Elliott Carter: 16 Compositions (2002-2009)

I finished recently a book on the music of the astounding Elliott Carter, whose work continues to amaze because of its complexity, richness, and wide range of expression.  The book was often a tough slog when it came to intricate and rigorous technical explanations of the construction of pieces and the often intimidating terminologies employed in musicology.  Still, what did come through for a total amateur was Carter's innovations in harmony, time and other structural elements, and most especially in his use of rhythm.

The book definitely made listening to Carter's work more worthwhile in trying to pick out where the composer employed his creativity and innovation.  An example of this is with 16 Compositions (2002-2009), another excellent issue in a series by Bridge Records, which produces great recordings by modern composers.  The 2010 double-disc surveys a wide range of symphonic, ensemble, solo and choral works in a period in which the composer was in his mid-90s to early 100s.

That's one of the many remarkable aspects about Carter in that he was very active making amazing music at a very advanced stage in life and doing so with all the exploratory creativity he displayed throughout his career.  In fact, he finished his last piece just three months before he died in late 2012, a few weeks shy of his 104th birthday.  So, this survey has a lot to enjoy, often in brief pieces, and featuring typically unusual instrumentation, like solo works for marimba and bassoon, along with more standard large and small group and solo types.

Elliott Carter: Eight Compositions (1948-1993)

This excellent disc from Bridge Records came out in 1994 in commemoration of composer Elliott Carter's 85th birthday.  At the time, it was reasonable to assume that Carter's long career would soon come to a natural close, but he lived for almost two more decades, passing away in November 2012, a month shy of his 104th birthday.

Eight Compositions (1948-1993) is a diverse and exciting overview of works for solos, duos, and trios and shows a great range of compositional formats and elements, from solo pieces for clarinet, flute, violin, and, unusually, guitar and some shorter pieces, including these solo works, to longer compositions, including the fine piano and violin duet "Duo" and the fantastic early work, 1948's "Sonata for Violoncello and Piano."

The performers from The Group for Contemporary Music, founded by pianist Charles Wuorinen and flautist Harvey Sollberger, who appear on the recording, are uniformly excellent and include Fred Sherry, a cellist whose work on John Zorn recordings is prominent; clarinetist Charles Neidich, whose rendering of "Gra" opens the album nicely; Rolf Schulte, violin, who is on three pieces; Martin Goldray, also on piano on the aforementioned "Duo"; and guitarist David Starobin, whose showcase, "Changes" was written for him by Carter and who founded and still leads the Bridge label with his wife Becky, executive producer of this disc.

Filling 78 and 1/2 minutes, the album is a phenomenal overview of forty-five years of Carter' diverse portfolio of contemporary classical music.  The liners by David Schiff include a concise summary in one paragraph of Carter's composing philosophy, including the observation that the music "often suggests an argument, sometimes between many parties, at other times an internal dialogue."  With the composer's polyphonic approach, this is an interesting way to interpret the music, especially the basic concept of dialogue, with instruments speaking to one another and/or to the audience.

For something this modern, there is still lyricism, soulfulness, emotive expression, and accessibility to so much of what Carter has composed, even if approaches to harmony, rhythm, and time reflect experimentation that mark his music as quite different from earlier composers.  Certainly, listening to Carter's music through the solo, duet and trio forms helps isolate the qualities noted above, which can be more difficult with larger ensembles and orchestral settings.

Eight Compositions (1948-1993) is, in any case, a great listening experience, representing a broad overview of pieces from a true American original.

Elliott Carter:  Eight Compositions (1948-1993) (Bridge Records, 1994)

1.  Gra  4:35
2.  Enchanted Preludes  6:30
3.  Duo  21:27
4.  Scrivo in Vento  5:55
5.  Changes  7:46
6.  Con Leggerezza Pensosa (Ommagio a Italo Calvino)  5:17
7.  Riconoscenza por Goffredo Petrassi  6:30
8.  Sonata for Violoncello and Piano  19:55

P.S.--though this blogger doesn't own any of his records, a recent flipping of the channels late at night came across a documentary on Pete Seeger, who died today at 94.  May he rest in peace. 

Elliott Carter: The Minotaur

Still active as a centenarian, the remarkable American composer Elliott Carter died last week at 103.  His work has been characterized as complex and difficult and, to varying degrees, this is true with "modern music" generally, but there is a great breadth and depth to Carter's work over many decades.  For Carter, polyphony, with different sounds emerging from elements of an orchestra, and contrasting and varied rhythms and tonalities working within different sections, became his hallmark.  So, as is the case with so much recent music, it also takes some recalibration of a listener's ears to appreciate what is going on when one is used to hearing music the "traditional" way.

Consequently, it might be easier to start with Carter by delving into his earlier music and this Elektra Nonesuch recording from 1992 offers selections from the composer's 1940s work, when he was starting to be recognized as an emerging new voice.  And, while the music is not as "challenging" as what came later, especially in the 1960s, it is possible to hear where Carter was going.

While his ballet, The Minotaur, was not often performed, it had its roots in 1946 with the famed impresario George Balanchine, who worked with Carter on the thematic conception based on Greek mythology.  Just as the process was undertaken, however, Balanchine was invited to be a guest ballet master with the Paris Opera and the work of choreographing The Minotaur fell to his assistant, John Taras and the work premiered in March 1947.  Even though performances were few, Carter did rework the music into a concert suite, recorded here in 1988.

The stately melodic statement is striking and memorable and the work overall is about as traditional as Carter ever came.  While this might strike some people as an aberration and not essential to the composer's body of work, YHB, with all of his ignorance about the technical niceties of classical composition, enjoys The Minotaur as a balanced blend of so-called neo-classicism with modern elements.

There is a bit of a diversion with two of three short pieces accompanying poems of the great Robert Frost.  They are beautifully rendered by mezzo soprano Jan De Gaetani and pianist Gilbert Kalish and would seem entirely out of place perhaps if not followed by Carter's Piano Sonata.

This is a generally romantic piece in two movements, and yet again, infused with some of the variable rhythms, harmonic elements and coloration that foresaw the composer's later development.  But, it is a nice balance with gorgeous lyricism, stately cadenzas, rapid passages abruptly turning into slow, halting ones, so that the marking of tempo is not at all strictly observed, but that's part of the interest generated by these shifting sounds.  Pianist Paul Jacobs plays beautifully and the recording quality is excellent, as well.

The Piano Sonata is generally considered Carter's major achievement in his earlier period and it is a very fine work, elegantly rendered here.  But, The Minotaur is also very enjoyable, whether heard as accompaniment to modern ballet or on its own terms.  Future posts will concern Carter's work in the 1960s and in more recent years, in which the complexity grew tremendously, but also brought him  acclaim as one of the more versatile and appreciated modern composers.

May the amazing Elliott Carter, creator of so much wonderful music for so many years, rest in peace and may his music be heard for many centuries to come.