[Phil loves classical]

I found his 2nd Quartet to be quite expressive. What is your absolute favourite, or if you can't choose 2 or 3? I will give them a try, even if I did already before. Write a bit about it if you could.

 

[Haydn70]

Holiday Overture

 

[Prodromides]

his 2002 Boston Concerto

 

[Neo Romanza]

Without question, his Piano Sonata.

 

[Rogerx]

For me the Cello concerto, full of energy. and if I am in a good mood his piano concerto.

 

[mbhaub]

Symphony no. 1 and then it's downhill all the way. Charles Rosen tried and tried to convince me that the piano sonata was a masterpiece...I still don't get it.

 

[Dirge]

A Symphony of Three Orchestras (1976)
:: Boulez/NYPO [Columbia ’77]

This is yet another work in which Carter divvies up his resources and variously juxtaposes or pits the resulting sub-forces against one another. In this case, he divvies up one big orchestra into three little orchestras of differing constitution and assigns each its very own set of four movements. Carter choreographs things so that each orchestra plays a movement in turn, with each movement beginning some time before the preceding movement ends. The result, then, is a continuous, overlapping twelve-movement work. This allows for a good deal of variety and complexity without too much density. Indeed, textures are often quite transparent, and even when they aren’t, when the music is relatively busy and dense, the orchestration is such that a focused listener can discern most any and every voice through the din, giving the illusion of transparency.

The Symphony is slowly dramatic in its prevailing work-long descent from high pitch to low, and there are many affecting solos, some downright whistleable (if you’re a very very good whistler), that emerge throughout, the opening trumpet call being the most conspicuous of them. In fact, that very trumpet call is the single most beautiful episode I’ve heard in any Elliott Carter work; it was inspired by Hart Crane’s description of a sea gull over Brooklyn Bridge, and it sounds a bit like the trumpet part from Copland’s Quiet City as played by a trumpeter on a mild acid bender.

Boulez manages to control his strong and ever-present urge to indulge in blatant analytical highlighting and effectively balance and coordinate things. The various solos are nicely characterized, but there’s an air of caution about the proceedings on the whole. Even so, I have to give Boulez and the NYPO high marks here, for I rather doubt that the work’s intricate and touchy internal relationships could be so well established and made clear in a reading of Mitropoulos-or De Sabata-like passion and intensity—though I’d love to hear an attempt at such a reading.

 

[Vasks]

Before he went totally over to the dark side

Variations for Orchestra

Once embraced in the darkness:

Violin Concerto

 

[Neo Romanza]

I do have another work which I feel I should mention as a solid favorite and it is Three Occasions for Orchestra. For me, this is what Berg might've sounded like had he lived 20 or 30 more years.

 

[Vasks]

Charles Rosen tried and tried to convince me that the piano sonata was a masterpiece...I still don't get it.

At the start of a semester during my Master's in Composition program, the college professor asked my class which composer we'd like to cover. I spoke up and said "Elliott Carter, I find him hard to understand". To which, the prof replied, "So do I"

 

[Kreisler jr]

Haven't really spent enough time with Carter's works but probably the symphony for three orchestras already mentioned or the concerto for orchestra.

 

[justekaia]

-Symphonia
-Variations for orchestra
-Concerto for orchestra
-Symphony of 3 orchestras
-Oboe Concerto
-Clarinet Concerto
-Cello Concerto
-SQ 3 & 4
-Penthode
-Wind Rose
-Piano Sonata
-Night Fantasies
-A Mirror on which to dwell
There are many other great works but i feel the above stand out.

 

[composingmusic]

The Double Concerto for harpsichord and piano is fantastic!

 

[Bwv 1080]

Would recommend the short piano piece 90+ as an entry to mature Carter - the polyrhythm here is audible as one part is fairly regular with the other kind of twisting around on itself.

 

[Enthusiast]

Nearly impossible to answer this question - Carter wrote quite a lot of music that I love - but I haven't seen the clarinet concerto listed yet so that will do for me.

 

[starthrower]

I don't have one favorite work but Justekaia pretty much covered it.

 

[Mandryka]

I'd like to ask the assembered Carterians how they feel about the 5th quartet. For me, like Babbitt's 5th, it has become some I find really agreeable.

 

[Luchesi]

Would recommend the short piano piece 90+ as an entry to mature Carter - the polyrhythm here is audible as one part is fairly regular with the other kind of twisting around on itself.

Thanks. Here's the moving score. This is clear enough for me to practice parts of it.

..... ..... youtube.com/watch?v=tYtLPKlRyVQ

 

[justekaia]

I'd like to ask the assembered Carterians how they feel about the 5th quartet. For me, like Babbitt's 5th, it has become some I find really agreeable.

I am not convinced by SQ 5. 3 and 4 are my favourites. Music is an experience. this is mine.

 

[Eva Yojimbo]

I struggle with most of Carter's music, finding it frustrating and intriguing in equal measure; but his piano sonata is one piece I liked from my first listen and have only come to like and appreciate it more on subsequent listens. It's made me really want to sit down and absorb myself in his music for a while hoping the rest of it finally clicks: