![]() ![]() One anticipated moment is to be Willard Scott’s birthday salute from NBC’s Today Show. Schirmer and Boosey and Hawkes’ publicity departments have been laboring diligently to document and coordinate the year’s events. Somewhat irreverently, I had thought to delve into the economics of the Carter Centenary. Requiring six players and conductor, it makes a fine companion to Varèse’s Ionisation and Xenakis’ Persephassa. Tintinnabulation impresses this reporter as an instant classic. ![]() The second time through we were well prepared for the hammer’s thwack. After a hearty round of applause, conductor Frank Epstein asked whether the audience wanted an encore. When a matching wooden hammer was readied, there was palpable concern that the nonagenarian may have contrived an explosion of dangerous proportion. As the student percussionists configured their hefty arsenal of non-pitched percussion, it was impossible to overlook the gigantic plywood box at stage left. Happily, the seven-minute Tintinnabulation (2007) answers the question. I recall remarking upon Carter’s percussive opening of his 1997 opera, What Next?, wondering why he hadn’t more deeply explored that particular ensemble. Laurence Lesser and Christopher Taylor contributed a blistering cello sonata. The Concerto’s harmonies recall Andriessen’s works for the Orkest de Volharding. Well-prepared conservatory student and preparatory school ensembles provided the quintets, Elegy, and the ASKO Concerto, written for the eponymous Dutch ensemble. 2 (1959), ASKO Concerto (1999-2000), and a premiere, Tintinnabulation, for percussion ensemble. The next evening, 12/2, brought a varied all-Carter evening at NEC: Birthday Flourish (1988) for brass quintet, Woodwind Quintet (1948), Elegy (1946) for string quartet, Cello Sonata (1948), String Quartet No. I’ve mentioned these fine players in passing before and they were as wonderful as ever. ![]() In the Borromeo’s performance, the work was on fire: warming, devastating, unpredictable. The Library of Congress has posted the manuscript sketches to this quartet and the Sonata for Cello and Piano online. I delved into it in high school, and was enthralled by metric modulation, its movements independent of its pauses, and the way varied motives would increase speeds as they reappear. 2, was paired with Carter’s First String Quartet (1950) performed by the Borromeo String Quartet. At NEC on 12/1, a Beethoven String Trio, Op. I caught two concerts at New England Conservatory (NEC) but missed the Boston Symphony Orchestra unveiling Interventions (2007) for piano and orchestra, with Barenboim, Levine conducting. Up here in New England, several events celebrated the centenary, including two world premieres during December’s first week. The birthday boy’s worklist spans from a 1936 Tarantella for men’s chorus with four-hand piano to 2008’s works-in-progress. (He graduated with a degree in English literature.) Also appearing, with translations in the appendix where necessary, are exchanges with Boulanger, Boulez, Petrassi, Copland and many others. Carter recalls that the Harvard music department was essentially devoted to training church organists and had nothing to do with modern music. Included in this “Centennial Portrait in Letters and Documents” is a recommendation letter for Harvard written by Charles Ives. ![]() More detailed analyses necessitate perusing David Schiff’s penetrating The Music of Elliott Carter (1983 new edition 1998), and those with an insatiable desire for every detail must consult the Harmony Book’s categorized pitch collections (2002, edited by Nicholas Hopkins and John Link). The major phases of Carter’s development are succinctly described alongside his most important works. Just in time for Elliott Carter’s hundredth on December 11, Boydell teamed with the Paul Sacher Foundation to produce a nifty collection of biography, pictures, letters, essays and reproduced manuscript pages (collected and annotated by Felix Meyer and Anne C. ![]()
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