The Music of Elliott Carter, Volume Five - Nine Compositions (1994-2002)

Elliott Carter (Composer), Speculum Musicae (Orchestra), Ayako Oshima (Performer), Charles Neidich (Performer), Jacob Greenberg (Performer), Tony Arnold (Performer), Peter Kolkay (Performer), Maureen Gallagher (Performer), Fred Sherry (Performer), Charles Rosen (Performer), Virgil Blackwell (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Ayako Oshima, Charles Neidich, Jacob Greenberg, Tony Arnold, Peter Kolkay, et al.
• Orchestra: Speculum Musicae
• Composer: Elliott Carter
• Audio CD (June 1, 2002)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Bridge
• ASIN: B00009OLTI
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #120,278 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Steep Steps* (2001) Virgil Blackwell, bass clarinet; Two Diversions (1999) Charles Rosen, piano; Oboe Quartet* (2001) Speculum Musicae; Figment No. 2 "Remembering Mr. Ives"* (2001) Fred Sherry, cello; Au Quai* (2002) Maureen Gallagher, viola, Peter Kolkay, bassoon; Of Challenge and of Love (1994) Tony Arnold, soprano; Jacob Greenberg, piano; Figment No. 1 (1994) Fred Sherry, cello; Retrouvailles (2000) Charles Rosen, piano; Hiyoku* (2001) Charles Neidich and Ayako Oshima, clarinets

*Premiere recording

Volume Five of Bridge’s ongoing Elliott Carter series contains five premiere recordings, including Carter’s bracing Oboe Quartet of 2001. Performed by many of the leading Carter advocates of our time, this recording is a must for those interested in keeping up with the undimmed imagination and constant creative impulse of this American master, now well into his tenth decade. Also featured on this CD is a new recording of Carter’s song cycle Of Challenge and of Love, performed by the brilliant young American soprano Tony Arnold, the recent first prize winner of the Gaudeamus International competition for interpreters of contemporary music. Rounding out this CD are a series of instrumental miniatures played by dedicatees Virgil Blackwell, Charles Neidich, Ayako Oshima and Fred Sherry. In addition, the pianist Charles Rosen adds on to his earlier (almost) "Complete Piano Music of Carter" CD (BRIDGE 9090) with the Two Diversions, and Retrouvailles.

Volume one: BRIDGE 9014
Volume two: BRIDGE 9044
Volume three: BRIDGE 9090 (Grammy nomination)
Volume four: BRIDGE 9111 (Grammy nomination)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vive le Carter!, July 6, 2003

By 

Joe Barron (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Music of Elliott Carter, Volume Five - Nine Compositions (1994-2002) (Audio CD)

The fifth offering in Bridge's indispensible series of the music of Elliott Carter contains nine compositions written from 1994 to 2002, when the composer, incredibly, was between the ages of 85 and 93. There are the usual short gems for various instruments that Carter has made a specialty in recent years. The disk begins with the fascinating "Steep Steps" for solo bass clarinet, an instrument Carter has exploited to great effect in his Piano Concerto and Triple Duo. Fred Sherry delivers a haunting rendition of "Figment No. 2" for solo cello. Subtitled "Remembering Mr. Ives" (Carter first met Ives as a teenager), the piece conveys a nostalgia rare in Carter's work, with short phrases evoking, though not quoting, the kind of hymns Ives used in his music. The Two Diversions for Piano are more transparent than some of Carter's other piano pieces, and rightfully so, since they were written for the Millenium Piano Book for pianists of intermediate skills. Charles Rosen, a long-time Carter champion, provides tender and beautiful readings. Soprano Tony Arnold's rendition of the song cycle "Of Challenge and of Love" seems softer and less forced than Lucy Shelton's premiere recording, which is all to the good, but for me the highlight of the disk is the Oboe Quartet, a major 14-minute work that shows Carter at the top of his instrumental game. Despite its unrepentant modernist idiom, this composition has a classical elegance, a romantic sensuousness, and a Baroque richness of counterpoint that doesn't showcase the soloist as much as make him a first among equals. It is as though the composer had written a new string quartet with the oboe subbing for the first violin. I could not wish for a better performance.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic from the first piece, January 21, 2006

By 

S. J. Snyder "De gustibus non disputandum" (Various, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Music of Elliott Carter, Volume Five - Nine Compositions (1994-2002) (Audio CD)

Carter lets the bass clarinet show off every bit of its range in Steep Steps, from soulful low bass lines, through a smoky lower-midrange area, to an almost sax-like upper register.

All the cellos pieces are great, and the oboe quartet? The other reviewer nailed it; it's like the oboe is playing the lead violin line.