Elliott Carter, 1908-2012

[bwv 1080]

Joe,

Have you heard the Pacifica play EC's quartets and how do they compare with Julliard or Arditti?

[bhodges]

I also realize that same night, there will be one of the Focus! Festival concerts, presumably with more Carter.  Sigh...

--Bruce

[karlhenning]

Wow!

[Joe Barron]

Have you heard the Pacifica play EC's quartets and how do they compare with Julliard or Arditti?

Sorry, BWV, but I've never had the privilege of hearing the Pacifica play the Carter quartets. They did perform the complete cycle in New York a coupe of seasons ago, but unfortunately, I missed it. I'm certainly eager to hear the Naxos recording, though.

[Joe Barron]

News of a the naxos recording is nice, but that evenings programme is complete overkill ...

Never! 

[bwv 1080]

p.s. should be getting the 'homages & dedications' chamber miniatures disc tomorrow...

That is a great disc - Lumien is worth the price alone

[bwv 1080]

Hey I just noticed that the Pacifica recordings of the 1st and 5th quartets are up on the Naxos website.  Have not had time to listen to more than excerpts, but I am getting the impression that I will like the complete set better than the Arditti or Julliard

[Catison]

I'd like to hear the Emerson SQ tackle them too...
because to be quite honest, no recording/performance of them has really convinced me or truly blown me away thus far.
The 1st seems pretty surface bound in hindsight, the 2nd & 3rd are OK, but rather dry, joyless & unmemorable...
the 4th is deadly dull, can't even remember the darn 5th, and I've heard it too.
I'm starting to think that it may take another 100 years or so before something of the calibre of the Bartok 6 arises...

Yeah, everyone who likes these quartets is just crazy...

[karlhenning]

I know I am, but it's a beautiful craziness, daddy-o.

[bwv 1080]

I'd like to hear the Emerson SQ tackle them too...
because to be quite honest, no recording/performance of them has really convinced me or truly blown me away thus far.
The 1st seems pretty surface bound in hindsight, the 2nd & 3rd are OK, but rather dry, joyless & unmemorable...
the 4th is deadly dull, can't even remember the darn 5th, and I've heard it too.
I'm starting to think that it may take another 100 years or so before something of the calibre of the Bartok 6 arises...

To each his own.  I would have to say that the Bartok 6th is my 5th favorite Bartok SQ and EC's 3rd SQ surpasses any of them (and I am a huge fan of Bartok).  It is about my favorite piece of music of any type.  There is certainly nothing dry about it

[Joe Barron]

EC's 3rd SQ surpasses any of them (and I am a huge fan of Bartok).  It is about my favorite piece of music of any type.

I wonder why you and I don't talk more, BWV.

In light of James's statement, I also wonder whether he's listening to the same quartets I am. I appreciate his candor, and ceytainly he's not along in his reaction, but his stance is so different from mine that I just have to ask, Why? How can any two people be so far apart when looking at or listening to the same thing? I often have this reaction when reading critics. I ask myself, "Was this guy even at the same concert?"  Is it really just a matter of taste?

I saw the Daedalus Quartet perform the EC 2nd last year in Minneapolis, and it was a tremendous expericence. They also played the 5th, and that was good, too, but the 2nd really stayed with me a long time. Hardly joyless, in my estimation.

Oh, well, I reread Moby Dick not long ago and I love that, too. 

[Lilas Pastia]

I wish some enterprising quartet would visit Montreal to play these works. I'd rush out and buy tickets in no time!

Carter's SQ are remarkable  - mind you, I have a thing for modern SQs - but they seem to be a cut above most of the competition.

[karlhenning]

Seven days, eight hours yet!

[Catison]

Big claim but not true of course (but to each his own)...

Why add the "to each his own" qualifier when the rest of your post negates it?

[Joe Barron]

Big claim but not true of course (but to each his own)...EC's 3rd sounds rather like a technical experiment,

Not to me! 

But this is just trodding old ground I promised myself I would never visit again.  0:)

[karlhenning]

Well, in the same sense that the Goldberg Variations sound like a "technical experiment," I'll allow that 

[karlhenning]

... [Bartok] just says so much more about being a human being than the Second Viennese School (which is IMO inferior though often beautiful & profound).

This is a strangely hybrid remark, James.  If you want to say you prefer Bartok, fine;  it's even quite decent of you to allow the beauty and profundity of th music which you do not prefer.  Myself, I could not tag either "side" superior (though granted you make that bit a matter of opinion);  nor do I see how either musical journey expresses "more about being a human being" than the other.

[bhodges]

I'm finally getting around to hearing the Clarinet Concerto and Symphonia: sum fluxae pretium spei, on the CD released in 1999, and it's a pretty spectacular recording.  (I think some here cite it as one of the best--if not the best--Carter CDs.)  with a very difficult solo part, Michael Collins (website here) does expert work that makes it almost seem easy, and Oliver Knussen and the London Sinfonietta are every bit as good.

Knussen leads the BBCSO in Symphonia, and it's also a very exciting performance.

--Bruce

[bhodges]

I really like a few minutes of that one bruce...the central section of Symphonia.

Absolutely, it's just terrifically exciting music all around, and again, I can't believe he wrote these pieces at such an advanced age.  I'll be looking forward to comments from those here (e.g., Karl, Joe) who get to hear the new Horn Concerto in Boston next week.

--Bruce

[Joe Barron]

I'll be looking forward to comments from those here (e.g., Karl, Joe) who get to hear the new Horn Concerto in Boston next week.--Bruce

Bruce, I'm afraid Karl and I are it --- i.e., rather than e.g. --- unless we hear from Al Moritz.

Truth to tell, there are pieces I like better than both the Symphonia and the Clarinet Concerto --- particularly the Cello and Boston Concertos. The Symphonia may be one of those pieces, like the Piano Concerto or the Concerto for Orchestra, that take me a while to appreciate. Those latter two are among my favorites of any composer of any period, now.