aworks :: "new" american classical music

aworks ordered list :: elliott carter works #tally

Here's a list of Elliott Carter's works, ordered by number of mentions in writeups since the composer's recent death:

1. String Quartet No. 2 (12)
2. Double Concerto (11)
3. String Quartet No. 1 (10)
4. Concerto for Orchestra (8)
5. String Quartet No. 3 (8)
6. What Next? (8)
7. Holiday Overture (7)
8. Pocahontas (6)
9. Symphonia: sum fluxae pretium spei (6)
10. Cello Concerto (5)
11. Cello Sonata (5)
12. Dialogues II (5)
13. Piano Sonata (5)
14. Symphony No. 1 (5)
15. Night Fantasies (4)
16. A Symphony of Three Orchestras (4)
17. Dialogues I (3)
18. Instances (3)
19. A Mirror on Which To Dwell (3)
20. Epigrams (2)
21. In Sleep, in Thunder (2)
22. Interventions (2)
23. Oboe Concerto (2)
24. Piano Concerto (2)
25. String Quartet No. 5 (2)
26. Syringa (2)
27. Variations for Orchestra (2)
28. Boston Concerto (1)
29. Caténaires (1)
30. Clarinet Concerto (1)
31. Conversations (1)
32. Eight Etudes and a Fantasy (1)
33. Flute Concerto (1)
34. In the Distances of Sleep (1)
35. The Minotaur (1)
36. Of Challenge and of Love (1)
37. On Conversing with Paradise (1)
38. The Siege of Corinth (1)
39. Three Occasions for Orchestra (1)
40. Three Poems of Robert Frost (1)
41. To Music (1)
42. Two Controversies and a Conversation (1)
43. Double Trio (1)
44. Sound Fields (1)
45. Soundings (1)
46. A Sunbeam's Architecture (1)
47. Triple Duo (1)
48. Violin Concerto (1)
49. What Are Years (1)
50. Woodwind Quintet (1)

The quartets, Piano Sonata, and Night Fantasies are probably my favorites. 

Agence France-Presse AP Boosey & Hawkes The Economist The Guardian Opera Chic STL Symphony

Joel Chadabe  Phil Dyess-Nugent Elaine Fine Matthew Guerrieri Ivan Hewitt Allan Kozinn Norman Lebrecht Anne Midgette Nicholas Phan Russell Platt Doug Ramsey Lloyd Schwartz John Schaefer David Patrick Stearns Mark Swed Bryan Townsend

Interventions (2008). Elliott Carter /scooped/

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeFor reasons unknown, I'm on the free distribution list for the quarterly WWD Scoop magazine. FYI, WWD stands for Women's Wear Daily, AFAIK. And on the cover of the newly arrived issue are these headlines, among others:

• Naked Truth: Marisa Tomei Tackles Her Riskiest Role Yet
• Party Loyalty: Socials Brace for a Chill
• Mistress of Cognac
• Composer Elliott Carter at 100

It appears Elliott Carter even gets coverage in the fashion press. Here are some quotes from Michelle Edgar's surprisingly good profile of the composer:

An old man has no memory whatsoever, so I don't have many pieces in my head," Carter says in his self-deprecating manner. "I get stuck with whatever piece it is I'm working on and I become a fanatic. I just want to get it down and finish it...

...I cannot help but feel that I'm getting a lot of performances because of my age." He smiles. "If I had these kind of performances at a time when I was not strikingly old--I would have felt I had made it.

Sorry, you will need to go elsewhere for Marisa Tomei quotes although I will point you to WGBH radio, broadcasting the premiere of Carter's Interventions on December 5th, prior to his 100th birthday on December 11th.

Eight Pieces for Four Timpani (1950). Elliott Carter

Chamber Music Today has more than maybe you need to know about the timpani, including a list of over fifty works for the instrument. I wasn't aware of Carter's timpani pieces:

VI. Canto (1966) – Jan Williams – Uses pedal tuned timpani played by snare drum sticks in a line that slides from one pitch to another.

Three Occasions: A Celebration Of Some 100 x 150 Notes (1986). Elliott Carter /gen span/

Noted classical conductor (and Grateful Dead bassist) Phil Lesh along with eminent composer Elliott Carter will speak with pianist Sarah Cahill on counterstreamradio.org Friday, March 14th at noon PDT. The generational span of those three is in and of itself fascinating; this should be a delightful show.

Here's a quote re: Lesh and Carter:

Phil Lesh, the well-renowned Grateful Dead bassist, is both an admirer and enthusiastic supporter of Carter. In fact, Lesh conducted the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Carter's "A Celebration (of 100 X 150 Notes)."...If you like the "Grateful Dead" you should most definitely discover the works of Elliott Carter.

While it may be a stretch to go from rock to modernism, I did have a Deadhead co-worker who had good things to say about Ornette Coleman after seeing the jazz legend play at a Dead concert.

By the way, I missed the Deadheads for Obama concert at the Warfield in San Francisco last month. Here's the set list and corresponding Barack Obama thank you video. Peace.:

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fact of the day: the rex foundation, a non-profit organization started by grateful dead members and friends, helped fund the knussen carter recording.

Four Lauds for solo violin (1984/1999/2000). Elliott Carter /what happened to the screech?/

I used to hate solo violin music and now I like it. Well, I like this work by Carter anyway; no guarantees if I listen again to Cage's Freeman Etudes.

Syringa (1978). Elliott Carter

Musicwhore doesn't like it but has a good comment re: Elliott Carter's Syringa compared to other of the composer's works:

Syringa is by far the most obtuse of the three, and it's angularity is only heightened by the populism of Holiday Overture and Suite from Pocahontas.

carter on syringa: This attracted me because of its fascinating, distant, quiet treatment of a familiar, many-sided, affecting subject: Orpheus and the power of music.
liner notes: Syringa is the most original of Carter's creations. It is not a song cycle, but a new genre: a cantata, a chamber opera, a polytextural motet, and a vocal double concerto all in one.
lawrence kramer on the text: True, the meditative voice may make this generous acknowledgment of the power of song only in order to get beyond it, to say that "it isn’t enough / To just go on singing."

String Quartet No. 1 (1951). Elliott Carter /got ears?/

Via del.icio.us/pbailey68, Timothy Mangan suggests not marketing classical music as being suitable for everyone, and gives examples:

The string quartets of Elliott Carter: Got four sets of ears? You'll need 'em.

Triple Duo (1983). Elliott Carter /carter now on youtube/

On YouTube, SF Opera staff conductor Donato Cabrera leads the American Contemporary Music Ensemble in Carter's Triple Duo. I gave it a "pretty cool" rating. YouTube also has videos of Cabrera conducting works of a more historical nature.

Violin Concerto (1990). Elliott Carter

I'm listening to a CD of Oliver Knussen conducting the music of Elliott Carter.

After two listens, I still can't parse Three Occasions for Orchestra. Much as I prefer my violin concertos to be aged several hundred years, Carter's Violin Concerto is easier to understand than the first piece since one voice is usually prominent. Still, it strikes me as a dour piece. Although presumably difficult to play, I don't get a sense of virtuosic showmanship and a result, this is not much fun. And if I want to experience Carter's compositional rigor, I prefer the clarity of his works for piano or string quartet (or even his Piano Concerto).

On the other hand, Edgard Varèse's orchestral music also strikes me as dour but yet somehow more satisfying (albeit noisier). If only he wrote a violin concerto...

Intermittences (2005). Elliott Carter

Jeremy Eichler reviews pianist Peter Serkin including a performance of the ninety-seven-year-old Elliott Carter's Intermittences:

You can only guess at Mr. Carter's thicket of memories, but this taut, brittle nine-minute piece certainly captures the intensity of Proustian recollection.

From the program notes by the composer and Paul Griffiths:

The Proust reference is to a section in which Marcel returns to the Grand-Hôtel in the seaside resort of Balbec and, bending to unbutton his boots, is overwhelmed by the memory of his deceased grandmother.