[fluteman]

My favorites include the string quartets, the Sonata for Cello and Piano, Eight Etudes and a Fantasy for Woodwind Quintet, and the Sonata for Harpsichord, Flute, Oboe and Cello.

 

[Mandryka]

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

He seems to have turned away from polyphonic music at the end of his working life. I just noticed that Arditti recorded the 5th - that makes three. I’d somehow got it into my head that it was a later work, that Pacifica were the first to record it.

 

[SuperTonic]

I struggled with Carter for a long time, but it was his chamber music that I first appreciated, particularly the Sonata for Harpsichord, Flute, Oboe, and Cello, String Quartet 1, and the Cello Sonata. I still have trouble with some of the orchestral music, though over time some of it has grown on met; in particular the Concerto for Orchestra and Symphonia sum fluxae pretium spei.

 

[Phil loves classical]

I think the majority of Carter I don't particularly like. But listening again to his Concerto for Orchestra, it really connected, I always felt there was something in it just beyond my grasp. I also found his violin concerto ( which I don't recall ever listening to) quite expressive and exotic.

 

[Josquin13]

Over the years, I've most listened to Carter's Violin Concerto, as violin concertos by modern & contemporary composers are a special interest of mine (Nørgard, Rautavaara, M. Lindberg, Knussen, Ruders, Barber, Salonen, etc.). I often find these composers are at their best, & arguably at their most accessible when writing for the violin (starting with Prokofiev), & Carter is no exception,

Otherwise, I've probably most listened to Carter's Night Fantasies for solo piano, which was commissioned by 4 American pianists--Charles Rosen, Paul Jacobs, Ursula Oppens & Gilbert Kalish, who each made a recording of the work. Though I wouldn't say that I return to this piece frequently:

Interestingly, Pierre-Laurent Aimard coupled Carter's Night Fantasies with Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit on his recording, & he makes it sound like an almost entirely different work from Rosen, who seems more focused on the emotional core of the music,

Carter : Night Fantasies

But I like both interpretations, along with Paul Jacobs' recording.

I've also listened to Carter's Piano Sonata more than his other works:

Carter - Piano sonata - Rosen 1961

& when I'm in the mood, his massive late "Symphonia: "Sum fluxae pretium spei"":

Symphonia: "Sum fluxae pretium spei" - Elliott Carter

& the Variations for Orchestra, which was composed in 1955 for the Louisville Orchestra:

Elliott Carter (Variations for Orchestra)

Variations for Orchestra is one of Elliott Carter's more accessible pieces, believe it or not. The work was completed in 1955 as a commission from the Louis...

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[Simon Moon]

He could be my favorite composer!

You know, another one of those 'hacks' I love so much...

So many great pieces.

Variations for orchestra
Concerto for orchestra
Oboe Concerto
String quartets 3 and 4
Three Occasions for orchestra
Three Illusions for orchestra
Piano concerto

These are off the top of my head, but there are more that I could include.