Customer Reviews

Carter: Chamber Music (5th String Quartet, 90+ for Piano, Sonata for Cello and Piano, Figment for Cello Alone, Duo for Violin and Piano, Fragment for String Quartet)

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Ursula Oppens' legendary status as an interpreter of the thorniest American piano repertoire is more than justified in this disk. Both she and the phenomenal Arditti quartet succeed in communicating the beauty in Carter's recent and not so recent works alike; the Fifth Quartet and "90+" seem at least as accessible as earlier pieces like the cello sonata (played here with an electrifying rhythmic intensity by Oppens and Rohan de Saram). Pieces like the 1994 Fragment for string quartet and the Violin and Piano Duo also emerge with a genuine emotional impact. Rarely has this music sounded more lucid to me. I recommend the disk without reservation, and I eagerly anticipate the group's new disk of the (newly composed) Carter Piano Quintet.

It's a real shame that this 1998 Montaigne recording passed almost immediately out of print and now goes for high prices. The same thing happened with its 2001 reissue on Naive. Here were have some of Elliott Carter's best pieces for strings and piano, including the world premiere recording of his fifth string quartet. The performers have closely worked with Carter--Ursula Oppens is one of the composer's favourite pianists and the Ardittis are the dedicatee of the fifth string quartet--and this whole recording has an air of definitiveness about it.

The highlight of the disc is the world premiere recording of the String Quartet No. 5 (1994-95). A 20-minute work split into twelve moments, its even-numbered movements alternate with odd-number interludes of an informal character (but which remain precisely notated). The interludes consist of material from the even-numbered movements, and are meant to sound as if each instrumentalist were practising the challenging music that forms the quartet's main. I think that the particular challenge of the string quartet is writing a work where the listener will not notice the monochrome of the timbres, and I don't think Carter's earlier quartets really meet this. On the Fifth, however, the range of sounds feels fuller, with the four instruments sharply delineated. I like this quartet, and listen to it fairly often.

"90+" for piano (1994) was written as a 90th birthday greeting for Goffredo Petrassi. It begins as a slow count of 90 beats, around which there are chords and little keyboard runs. This may be the most technically transparent piece of the composer's maturity, and it has proven surprisingly popular among a contemporary music demographic that might not usually go for Carter's music.

This disc then takes us all the way back to 1948 with the Sonata for Cello and Piano. This is one of the earliest pieces to feature tempo modulation, and has been seen by many as the dawn of his mature work. Though the rhythms are a bit spicy, the selection of pitches seems to me much more in line with Carter's neoclassical beginnings than his mature modernist period.

"Duo" for violin and piano (1973) opens with the violinist playing long, wrenched lines while the pianist just throws in a note here and there. Eventually the piano opens a full dialogue in almost dance-like tones. This and the following "Figment" for solo cello (1994), where Rohan de Saram effortlessly pulls a world of sound out of his solo instrument, strikingly show just how lyrical Carter can be in spite of his complex modernist language.

"Fragment" for string quartet (1994) is one of the most unusual pieces in Carter's output. The composer's distinctive style has generally been busy music with lots of little details, but this four-minute piece is a soundscape of slowly moving harmonics. If you didn't know it was a Carter piece, you'd certainly never guess.

As the disc passes over the 1950s and 1960s, when Carter's music was at its most abrasive, this may be the best introduction to Carter's music for those who like little chamber works. Too bad it's now difficult to find. With the celebrations of the composer's 100th birthday this year, let's hope another reissue is on the way.