New Music Concerts Ensemble - Elliott Carter: 100th Anniversary Release - Mosaic, Dialogues, Enchanted Preludes, Scrivo In Vento (CD + DVD)
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Music CD Cover
Artist: New Music Concerts EnsembleComposer: Carter
Conductor: Aitken
Edition: Music CD
Format: Deluxe Edition
CD Release Date: 2008-11-18
Music Label: Naxos American
Free Music Notes for Elliott Carter: 100th Anniversary Release - Mosaic, Dialogues, Enchanted Preludes, Scrivo In Vento (CD + DVD)
Free Music Review: Highly variable in quality, but some good moments
Hit: 3 Stars
This Naxos release from 2008 celebrated Elliott Carter's 100th birthday. Early pressings included a DVD, but if you can't get one, then you aren't missing out on much as it includes only a couple of performances in TV-quality video and unimpressive sound. In this review I'll discuss only the audio CD. The pieces here are performed by various American and Canadian musicians and the soloists are Erica Goodman on harp, David Swan on piano, David Hetherington on cello, Robert Aiken on flute, Virgil Blackwell on bass clarinet and Max Christie on clarinet.
The standout pieces are two of Carter's post-millennial concertos, which in contrast to the brash, angry-sounding works of the 1960s generally feature the soloist conversing with successive instruments or duos instead of everyone at once. Although many 20th century composers have written music that seeks to overturn the stereotype of the harp as a Romantic instrument played by gentle ladies, "Mosaic" (2004) may still shock you with the aggressiveness of its solo part. "Dialogues" for piano and ensemble (2003) is a convival work, though the performance here is of such much lesser quality than that by Nicholas Hodges and the London Sinfonietta on a Bridge disc, as Robert Aiken's conducting is so clunky compared to Oliver Knussen.
The remaining pieces on the disc are short works for solo instruments or duos. Carter has written a large number of these pieces, but these are generally unmemorable. "Rhapsodic Musings" (2001) and "Riconoscenza per Goffredo Petrassi" (1984), both for solo violin are some of the rare triumphs. I've always thought this pieces just as strong an exploration of the possibilities of the instrument matched to a fine musical argument as Bach's sonatas for solo violin. Fujiko Imajishi's performance here is quite fine, but I find myself turning more often to that by Thomas Zehetmair on an ECM disc which also includes two other such pieces, Carter having put them together into a suite called "4 Lauds". "Figment" for solo cello (1994) is also quite enjoyable, a devilishly difficult piece to perform that sometimes reaches orchestral dimensions. Hetherington successfully negotiates this devilishly difficult pieces, but this recording is too closely miked for my taste and I prefer the sonics on a Naive disc where Rohan de Saram appears.
The other pieces aren't at the same quality. "Enchanted Preludes" for flute and cello (1988) is a forgettable, rather unloving dialogue. "Steep Steps" for bass clarinet (2001) meanders. "Scrivo in Vento" for flute solo (1991) is a slow piece with sudden changes of register, while "Gra" for clarinet (1994) is fast and whimsical. These all might serve well in a recital where a young performer wants to show off his talents, but they seem pretty lightweight to this home listener. Robert Aiken was the dedicatee of the pieces here for flute, so perhaps this disc might still have some attraction.
All in all, Carter's music has been better or better-performed elsewhere. Still, it's Naxos, so it's an affordable risk.
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