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WORKLIST : CATEGORIZED |
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| ORCHESTRA SOLOIST(S) AND ORCHESTRA CHORUS AND ORCHESTRA CHORUS CHORUS AND ENSEMBLE LARGE ENSEMBLE |
SOLOIST(S) AND LARGE ENSEMBLE |
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| ORCHESTRA | ||||
| Title | Year | Length | Orchestration | Publisher |
| Adagio Tenebroso | 1994 |
20' |
3(II, III=picc).2.corA.2(II=Ebcl).bcl.2. dbn-4.3.3.1-timp.perc(4):BD/ 4bongo dr/glsp/4tpl.bl/cowbells/vib/ 2susp.cym/2tom-t/2wdbl/SD/xyl/ tam-t/marimba/wood drum/ 2metal block-pft-strings |
B&H |
| Allegro Scorrevole | 1996 |
11' |
2.picc.2.corA.2(II=Ebcl).bcl.2.dbn- 4.3.3.1-perc(4):timp/glsp/xyl/vib/ 4bongos/ SD/2tom-t/wdbl/3susp cym/2cowbells/ guiro/2metal blocks/4tpl bl/BD/ marimba-harp-pft-strings |
B&H |
| Anniversary | 1989 |
6' |
3(III=picc).2.corA.2.bcl.2.dbn-4.3.3.1- timp.perc(2):vib/marimba/xyl/ 3susp cym-pft(=cel)-strings(16.14.12.10.8) |
B&H |
| Boston Concerto | 2002 |
19' |
3(II,III=picc).corA.3(III=bcl).3(III=dbn)- 4.3.3.1-perc(3):xyl/vib/log dr/4bongos/ hi SD/susp.cym/wood chime;mar/ log dr/4tpl.bl/2cowbells/susp.cym; BD/tom-t/4wdbls/guiro/susp.cym/maracas/ med SD-harp-pft-strings |
B&H |
| Coming so soon after the Symphonia — and from a composer now in his nineties — this was an extraordinary flourish of orchestral rejuvenation. The pattern is similar to that of the intervening ASKO Concerto: music of one kind, often using rather full resources, is interleaved with episodes of different sorts for different ensembles. Among the latter are inventions for flutes plus clarinets and for single reeds, a slowly revolving brass object and a passionate strain from strings. The abiding spirit, however, is that of the rapid, shimmering main music — rain music, recalling a poem by William Carlos Williams in which love is seen, like showers, to “bathe every open object of the world.” Writing to a commission from the Boston Symphony, Carter fittingly dedicated the score to his wife, Helen. | ||||
| A Celebration of some 100 x 150 notes | 1986 |
3' |
2.picc.2.corA.2.bcl.2.dbn-4.3.3.1- timp.perc(1):glsp/vib-pft(=cel)- strings(16.14.12.10.8) |
B&H |
| Concerto for Orchestra | 1969 |
23' |
3(2pic)3(ca)3(Ebcl,bcl)3(cbn)/43(Dtpt)31/ timp.6perc[+2]/hp.pf/str |
AMP |
| Asked by the New York Philharmonic to write a piece for its 125th anniversary in 1969, Carter produced a grand, expansive vision of the United States as a land swept by winds of transforming energy. The source of that vision was a poem, “Winds,” by the French writer St. John Perse. But its realization is fully Carterian, as vigorous currents of music drive through a soundscape in perpetual motion, full of surgings together, of wild solo breaks, of great climaxes and of spectacular disintegrations. Truly a concerto for orchestra, the work is a conversation of four different musics, for four different ensembles: cellos with keyed instruments and wood percussion; high woodwinds and strings with metal percussion; low instruments; and an alto-register group including violas, oboes and trumpets. | ||||
| Fons Juventatis | 2004 |
3' |
1.2(II=picc).2.corA.2.bcl.3(III=dbn)-4.3.3.0- perc(3):xylorimba; guiro; small SD/ maracas-pft-harp-strings |
B&H |
| Holiday Overture | 1944 |
10' |
3333/4331/timp.perc/pf/str |
AMP |
| The holiday that occasioned this exuberant overture was the liberation in June 1944 of Paris, a city Carter had known as a young man, studying with Nadia Boulanger. Under her influence, he had developed a style of straightforward harmony, clear design and upbeat projection, with jazz, folk song and hymn features to mark the music “Made in the U.S.A.” But there was also something more exploratory under his musical skin, and some of the overture’s bustle comes from colliding rhythms and contradictory speeds such as would enliven later works. Here he expresses relief that the war was coming to an end — even if, for his music, this was only the beginning. | ||||
| Micomicón | 2002 |
3' |
2.picc.2.corA.1.bcl.cbcl.2.dbn-4.3.3.1-harp- pft-timp.perc(2):susp.cym/3 tom-t/BD/mar; crash cyms/xyl-strings |
B&H |
| The Minotaur, Suite from the Ballet | 1947 |
25' |
2(pic)2(ca)2(bcl)2/4220/timp.perc/pf/str |
AMP |
| Like Pocahontas, this ballet score was commissioned by Lincoln Kirstein, a Harvard contemporary of the composer. The music was completed in 1947, and brought Carter’s Stravinskyish neoclassical style to a magnificent apotheosis. Like Stravinsky so often, Carter chose a subject from Greek mythology and treated it sometimes with antique severity, as in the wind-heavy overture, sometimes with considerable drama or charm. Music for the labyrinth is based on a repeating brute fanfare, as if the Minotaur, half-man, half-bull, could see himself reflected everywhere within his elaborate prison. Ariadne and Theseus, who will kill the Minotaur, dance a delightful, lightly jazzed pas de deux for slimmed orchestra. The composer’s concert version, or “suite,” cuts rather little from the score, and certainly not the choice items mentioned here. | ||||
| More's Utopia | 2004 |
3 |
1.2picc.2.corA.2.cbcl.2.dbn-4.3.3.1-perc(3): log dr/tpl.bls/wdbls/lg slap stick/xylorimba; tam-t/gong/4susp.cyms/vib; BD/tom-t-pft-strings |
B&H |
| Partita | 1993 |
17' |
picc.2(II=picc).2.corA.2(II=Ebcl).bcl.2.dbn. -4.3.3.1-timp.perc(3or4): 2metal bl/ 2cowbells/2suspcyms/2wdbl/4tpl.bl/ wood dr/gavel/guiro/4bongos/ 2tom-t/SD/BD/glsp/vib/xyl/marimba- pft-harp-strings |
B&H |
| Pocahontas, Suite from the Ballet | 1939 |
20' |
3222/4331/4timp.perc/hp.pf/str |
AMP |
| Carter’s first big work was this powerful ballet score, which he composed between 1936 and 1939, to a commission from his Harvard classmate Lincoln Kirstein. Like Copland at the same time (in Billy the Kid), Carter found a distinctively U.S. style to clothe a distinctly U.S. mythology, with occasional overt references to jazz and a sophisticated handling of Amerindian and period colors. Stravinsky’s monumental grandeur, too, is emulated. The twenty-minute suite includes a scene of delicate strangeness for Pocahontas and her entourage, together with more robust dances and the majestically grave finale. | ||||
| Remembrance | 1988 |
7' |
1.2picc.2.corA.2.bcl.2.dbn-4.3.3.1-timp.perc: BD/glsp/vib-cel(=pft)- strings(minimum:16.14.12.10.8) |
B&H |
| Sound Fields | 2007 |
4' |
for string orchestra |
B&H |
| In thinking about musical contrasts between thick textures and thin ones, I had the idea of composing a piece which depended only on such contrasts, always remaining at the same dynamic and tone color using strings non- vibrato. Helen Frankenthaler’s fascinating Color Field pictures encouraged me to try this experiment. |
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| Soundings | 2005 |
10' |
picc.2(=picc).2.corA.2 (I=Ebcl,II=bcl).dbcl.2.dbn- 4.3.3.1-timp.perc(2):xyl/tmple blks/bongos/ 2susp.cyms/cowbell/low conga drums/ 2 tom-t/BD;claves/4wdbl/2SD/2 susp.cyms/ log dr/2 low tom-t-pft-strings |
B&H |
| Carter wrote this piece as a leaving present for Daniel Barenboim — who had been responsible for commissioning several works, including Partita and What Next? — on completing his tenure as music director of the Chicago Symphony. The music flows characteristically through diverse musical scenes: a scherzo for oboe, horn and bassoon, interfoldings of chords from different families, a powerful tutti, a warbling of three piccolos around a high violin duet, a slow movement for strings with tuba (perhaps remembering Partita). These “soundings,” and others, are introduced by the conductor-pianist, who also has the last, decisive-humorous sentence. | ||||
| Symphonia: sum fluxae pretium spei | 1993-1996 |
47' |
3(II,III=picc).2.corA.2(II=Ebcl).bcl.2.dbn- 4.3.3.1-timp.perc(4): 2metal bl/2cowbells/ 3susp.cyms/2wdbl/4tpl.bl/wood dr/gavel/ guiro/4bongos/2tom-t/SD/BD/glsp/vib/ xyl/marimba-harp-pft-strings |
B&H |
| A symphony beyond symphonies, this was an astoundingly and hearteningly massive achievement for a composer in his mid-eighties. The invention is consistently alert, the execution masterful and the development typically nimble. Thinking of a Latin poem by the seventeenth-century English poet Richard Crashaw, Carter adopts the viewpoint of a bubble floating above human affairs, observing, in the three movements, the games people play, the tragedies they endure, and the life that goes on fizzing through them. These movements may be performed separately and were separately commissioned, Partita by the Chicago Symphony, Adagio tenebroso by the BBC and Allegro scorrevole by the Cleveland Orchestra. But it is when they are played together that the full breadth of this extraordinary work stands revealed. | ||||
| Symphony No. 1 | 1942 |
25' |
222(Ebcl)2/2210/timp/str |
AMP |
| Only Pocahontas is earlier in Carter’s orchestral output: this symphony was completed in December 1942, in a world at war. Roy Harris and William Schuman had both recently, in their third symphonies, created works of stirring appeal. That was not Carter’s way. His symphony is scored for a Mozart-Haydn orchestra, and is too restless to become rhetorical. The melody-filled first movement is rooted in the sea-songs of Cape Cod, where Carter was married to his wife, Helen, to whom he dedicated the score. A solo trumpet leads the hymn-like middle movement, and the exhilarating finale borrows some of its rhythmic bounce from jazz while also showing the composer’s contrapuntal mastery. By the time Carter wrote another symphony, A Symphony of Three Orchestras, his style had changed almost beyond recognition — but not entirely: the trumpet would again have its solo. | ||||
| A Symphony of Three Orchestras | 1976 |
17' |
Orch I: 0000/322+btbn.1/timp/str(8.0.4.3.2); Orch II: 002(bcl)+Ebcl.0/0000/chm.vib.xyl/ mba/str(2.0.0.3.1); Orch III: 2+pic.2+ca.02+cbn/2000/perc/ str(8.0.4.0.2) |
AMP |
| Completed on the last day of 1976, this score was commissioned to mark the U.S. bicentennial. Hence the composer’s recourse to a poem he had long contemplated setting: Hart Crane’s sixty-page The Bridge, a vision of America as a metaphysical ideal: the realization of liberty and home of contraries. Crane’s opening image of a gull wheeling high above Brooklyn Bridge is marvelously evoked in a long, looping trumpet solo near the start, and later the work seems to reconceive Crane’s depictions of multitudes, of speed, of heavy industry and of history metamorphosed into myth. It is the interweaving of strands that requires three orchestras, i.e. a standard symphony orchestra split into three divisions placed across the platform: brass, timpani and strings; clarinets, tuned percussion (including piano) and a small string group; and woodwinds with untuned percussion and strings. | ||||
| Three Illusions for Orchestra | 2004 |
9' |
3(II,III=picc).2.corA.2(II=bcl).bcl.dbcl. 3(III=dbn)-4.3.3.1-timp-perc(3):susp.cym/ 4tom-t/BD/mar/xylorimba/log dr/4 tpl.bl/ 4wdbl/lg slapstick;cyms/xyl/vibr/guiro/ tam-t/nipple gong/4susp.cyms/vib; cyms/xyl/vib/BD/4tom-t-pft-harp-strings |
B&H |
| Carter wrote this triptych of miniatures for the Boston Symphony and its newly appointed music director James Levine, a longstanding friend of his music. The illusions — dreams regarded with humor but also with recognition of their continuing power — come from two Renaissance authors (Cervantes for Micomicón, Thomas More for More’s Utopia) and from Roman legend (Fons juventatis, the fountain of youth). “Micomicón,” in Don Quixote, is a fantasy realm invented by Sancho Panza; its musical realization is as a long melody, most stirringly conveyed by the strings, which survives assaults and laughter. In Fons juventatis burblings, sprays, trills and droplets seem to respond both to the fountain and to the folly of those drawn to it. As for Utopia, Carter’s interpretation is clangorous with doubt and horror at More’s regimented vision. | ||||
| Three Occasions for Orchestra | 1986-1989 |
16' |
3(II,III=picc).2.corA.2.bcl.2.dbn-4.3.3.1-timp. perc(2):vib/marimba/ xyl/3susp.cym/BD/ glsp-pft(=cel)-strings(16.14.12.10.8) |
B&H |
| These are indeed occasional pieces, written for junctures of public celebration, of commemoration, and of private joy and gratitude. But they have outlasted their occasions and become occasions themselves — compact expressions of the brilliance, vivacity and expressive reach of Carter’s later music. A Celebration of Some 100 × 150 Notes is a carnival in sound, written at the behest of the Houston Symphony to mark the 150th anniversary of the state of Texas. Remembrance remembers Paul Fromm, a great patron of contemporary music, and takes the form of a broken oration for solo trombone. Anniversary Carter wrote as a dashing and affectionate present for his wife, Helen, on their golden wedding anniversary. | ||||
| Variations for Orchestra | 1955 |
24' |
2(pic)222/4231/timp.perc/hp/str |
AMP |
| Increasingly recognized as one of the twentieth century’s orchestral masterpieces, this is a work of vital poetry and punch. The variations are highly varied in sound and character — stormy, fizzing, declamatory — but the thrust of the harmony, the rhythmic urgency and the sheer musical invention drive through to weld all these diverse sequences into a strong whole. Though the work has a sturdiness Carter was soon to leave behind, its unpredictable flow and constantly changing colors suggest a kind of abstract Debussy, and the French composer’s ballet score Jeux is briefly recalled in the powerfully expressive finale. In freshness, optimism and abundance, however, the score is unmistakeably American. | ||||
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| SOLOIST(S) AND ORCHESTRA | ||||||
| Title | Year | Length | Orchestration | Publisher | ||
| Cello Concerto | 2000 |
18' |
Cello; 3(III=picc).2.corA.2(II=bcl).bcl(=dbcl).2. dbn-4.3.3.1-timp.perc(3):I=xyl/glsp/marimba/4tpl.bl/ 2cowbells/4wdbl/2log dr; II=vibr/2SD/BD/3tom-t/ 4bongos; III=guiro/2SD/3susp.cym- harp-strings |
B&H |
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| Carter said before writing this piece that he would have to make beautiful music for cello and keep the orchestra quiet, which is rather how it turned out: the piece is a sequence of songs for the soloist, lightly accompanied. But of course the remark was not entirely serious. Carter being Carter, the soloist’s almost continuous melodizing is prompted, countered, supported and varied by constant dialogue both with and within the orchestra. Also characteristic is the form: a linked sequence of six diverse movements, with an introduction that looks forward to all of them. Among the six are a jazzy scherzo, a beautifully sustained slow movement next to last, and finally a virtuoso firework display. The concerto was commissioned by the Chicago Symphony for Yo Yo Ma. | ||||||
| Concerto for Piano | 1964 |
25' |
Piano; 3(2pic)2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4331/2perc/str |
AMP |
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| Composed in Berlin in 1964-5, this powerful score reimagines concerto form as cold war. The piano and the orchestra are separate entities — they may even be separated on the platform — and they have their own natures, their own ideas and their own ways of going about things. A few instruments gather round the piano: three woodwinds (flute, English horn, bass clarinet) and four strings (violin, viola, cello, bass). But though the contributions from these are warmly expressive, within a generally torrential and emphatic score, they fail to alleviate the continuing tension, which explodes at times in noises recalling what the composer was hearing from a nearby U.S. firing range. | ||||||
| Double Concerto | 1961 |
23' |
Harpsichord, Piano; Two Chamber Orchestras: 1(pic)11(Ebcl)1/2110/4perc/str(1.0.1.1.1) |
AMP |
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| Acclaimed a masterpiece by Stravinsky, this exuberant turmoil of notes, colors, speeds and directions was completed in August 1961. Carter has associated its constant change with words by the Roman philosopher-poet Lucretius, who saw a universe in which everything, everywhere is in movement: “Out of the infinite come the particles / Speeding above, below, in endless dance.” Subatomic particles, they might be, streaming, colliding, conjoining and breaking apart, or stars and galaxies in perpetual evolution. The marvels of scientific discoveries of the time are rendered as sound, playing from and between two ensembles, with the soloists at piano and harpsichord each accompanied by a miniature, nine-piece orchestra of winds, strings and percussion. Equally, the dangers of the age of hydrogen bombs and intercontinental missiles are there, as the piece moves toward its great crash — and yet there is an optimistic lightness, even gaiety, in the spindrift afterward. | ||||||
| Horn Concerto | 2006 | 12' |
solo horn; 1.2picc.2.corA.2.bcl.cbcl.2cbn.2-0.2.2.1- |
B&H |
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| James Levine, conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, told me several years ago that I should pay attention to the remarkable horn performances given at the symphonyconcerts of James Sommerville. I was so impressed with this player’s skills and artistic imagination that I decided to write a concerto for him.Many ideas swarmed through my mind, some of which I sketched out and he had the kindness to come to New York City and play them over so beautifully that I got busy with the score in 2006 in New York City. The work is formed of a number of short sections presenting the many different facets of the horn, which are most remarkable and beautiful. - notes by Elliott Carter |
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| Interventions | 2007 |
15' |
solo pft-3(1,3=picc, 2=Afl).3(II=corA).2(II=bcl). cbcl(=bcl).2.dbn-4.3(=Bb trpt).3.1-1-perc(4)xyl/ mar/4bongos/lowcym/high SD/cowbell/lg almglock/ tam-t;4tmpl.bl/high cym/med SD/med.tom-t/ slapstick/BD;4wdbl/med.cym/low SD/low tom-t/ guiro/wood drum/claves;2metal pipes.2 timbales/ wind gong/nipple gong/maracas/sizzle cym-strings |
B&H |
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| Oboe Concerto | 1986-1987 |
25' |
Oboe; Concertino: 4vla perc(1):4timp/vib/glsp/ 2metal.bl/2wdbl/4tpl.bl/ 2cowbells/4bongo/ 2tom-t/susp.cym/guiro Orchestra: 1(=afl/picc).0.1(=bcl).0-1.0.1.0-perc(1): marimba/xyl/BD/ tam-t/military.dr/2SD/ 2susp.cym-strings(10.8.2.6.4 or 8.6.0.4.2) |
B&H |
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| Expressing what the composer has called “widely varying, mercurial moods,” the oboe sings from one end of this work to the other. Its songs are seconded by a concertino group of four violas plus a percussionist, while the main orchestra (still chamber-sized) “opposes their flighty changes with a more regular series of ideas, usually on the serious side, sometimes bursting out dramatically”. Playing continuously, the piece broadly follows the usual fast-slow-fast pattern of concertos, with the soloist challenged in the “slow movement” by the trombone — but not for long before oboistic playfulness and expressivity win through. Paul Sacher commissioned the work for Heinz Holliger, who gave the first performances at the time of the composer’s eightieth birthday. | ||||||
| Of Rewaking | 2002 |
17' |
Mezzo-soprano; 2(II=picc).2(II=corA).1.bcl. 2(II=dbn)-2.1.1.0-perc(3):gavel;gong/ med.susp.cym/hi SD/lg cowbelll/4wdbls; tam-t/2log dr/3tom-t/med SD/hi susp.cym/ mar;BD/lo SD/lo susp.cym/sm cowbell/ 4 bongos/guiro/vib-pft-strings(min. 6.4.4.3.2 players) |
B&H |
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|
For this song cycle of his mid-nineties, Carter chose poems by William Carlos Williams bearing on his favorite subject of time: the racing pace of time as a storm against which human beings have to brace themselves or not, the pastness of memory in which we spend most of our lives, and the presentness we discover in the thrill of love, imagination or music. The scoring is for a Mozart-Haydn orchestra with three percussionists, piano and harp, a group used alone in the middle song. All through, the vocal line is central, creating a scene of solitary contemplation in a recitative and contrasting arias. The work was commissioed by the Royal Philharmonic Society, but had its first performance in Chicago, under Daniel Barenboim’s direction. |
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| Violin Concerto | 1990 |
28' |
Violin; 2(II=picc).picc.2.corA.2(II=Eb,bcl).bcl. 2.dbn-4.3.3.1-perc(2): timp/ glsp/crot/vib/ sm&lg susp.cym/sm&lg SD/tam-t/BD- strings (either 16.14.12.10.8 or 14.12.10.8.6) |
B&H |
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| Composed for the Norwegian soloist Ole Bøhn, this is one of the great violin concertos of the late twentieth century, in company with those of György Ligeti and John Adams. Its shape is unusually orthodox for Carter: a big opening movement, full of combat and of urgent lyricism from the soloist, is followed by a slow movement and then a light, capricious finale. Carter’s violin, though, is typically independent. It spends most of the slow movement resisting the orchestra’s invitations to relax into elegy, and it turns the finale from dancing humor to a renewal of argument, cuing a cadenza. | ||||||
| Voyage | 1943 |
8' |
Mezzo-soprano or Baritone; 2121/1000/vib/hp.pf/str(4[+4].3[+4].2[+4]. 2[+3].1[+3] players) Alt: pf |
AMP |
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| A long song, Voyage is a journey and a meditation. Carter set the Hart Crane text in 1943, then came back to it more than thirty years later, in 1975, when he also arranged his Frost songs of the same period and wrote A Mirror on Which to Dwell, all for solo voice with chamber orchestra. There is thus another long journey between Voyage and A Mirror, and yet the voice in this earlier piece, though so much less complicated in expression, similarly thinks as it sings, and the accompaniment is similarly support and reflection. Remarkable, too, is Carter’s ability to open and sustain the musical space through which the voyage is made. | ||||||
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| CHORUS AND ORCHESTRA | ||||
| Title | Year | Length | Orchestration | Publisher |
| The Harmony of Morning | 1944 |
9' |
SSAA; 1111/1000/pf/str |
AMP |
| The ‘harmony of morning’ comes as fresh light — as clear consonance energized by rhythmic liveliness. Carter at this point in his life (the work dates from 1944) found the same lessons in contemporary jazz and in English madrigals: lessons having to do with syncopations that give a twist to supple lines, and with making a keen, direct response to the sounds and meanings of words. Morning’s harmony also reilluminates strict counterpoint, making this altogether a piece of great charm, ebullience and fun. | ||||
| Tarantella | 1936 |
8' |
Men's Chorus; 2+pic.22+bcl.2+cbn/432+btbn.1/ timp.perc.xyl/str Alt: pf 4-hands |
AMP |
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| CHORUS | ||||
| Title | Year | Length | Orchestration | Publisher |
| Harvest Home | 1937 |
4' |
SATB |
B&H |
| Heart Not So Heavy As Mine | 1938 |
6' |
SATB |
AMP |
| Mad Regales | 2007 | 9' |
S.M.A.T.Bar.B | B&H |
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| CHORUS AND ENSEMBLE | ||||
| Title | Year | Length | Orchestration | Publisher |
| Let's Be Gay | 1937 |
3' |
chorus (SSA), two pianos |
B&H |
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| LARGE ENSEMBLE | ||||
| Title | Year | Length | Orchestration | Publisher |
| ASKO Concerto | 1999-2000 |
12' |
1(=picc).1.1.bcl.1-1.1.1.0-perc(1):xyl/vib/marimba/ med SD/BD-harp-pft(=cel)-2vln.vla.vlc.db |
B&H |
| Composed for — and named for — one of the leading European new-music ensembles, this piece instituted a new kind of concerto grosso, one in which the “concertino” group is different for each solo moment. The whole ensemble is used only for the music’s frame, interrupting or dissolving the solo-style sections, and manifesting each time the same chord. In between come scenes from a wordless opera: a double bass sings love songs to a slippery, runaway clarinet; piccolo, harp and percussion together make fountains of moonlight; other instruments dream over one another in slow, undulating counterpoint. Altogether this is one of Carter’s most immediately appealing works. | ||||
| Mosaic | 2004 |
10' |
fl(=afl,picc).ob(=corA).cl(=bcl)-harp-vln.vla.vlc.db |
B&H |
| Penthode | 1985 |
18' |
1(=picc,afl).1(=corA).1(=Eb).bcl(=dbcl). 1-1.2.1.1-perc(3):marimba/ 3tpl.bl/2wdbl/ lg SD/sm susp.cym/wood dr/gavel;vib/crot/ sm tgl/guiro/3 susp.cym/military dr/gong/ tam-t;claves/whip/4bongos/sm snare dr/ 3 tom-t/BD/cowbell-pft-harp-1.1.1.1.1 |
B&H |
| Written for Pierre Boulez’s Ensemble InterContemporain, Penthode is a twenty-minute slow movement of inexorable continuity. The weight is that of a work for full orchestra, the power geological, evoking the slow glide — with occasional volcanic slips — of tectonic plates. At the same time, this is music bursting with brilliance and dash, for the solid adagio represents only one of the work’s strata, alongside others that include a supple melodic line passing from instrument to instrument all through the piece, as well as flurries and controversies from constantly varying groupings. These features make it the first of Carter’s ‘multi-concertos’, where musical energy fizzes through diverse solos and ensembles. | ||||
| Réflexions | 2004 |
10' |
2(I=picc2,afl,II=picc1).1.corA.2(I=Eb cl,II=bcl, dbcl).2(II=dbn)-2.2.2.0- perc(3):4bongos/4wdbls/ BD/gong/sm.susp.cym/lg.snare dr/xylorimba; 4tom-t/tam-t/stones/sm.snare dr/2log drs/ sm.triangle/lg.susp.cym/vib/glsp;4tpl.bls/ sm.cow bell/almglocke/med.snare dr/hammer/ guiro/claves/med.susp.cym-pft-harp- strings(2.1.2.2.1) |
B&H |
| Conceived as an eightieth-birthday present for the composer’s longstanding friend and supporter Pierre Boulez, this colorful and often humorous piece is a swirl of reflections on six notes that spell out the dedicatee’s surname. The score is also a homage to the Ensemble InterContemporain, which was to give the first performance (as also of the composer’s Penthode and his concertos for oboe and clarinet). Accordingly, the music is a sparkling sequence of virtuoso solos and duets, including a comic turn for contrabass clarinet in the extreme low register, bright discourses for flutes and trumpets, and a cello thrust in which, Carter has observed, “the cello plays a wrong note, B natural, which the orchestra doesn’t like, so then it plays the right note, which is B flat.” | ||||
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| SOLOIST(S) AND LARGE ENSEMBLE | ||||
| Title | Year | Length | Orchestration | Publisher |
| Clarinet Concerto | 1996 |
18' |
Clarinet; 1.2(II=corA).0.1-1.1.1.1-perc(3): glsp/4bongos/sm tom-t/lg tom.t/med susp.cym/ wood dr/tam-t/xyl/2metal bl/tpl.bl/lg SD/ lg susp.cym/vib/ sm wdbl/cencerros/ sm susp.cym/sm SD/med tom-t/ BD-harp-pft-strings (1.1.1.1.1) |
B&H |
| Writing to a commission from Pierre Boulez and the Ensemble InterContemporain, Carter decided to dramatize concerto form rather as Boulez had done in his similarly scored Domaines. The ensemble is divided into five groups, placed in a semicircle around the soloist: a string quintet, a pairing of harp with piano, a percussion trio, a brass quartet and a foursome of woodwinds. In a sequence of six short movements, joined by interludes, the clarinettist moves toward and plays with each of the groups in turn (twice with the brass), each conversation having a special character, whether witty, incisive or harmonious. The whole formation comes together in the interludes and the busy finale. | ||||
| Dialogues | 2003 |
14' |
Piano; 1(picc).1(corA).1.1(=dbn)-2.1.1.0 - strings (2.2.2.2.2 players*) * may be increased proportionately, up to a maximum of 12.10.8.6.4 players |
B&H |
| Compact in scale and form, this is a jewel of a concerto. The dialogues are, of course, between the piano — virtuoso and versatile — and the other instruments, working independently or in groups. Among the characters on display are a bluff bassoon, impassioned strings and a generously lyrical, melancholy English horn, encountered just before the work’s alacritous culmination. Wonderful moments come, too, when the piano’s harmonies are echoed by the orchestra. The work was commissioned by the BBC for Nicolas Hodges to play and Oliver Knussen to conduct. | ||||
| In Sleep, in Thunder | 1981 |
20' |
Tenor; 1(=picc,afl).1(=corA).1(=bcl).1-1.1.1.0- perc(1):vib/marimba/wdbl/cowbell/guiro/bottle/ maracas/sm sizzle cym/susp.cym/SD/TD/BD/ tam-t-pft-strings(1.1.1.1.1) |
B&H |
| Commissioned by the London Sinfonietta, this was Carter’s first venture in writing for the standard modern-music ensemble of soloists — an ensemble which he makes as clamorous as a full orchestra (especially in the fourth of the six songs, source of the title) but uses also for effects of breathtaking delicacy, as in the first song (with strings) or the fifth. The tenor line, lyrical yet urgent and robust, responds to the passionate philosophizing and to the engrossed first-person narrative of Robert Lowell’s poetry, while the instrumental music is typically full of color and character, setting the varied scenes but also bestirring the voice, continuing and sometimes contradicting what it expresses. At the end: deadpan humor. | ||||
| In the Distances of Sleep | 2006 | 15' |
2(II=picc).afl(=bass fl).1.2(I=Ebcl,II=bcl).bcl(=cbcl).1 |
B&H |
| A Mirror on Which to Dwell | 1975 |
20' |
Soprano; fl(pic,afl).ob(ca).cl(Ebcl,bcl).perc. pf.vn.va.vc.db |
AMP |
| Having written no vocal music for almost thirty years, Carter had built up a great reservoir of lyrical intent, enough to fuel the cascading lines of this diamond-brilliant opus. The voice, singing six poems by Elizabeth Bishop, is springy, alert — the voice of a mind in clear reflection on worlds outside and within, and on the mirror where they meet. Each song has its particular color and feeling, conveyed by the voice and also by the instruments, which provide their own mirror: the skittering oboe that evokes the movement of a sandpiper in the third song, or the small ensemble that sets out the wide spaces of the next number. | ||||
| Syringa | 1978 |
20' |
gtr, Mezzo-soprano, Bass; fl, ca, bcl, tbn, perc, pf, vn, va, vc, db |
AMP |
| The syringa is a flower, the saxifrage, or ‘rock-breaker’, which can burst up through cracks in limestone: so something living breaks out from something primeval and fissured. Similarly Carter’s piece is a whole organism issuing from shards — shards of Greek poetry, sung by the baritone, while the mezzo-soprano takes a 20th-century line, that of a poem John Ashbery wrote for the composer to set. In Carter’s universe, ancient and modern are not so far apart. The casual, contemporary voice of the Ashbery-singing mezzo expresses its own kind of fragmentation that took no time to achieve: is this an eye-witness report, a lecture, a museum guide’s spiel? Contrastingly, the Greek baritone is solid and authoritative. Moreover — and especially at the climax — the two singing personae seem to hear one another, as if, across two and a half millennia, they could touch. | ||||
| Three Poems of Robert Frost | 1975 |
6' |
High Voice; fl.ob.2cl.bn.hp.2vn.va.vc.db Alt: pf |
AMP |
| In the same year that he produced A Mirror on Which to Dwell — 1975 — Carter went back to arrange, similarly for small orchestra, two vocal works from 1943: Voyage and this short cycle of Robert Frost settings. The result is a study in contrasts. These Frost songs are brief, simple, direct and outgoing — quick bright moments, with an Americana feeling not so far from Copland, and with a prominent guitar as a reminder of folksong resonances. Yet Carter’s tight intricacy is a feature even of his early music, and each of these songs is a gem of motivic working. | ||||
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| DANCE | ||||
| Title | Year | Length | Orchestration | Publisher |
| The Minotaur | 1947 |
33' |
2(pic)2(ca)2(bcl)2/4220/timp.perc/pf/str |
AMP |
| Pocahontas | 1939 |
22' |
3222/4331/4timp.perc/hp.pf/str Alt: 2pf |
AMP |
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| OPERA | ||||
| Title | Year | Length | Orchestration | Publisher |
| What Next? | 1997-1998 |
47' |
Cast: lyric Soprano, dramatic Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone, boy alto Orch: 2(II=picc).2(II=corA).2(II=bcl).2(II=dbn)- 2.1.1.1-perc(4):I=SD/2cym/ thundersheet/6brake dr/ cowbell/marimba; II=cym/tamb/5cowbells/3metal pipes/washboard/vib; III=tam-t/hammer/lion's roar/gong/tom-t/cym/SD; IV=BD/2tom-t/SD/cym/flex/vib-harp-pft- strings(min.4.4.2.2.2) |
B&H |
|
Carter’s only opera (so far) is a comedy of characters who have misplaced their identities. Stopped by an accident on the way to a wedding, they are left unhurt but uncertain. Their lives unravel, and they catch at fragments of them before coming together to appeal for help from percussionist-roadworkers (who ignore them). In the helter-skelter finale, they rapidly begin to remember who they are as old antagonisms emerge. The vocal writing throughout is intensely characterful but also essentially lyrical: this is an opera in song — though it is also an opera in fantastical orchestral interplay, funny and forceful. |
||||
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| WORKS FOR 2-6 PLAYERS | ||||
| Title | Year | Length | Orchestration | Publisher |
| Au Quai | 2002 |
3' |
bassoon, viola |
B&H |
| Birthday Flourish | 1988 |
2' |
5 trumpets in C Alt: brass quintet 1.2.2.0 |
B&H |
| Brass Quintet | 1974 |
17' |
hn, 2tpt, tbn, btbn |
AMP |
| Call | 2003 | 17' |
2 tpt-hn |
B&H |
| Canon for 4 - Homage to William | 1984 |
5' |
flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello |
B&H |
| Canon for Three Equal Instruments “In Memoriam Igor Stravinsky” | 1971 |
2' |
3 instruments |
AMP |
| Canonic Suite (alto saxophones) | 1939 |
7' |
4asx |
AMP |
| Canonic Suite (clarinets) | 1939 |
7' |
4cl |
AMP |
| Con Leggerezza Pensosa - Omaggio a Italo Calvino | 1990 |
5' |
clarinet, violin, cello |
B&H |
| Clarinet Quintet | 2007 | 15' |
clarinet, string quartet | B&H |
| Duo | 1973 |
14' |
vn, pf |
AMP |
| Dust of Snow | 1943 |
|
vn, pf |
AMP |
| Eight Etudes and a Fantasy | 1949 |
23' |
fl, ob, cl, bn |
AMP |
| Enchanted Preludes | 1988 |
6' |
flute, cello |
B&H |
| Esprit Rude/Esprit Doux | 1985 |
4' |
flute, clarinet |
B&H |
| Esprit Rude/Esprit Doux II | 1994 |
5' |
flute, clarinet, marimba |
B&H |
| A Fantasy about Purcell’s “Fantasia upon One Note” | 1974 |
3' |
brass quintet |
AMP |
| Fragment No. 1 | 1994 |
4' |
string quartet |
B&H |
| Fragment No. 2 | 1999 |
3' |
string quartet |
B&H |
| Glock Birthday Fanfare |
2' |
3tpt, vib |
AMP |
|
| Hiyoku | 2001 |
4' |
two clarinets |
B&H |
| Immer Neu | 1992 |
5' |
oboe, harp |
B&H |
| Luimen | 1997 |
12' |
tpt.trbn-vib-mand-gtr-harp |
B&H |
| Oboe Quartet | 2001 |
17' |
ob-vln.vla.vlc |
B&H |
| Quintet for piano and string quartet | 1997 |
16' |
piano, string quartet |
B&H |
| Quintet for piano and winds | 1991 |
24' |
ob.cl(=Ebcl).bn-hn-piano |
B&H |
| Sonata for Cello and Piano | 1948 |
20' |
vc, pf |
AMP |
| Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello and Harpsichord | 1952 |
18' |
fl, ob, vc, hpd |
AMP |
| String Quartet No. 1 | 1950 |
45' |
string quartet |
AMP |
| String Quartet No. 2 | 1959 |
22' |
string quartet |
AMP |
| String Quartet No. 3 | 1971 |
22' |
string quartet |
AMP |
| String Quartet No. 4 | 1986 |
24' |
string quartet |
B&H |
| String Quartet No. 5 | 1995 |
21' |
string quartet |
B&H |
| Trilogy | 1992 |
15' |
oboe, harp |
B&H |
| Triple Duo | 1983 |
20' |
fl(=picc).cl(=Eb,bcl)-perc(1): glsp/crot/marimba/lg susp.cym/SD/ Bd/3tpl.bl/4tom-t-pft-vln.vlc |
B&H |
| Woodwind Quintet | 1948 |
8' |
fl, ob, cl, bn, hn |
AMP |
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| SOLO WORKS | ||||
| Title | Year | Length | Orchestration | Publisher |
| 4 Lauds | 1984-2001 |
15' |
violin |
B&H |
| A 6 Letter Letter | 1996 |
3' |
English horn |
B&H |
| 90+ | 1994 |
5' |
piano |
B&H |
| Bariolage | 1992 |
7' |
harp |
B&H |
| Caténaires | 2006 | 4' |
piano | B&H |
| Changes | 1983 |
7' |
guitar |
B&H |
| Eight Pieces for Four Timpani | 1950 |
22' |
timpani (1 player) |
AMP |
| Fantasy | 1999 |
3' |
violin |
B&H |
| Figment | 1994 |
5' |
cello |
B&H |
| Figment II | 2001 |
5' |
cello |
B&H |
| Figment III | 2007 | 3' |
contrabass | B&H |
| Figment IV | 2007 | 3' |
viola | B&H |
| Gra | 1993 |
5' |
clarinet Alt: trombone |
B&H |
| HBHH | 2007 | 2' |
oboe | B&H |
| Inner Song | 1992 |
5' |
oboe |
B&H |
| La Musique | 2007 | 2' |
mezzo-soprano solo | B&H |
| Matribute | 2007 | 4' |
piano | B&H |
| Intermittences | 2005 |
6' |
piano |
B&H |
| Night Fantasies | 1980 |
24' |
piano |
AMP |
| Retracing | 2002 |
3' |
bassoon |
B&H |
| Retrouvailles | 2000 |
2' |
piano |
B&H |
| Rhapsodic Musings | 2001 |
5' |
violin |
B&H |
| Riconoscenza | 1984 |
4' |
violin |
B&H |
| Scrivo in Vento | 1991 |
5' |
flute |
B&H |
| Shard | 1997 |
3' |
guitar |
B&H |
| Statement | 1999 |
3' |
violin |
B&H |
| Steep Steps | 2001 |
3' |
bass clarinet |
B&H |
| Two Diversions | 1999 |
8' |
piano |
B&H |
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| SOLO VOICE AND UP TO 6 PLAYERS | ||||
| Title | Year | Length | Orchestration | Publisher |
| Of Challenge and of Love | 1944 |
22' |
soprano, piano |
B&H |
| The Rose Family | 1943 |
|
voice, pf |
AMP |
| Tell Me Where is Fancy Bred | 1938 |
3' |
medium voice, gtr |
AMP |
| Tempo e Tempi | 1989-1999 |
17' |
sop-ob(=corA).cl(=bcl)-vln.vlc |
B&H |
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