, fully orchestral works would take up huge stretches of rehearsal time.

[Larry Rinkel]

You know, I just realized that except for the String Quartets and the piano pieces, I haven't heard anything about performances of Mr. Carter's pre-Boosey orchestral work. Who's playing the Variations? The Symphony of Three Orchestras? The Piano and Double concertos? And the Concerto for Orchestra, which is the only one of these works I've never heard live? Orchestral programmers seem fixated on the late period.

The NY Phil and Met Orchestras have recently done the Variations in NY.

Would love to hear the Concerto for Orch, imo possibly Carter's best thing ever.

[Wendell_E]

Ah, sometimes I get the feeling I'm talking to myself.

I, for one, always check the new postings on the thread.  I'd love to join you for them, since Carter performances in my area are non-existant, as far as I know.  My one live Carter experience New York Philharmonic play the Symphony of Three Orchestras back in 1983, when they did it for Carter's 75th birthday.

Thank goodness for recordings.

[Joe Barron]

The NY Phil and Met Orchestras have recently done the Variations in NY.

Would love to hear the Concerto for Orch, imo possibly Carter's best thing ever.

Larry, I was thinking more of upcoming peromances. I missed the NYPO performances of the Variations, but I did hear a fine perfromance by a student orchestra in St. Paul last year. I, too, would love to hear the concerto, which I think is the only one of Carter's major orchestral works I have not heard live. It would be great to hear it in the round. (Since I'm fantasizing, I might as well impose some conditions.)

Wendell, hello! And thanks for checking the threads. 

[Larry Rinkel]

Ah, sometimes I get the feeling I'm talking to myself.

In any event, below is a list of concerts I'm planning or hoping to attend this year in celebration of Mr. Carter's centenary. If anyone knows of more on the east coast, please do list them. And send me an email if you'd like to join me for any of them.  For people I've met on the net, you're all fairly harmless.

Thank you, Joe. We shall all try better in future to be gun-toting psychopaths. I plan to do some of the NY events, at least the Pacifica Quartets and one of the What's Nexts. Boosey.com lists upcoming performances of Carter works, it is probably comprehensive.

[Joe Barron]

Boosey.com lists upcoming performances of Carter works, it is probably comprehensive.

Well, the site hasn't listed the What Next?s yet, and it does not include performances of anything Mr. Carter wrote before he switched over from Schirmer --- that is, anything before 1983 or so.  The early and the big middle period pieces are not listed. (Why advertise someone else's product?) Note that in the reference to the Pacifica cycle, only the fourth and fifth are mentioned.   

[Larry Rinkel]

Well, the site hasn't listed the What Next?s yet, and it does not include performances of anything Mr. Carter wrote before he switched over from Schirmer --- that is, anything before 1983 or so.  The early and the big middle period pieces are not listed. (Why advertise someone else's product?) Note that in the reference to the Pacifica cycle, only the fourth and fifth are mentioned.   

[Joe Barron]

Opps! My bad. I knew I should have double checked before I shot my keyboard off. It wasn't there last time I looked. 0:)

In any event, I'm thinking of going to the Dec. 11 performance. It's a saturday, so no time off work will be required. And its EC's b-day.

[karlhenning]

Thank you, Joe. We shall all try better in future to be gun-toting psychopaths.

This Machine Kills Wagner-Haters

[karlhenning]

Jan 18    [2008] Complete Piano music, Urusla Oppens, NYC

That Ursula knows no fear.

[Joe Barron]

That Ursula knows no fear.

Fear, heck, she's recorded most of it. I'm looking forward to the program more for Catenaires than for anything else.

[karlhenning]

Levine & the BSO play Carter's Three Illusions at the Proms

[bhodges]

Levine & the BSO play Carter's Three Illusions at the Proms

Thanks for posting that - a very good review.  Also somehow missed the mention of Oppens's date, which is now on the calendar!

--Bruce

[Joe Barron]

Here's another new work, listed on the Boosey Web site:

19/03/2008
Carter, Elliott: Figment IV 
Samuel Rhodes, viola
Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA

This surprised me, largely because I never knew there was a Figment III.