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While much of the music of Carter’s middle period can be extraordinarily difficult for first-time players and first-time listeners alike, his singular brand of musical modernism always keeps the human element front and center. Carter creates a theater of sounds that juxtaposes the interplay of well-defined personalities in ways that are engaging to the heart as well as the intellect. His work, even at its most dauntingly complex remains musicians’ music and work that is capable of making an immediate and visceral impact on listeners. While always highly organized and precise, Carter eschews serialism as well as all other pre-existing methodologies for the scaffolding of his musical material. Part of the complexity of this music stems from the fact that so much is happening at any given moment. Works like the Double Concerto for Piano, Harpsichord and Two Chamber Orchestras; the Piano Concerto, the Concerto for Orchestra, and A Symphony for Three Orchestras, each seemingly contains a universe of interwoven relationships.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post. _________________ 50 Great Chamber Works recommended by Feanor You like pe-tā'tōs, I like pe-tă'tōs.
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2007 11:24 am Posts: 13232 Location: London, England
Feanor wrote:
Some of my favourite Carter composition, (and there are many more I have yet to audition); I'll be adding so MP3 samples when I figure out how to do that! :
This topic will be better for the General forum if you are going to cover a variety of music genres, so I will move it there later unless you start a new topic in the General. Otherwise you could create a number of topics in the various music forums. Lives and Times is just about historical/biographical stuff.
_________________ "If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin
This topic will be better for the General forum if you are going to cover a variety of music genres, so I will move it there later unless you start a new topic in the General. Otherwise you could create a number of topics in the various music forums. Lives and Times is just about historical/biographical stuff.
Please move it to General in that case. I really wasn't sure where to put it, given, as you imply, the majority of topics are by genre or even specific composition.
I have uploaded some brief excerpts of several of Carter works to my original post -- Enjoy!
I will likely replace these at some point with external links to longer excerpts.
Thanks! I really liked the excerpt from the lauds for solo violin. Very well played. The concerto excerpt is a little short to get an idea of it, but the other two sound like something I'd like to explore further.
_________________ "There are two things that haven't got to mean anything. The one is music, and the other one is laughter." Immanuel Kant.
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:34 am Posts: 3967 Location: Idaho Falls, ID
The solo violin sample with Thomas Zehetmair was really good I thought. The concerto sample was too short to really get a good idea of what it's like, same with the Quartet sample. I didn't care for the Three Occasions for Orchestra.
I think I'll actually get the Zehetmair though. Thanks for the introduction to Carter.
_________________ "I learned more from a three minute record, than I ever did in school."
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 1:45 am Posts: 5668 Location: Los Angeles, California
Great work, Feanor! I've heard a lot about Carter, will try the samples out now...
03. 4 Lauds - Riconoscenza per Goffredo Petrassi This is very quirky and random-sounding. My ear couldn't really grab this...
07. Concerto for Orchestra-1- Introduction (Misterioso) This does sound mysterious, but the sample is far too short to make any further analysis!
01. Three Occasions for Orch-1- A Celebration of some 100 x 150 Notes (1986) This seems more of an exercise in evoking various sounds from the orchestra. Very modern sounding to say the least. Again, very short sample time.
01. String Quartet No.2 (1959) - Introduction Another short piece riddled with dissonance.
Not quite sure what to think of all this. It's much too modern for me. Still, it's always worth hearing another composer. Thanks for taking the time to present these samples, Feanor!
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2007 11:24 am Posts: 13232 Location: London, England
I'll be catching up on these and all the other samples tonight and over the next few days, been feeling a bit under the weather as a result of my wife's cooking!
_________________ "If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin
"By popular demand" I have added links to longer (and higher rez) samples of:
As per site rules we will need some details of the recordings from which they originate.
Sorry about that, Rod. Album details are now added -- I have used links to Allmusic references: I hope this is satisfactory.
Rod Corkin wrote:
Firefox users may need to open those links using the IE Tab option. They opened as garbage for me under the default tab window.
I use IE exclusively so I don't know about Firefox. The sample links are simply to .WMA files. However I have recently switched to a new web content server, so others might let me know if they're having problems.
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2007 11:24 am Posts: 13232 Location: London, England
Feanor wrote:
Sorry about that, Rod. Album details are now added -- I have used links to Allmusic references: I hope this is satisfactory.
That is better thanks, but I have added the pics to you later post too. For future reference the bit rate seems to be 128kbps WMA in your samples whereas the site rules state a maximum of 64kbps WMA, and for files longer than 15 mins a max of 48kbps WMA (unless the recordings are non-commercial). No need to change anything this time but I have to be strict on these matters.
Feanor wrote:
I use IE exclusively so I don't know about Firefox. The sample links are simply to .WMA files. However I have recently switched to a new web content server, so others might let me know if they're having problems.
Only the brave and the mad use IE, normal people use FF. For ease of access I recommend you get an account with mediafire or boxnet for your files.
You'll have my comments tomorrow as I am exhausted from my reviews today.
_________________ "If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin
Concerto for Orchestra Well, like our topic on Boulez, which I recommend you take a look at, this is another example of 'Classic Plink-Plonk' music. With stuff like this it is difficult to make comparative judgments, in fact I'd love to know how by what criteria to judge material such as this to be a success for failure ( eg do the 'plinks' need to be present in some predefined proportion to the 'plonks'?). The tone is ominous and gloomy throughout, that is one thing I can deduce. Do such adjectives apply to music like this? I will add it reminds me of the 'Planet of the Apes' movie.
Symphonia See above basically. Can you define in what way this is different from the other sample? What makes the Symphonia in this manner of composition different from the concerto?
_________________ "If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin
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Pacifica Quartet
Oliver Knussen / London Symfonietta
Thomas Zehetmair
Oliver Knussen / BBC Symphony
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