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December 9 , 2008
Elliott Carter@100!
“The miracle of Elliott Carter’s late works: with ever more wondrous serenity and freedom, he is creating music whose complexity attains an almost Mozartian oneness with the work and reveals itself quite simply and naturally to the responsive ear of the listener.” - Heinz Holliger
Elliott Carter, America’s greatest composer, is 100 years old on December 11th, and defying all the conventions of ‘late work’ continues to shape music of extraordinary invention and, indeed, optimism.
“I’ve become more concerned with the expression of music and less with the formation of details. I’m trying to be more spontaneous,” he explained to one US newspaper, and his next century of music-making is likely to move at a faster pace: “My music seeks the awareness of motion we have in flying or driving a car, and not the plodding of horses, or the marching of soldiers that pervades the motion patterns of older music.”
In 2003, ECM released Carter’s opera “What Next?” (ECM New Series 1817), which opens with the sound of a car crash and explores relationships between its stunned survivors. It was partnered on disc by another exemplary work in “lighthearted mood”(Carter description), the ASKO Concerto: both pieces are premiere recordings featuring the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and the insightful direction of Peter Eötvös. Paul Griffiths provided the opera’s libretto and singers included sopranos Sarah Leonard and Valdine Anderson.
Another vital instance of latter-day Carter is Heinz Holliger’s album “Lauds and Lamentations” (ECM New Series 1848/49), with Thomas Zehetmair, Ruth Killius and Thomas Demenga as well as Holliger’s own virtuosic oboe and english horn. This double album contrasts Carter with his Korean contemporary Isang Yun. The Carter works include cheery reminiscences of old friends Aaron Copland, Roger Sessions, Gofffredo Petrassi and Robert Mann, as well as pieces dedicated to Paul Sacher and cellist Thomas Demenga. Carter had been pleased with Demenga’s coupling of his music with J.S. Bach’s on an earlier release ECM New Series 1391 (issued in 1990), which already included a version of the Petrassi tribute as well as the “Triple Duo”, the “Enchanted Preludes” and “Esprit rude, Esprit doux”.
These three discs – “What Next?” “Lauds and Lamentations” and “J.S. Bach/ Elliott Carter” – should be in the collections of all listeners with interest in contemporary composition.
On the occasion of Elliott Carters 100th birthday these three ECM albums are offered with more than 15% discount. This offer is effective immediately until the end of this year.
Elliott Carter: What Next? An Opera in one act. Words by Paul Griffith. (ECM 1817)
Heinz Holliger: Lauds and Lamentations: Music of Elliott Carter and Isang Yun (ECM 1848/49)
Thomas Demenga: J.S.Bach/Elliott Carter (ECM 1391)
Also of enduring value: two ECM recital discs whose broad sweep includes glimpses of Carter. “Elegies” (ECM New Series 1316) Kim Kashkashian and Robert Levin’s 1984 recording, includes Carter’s early (1943) “Elegy for Viola and Piano”.
Kim Kashkashian/Robert Levin: Elegies (ECM New Series 1316)
And Michelle Makarski’s 1999 recital (ECM New Series 1712) balances another account of the “Riconoscenza per Goffredo Petrassi” with Petrassi’s own “Elogio per un’ombra”.
Michelle Makarski:
Elogio per un'ombra (ECM New Series 1712)
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