Customer Reviews

The Music of Elliott Carter Vol. 7; Boston Concerto, Cello Concerto, ASKO Concerto, Dialogues

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I've put off reviewing this CD, even though I've had it for a while, because when you like a recording as much I like this one, it's hard to find the right words. Suffice it to say this is the most exciting collection of Carter's music in years: four major works, including three first recordings, all completed since 2000, when the composer was well into his 90s, superbly played and impeccably engineered. The release was delayed for a number of reasons, most notably the illness last summer of Oliver Knussen and his well-known fastidiousness in editing. But it's here now, and Carterphiles should rejoice.

Critics and listeners have noted a newfound transparency in Carter's late music, and it is much in evidence here. As in the past, Mr. Carter separates the orchestra into smaller groups, but these days, he generally lets them speak one at a time, instead of having them talk over each other, as he does, say, in the Concerto for Orchestra and the Symphony of Three Orchestras. The 17-minute Boston Concerto provides a fine example of the approach. The work is a concerto grosso, with light tutti passages, which evoke the patter of rainfall, separating more sustained and substantial statements from various groups of instruments. Carter has spoken of the structure as resembling a club sandwich. It's all captivating, but the highlights for me are the beautiful sunset glow of the brass choir and an espressivo passage for violins and cellos that makes me wish Mr. Carter would write a string symphony.

The Dialogues for Piano and Chamber Orchestra is a worthy addition to the composer's impressive catalog of solo-instrument concerti, but the Cello Concerto is much more than that. It is stunning, and as fine a concerto as Mr. Carter has ever written. The Dialogues was written for Nicolas Hodges, who performs masterfully. The Cello Concerto was written for Yo-Yo Ma but is performed here by Fred Sherry, a longtime Carter associate who provided technical advice during the composition. He gives an assured reading with a strong tone and a lovely sense of the ever-unfolding line. I've heard Mr. Ma perform this concerto live, and - no disrespect intended - I don't miss him. Mr. Knussen's accompaniment in both works is sufficiently dramatic.

The ASKO Concerto, which concludes the disk, is the only work on the program that appears on another recording. As I said in my review of the other release, it is a good-humored and colorful little chamber symphony that packs a lot of incident into its 10-minute length. The witty instrumentation of the concerto sections includes a duo for violin and trumpet and a bassoon solo.

Bayan Northcott's succinct and comprehensible notes afford a helpful, play-by-play guide to the goings on.

Easily the record of the year 2005 in contemporary classical, this latest Bridge release presents four of Elliott Carter's latest compositions in superb performances and recordings. Another recording of the "ASKO Concerto" (2000 -- 10'38") was previously released on ECM along with the opera "What Next?" (see my review), but this is actually the first recording, a recording of the live premiere by the ASKO Ensemble on 4/26/00 at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The other three works are also premiere recordings, but never before heard -- the piano concerto "Dialogues" (2003 -- 13'28"), the "Cello Concerto" (2001 -- 20'06"), and the "Boston Concerto" (2002 -- 16'54"). Nicolas Hodges plays piano, Fred Sherry plays cello, and Oliver Knussen conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta and the ASKO Ensemble.

Excellent liner notes by Bayan Northcott provide insight into the works' contents. The booklet includes a great painting for the cover by Pavel Tchelitchew, apparently from Elliott Carter's collection, and several photos, including two of the composer and his late wife Helen to whom the "Boston Concerto" is dedicated. These are magnificent pieces at the highest level of sustained imagination, wit, and craft. This music of Elliott Carter makes no concessions to popular sensibilities, but it has the elegance, balance, drive and sparkle of Mozart.

Viva la Carter! Happy 97th!

All of these works, written between 2000 and 2003, are superb additions to Carter's flawless string of masterpieces. In fact Carter's "late period" may be his most fertile and beautiful of all. Of course, as we know, Carter was something of a "late bloomer", as he did not begin to produce works in his "mature style" (beginning with his String Quartet No. 1) until he was in his mid-40's. From that point he produced his complex music slowly (by neccessity) but as he has aged he has produced more and more great music, including short incidental chamber and solo works. The works on this superb CD are among his best ever. It is great to see an icon of 20th-century modernism bring his distinctive style intact into the 21st century. Don't wait for Yo Yo Ma to record the Cello Concerto...Fred Sherry's reading is matchless, understandable considering his long-standing association with Carter. Knussen brings all his intellectual rigor and warmth of soul to these works, imbueing them with color and vigor. The recording by Bridge is perfectly crystal clear and perfectly balanced.

It's amazing enough that Elliott Carter is still composing at nearly a hundred--the works here were all written after his ninetieth birthday--and to his usual standards to boot, but what is even more remarkable is that these recent works a great deal of artistic evolution. Carter has been consistently "mellowing" since his brash music of the 1960s, but these four pieces show a new interest in smaller proportions, where the instrumentalists generally chat instead of shout, though Carter's language with its sharp atonalities and interest in polymetric slitherings remains the same. Oliver Knussen leads various ensembles, and the soloists are the composer's choice musicians.

The first piece on this disc, "Dialogues" for piano and chamber orchestra (2003) is a good example of this new style. Carter's Piano Concerto of 1965 was a monster of a piece where, in a nod to the dire situation in East Germany the composer heard about while writing the concerto in Berlin, the piano (the individual) is beaten down by the orchestra (the mob, or the state). In "Dialogues", on the other hand, the mood is conversational instead of confrontational. The piano part here is just as virtuosic as in the old concerto, and the dedicatee Nicholas Hodges gives a fine performance.

Two works here are for ensemble without soloists. In the "Boston Concerto" for full orchestra (2002), each portion of the orchestra performs in turn, rarely talking over each other. I find Carter's Concerto for Orchestra from the 1960s to be something of a failure, since it doesn't truly show off the sonorities of the ensemble in a virtuosic fashion, but the composer more than makes up for it here. A lush passage of woodwinds and pitched percussion is especially memorable, one of the most simply beautiful things he's ever written, but in no way compromising on his traditional line of writing.

The "ASKO Concerto" (2000), written for the small ensemble of that name, is also something of a concerto for orchestra, It's got a light and airy feel too, with downright humourous moments, but for most of its length a strong dramatic feel prevails. Portions of the orchestra clash, and it gets pretty close to the old aggressive Carter. This is the second recording, but the first where the ASKO Ensemble actually performs, as the world premiere recording on ECM has different players led by Peter Eotvos. I find both performances satisfactory, but as the ECM disc couples this concerto with Carter's controversial opera "What's Next?", this disc might be a more satisfactory purchase.

The Cello Concerto is also reminiscent of the Carter of yore, as the orchestra rains blows upon the solo line at times. However, for much of the piece the cello sounds alone, and it turns out to be some of the most straightforward music Carter has ever written, certainly the answer to critics who claim he's all about noise and brouhaha. The concerto was written for Yo-Yo Ma, but Fred Sherry performs here. Sherry played the drafts for Carter while the composer was writing the piece (see them at work on the Labyrinth of Time documentary DVD), and I find him an all-around more interesting performer of contemporary music than Yo-Yo Ma, so I welcome his presence here.

This disc would make a fine introduction to Carter's music, though those looking for a budget presentation could instead choose the Ars Nova disc with the Piano Concerto and Concerto for Orchestra (bad-boy 1960s Carter) or the Warner Apex disc with works starting from the late 1970s (the first mellower period). Still, fans of the composer should certainly pick this disc up sooner or later, along with the other discs in Bridge's Carter series. Bridge is doing fans a great series with this edition, and it's a pity that it doesn't get as much attention as the complete Ligeti edition or DG's Boulez discs.

Among the Carter blockbusters the Piano Concerto (1967)is one of the undoubted triumphs as was clearly evident in the recent retrospective held in London.Many decades on and it's once again the same form which shows Carter to best advantage.The compact 'Dialogues' (a mini piano concerto)is composed in the familiar rebarbative musical language but there's an urgency to the invention and even an joyfulness which immediately excites the senses. Nicholas Hodges is on brilliant form and Knussen exudes a tremendous sense of authority in Carter's music.