Carter: In Sleep, In Thunder/Triple Due

Elliott Carter (Composer), Fires of London (Performer), London Sinfonietta (Performer), Martyn Hill (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Fires of London, London Sinfonietta, Martyn Hill
• Composer: Elliott Carter
• Audio CD (January 1, 1995)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Label: Wergo
• ASIN: B000005WAF
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #888,185 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Carter's music is as rewarding as it is challenging. The first of the two works on this Wergo release is a setting of six poems by Robert Lowell for tenor and chamber ensemble; the second is Carter's chamber work Triple Duo. This is consistently fascinating music: the listener frustrated by Carter's difficulties probably doesn't understand that it is meant to be unsettling, disturbing; few composers are so expert at depicting the immediacy of emotional states that pivot, veer, and deflect. --Joshua Cody

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best In Sleep; Not the best Triple Duo, July 25, 2000

By	Karl Henzy (Newark, DE USA) - See all my reviews

This version of Triple Duo, which may well be the wildest and best work for small mixed chamber ensemble of our time, is not as good as the version by the Thomas Demenga led ensemble on ECM. It's too nervous and thin. The Demenga version has fuller sound and really glories in the freedom and drive of Carter's music.

On the other hand, this seems to me a better version of In Sleep, In Thunder than the one by Speculum Musicae. Oliver Knussen gets an extremely vivid and dynamic performance out of the London Sinfonietta. And while the tenor's voice here does not necessarily have a better sound quality than that of Speculum Musicae's singer, it is more dramatic. I recommend this disc to those who care about Carter's vocal music. If you prefer instrumental music, however, and you want the best, go to the Demenga version on ECM.