Today sees the one hundredth birthday of the intercoursingly splendid Mister Elliott Carter, double Pulitzer Prize-winning composer of the kind of music that thrills me to the core and that sends braindead Daily Mail readers into apoplectic spasms.
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Here he is. I'm sure you'll join me in wishing him a very happy birthday.There's lots more about Carter and his centenary on his own site so go take a look and see what he's been up to for the past century, from his early days with Charles Ives and Aaron Copland through to the astonishing heights he has been scaling in his later years.
One thing's for certain: age certainly hasn't slowed the old bugger down. He composed nine new pieces last year and has another eight scheduled for this one.
This is a man who wrote his first opera in his nineties. Sheesh!
He's all over good old highbrow BBC Radio 3 this week (though I seriously doubt "Classic FM" or any of those other cultural deserts that play "one hundred best tunes from TV ads" or " your favourite elevator muzak" will air any of his work) and I've been happily playing through my massive stack of Carter CDs for days now.
Thanks in most part to champions of modern music such as Radio 3 he has a massive following over here and we tend think of him as an honorary European; most of his centenary concerts will be in London, Rome and Paris, though New York is joining in, too.
As he says himself: "I get about 13 times more royalties from Europe than I do from America.
I mean the public likes it more in Europe than they do here because the state supported organizations have felt that playing contemporary music was part of the education of the public."
Darn tootin'!
Anyhoo … Let's hear some Carter.
I do hope any Carter-virgins and the faint-hearted among you will listen right through and give yourselves a chance to appreciate such exciting and inspiring music.
This is a favourite piece he wrote in his eighty-ninth year.
"Quintet For Piano And Strings" .
The pianist is the wonderful Ursula Oppens and she's playing with the incomparably brilliant and uncompromisingly hardcore Arditti Quartet (Yay), whom I follow with a slavish teeny-bopper devotion.
They fucking rule!
Happy birthday, Elliott! Thank you for the first hundred years. Here's to many more years to come.
26 comments:
Happy Birthday, EC!
I'm so glad you're still a living legend, if only because it means you can enjoy our enjoyment of your work.
And thank you, Dive.
Just think, in fifty years time I'll be writing exactly the same words to you! (And don't give me that look.)
Ok I'll fess up -- I've heard of Elliott Carter, but really had no clue what sort of music he's done. Now I'm fascinated, after listening to both of these clips! I'll poke around his website and really get to know his music. Happy Birthday Mr. Carter!
Ah, Lucio and Katie; I somehow knew the twin culture vultures of Blogville would be on my side today.
I expect a deluge of "Huh?" when the rest of our neighbours wake up.
And yes, Lucio: tempus fugit … I am now more than half as old as Elliott Carter.
Scary stuff.
I'll have to come back to this as it won't work for me, but I can say...
Happy Birthday Mr. Carter! How wonderful that he is reached this marvellous age and is looking so good on it. Wow he is the second 100 year old I've seen in a month - things must be looking up for the rest of us.
You'll have to sneak back into the offices of your old paper and use the Mac, Lynn.
It's great to see the old guy looking so cheerful and still producing great and challenging music at his age.
Yes quite. Wonder if they'd notice? Perhaps I could pick up my cheque at the same time.
I think you should go in there all guns blazing, Lynn. Demand your cheque and when they start faffing around take one of the Macs as a "down payment".
Believe me; most men cower in terror when faced with shouty women.
Gosh I wish I had the nerve to do things like that, Dive. They promised I'd have the cheque tomorrow. Let's see.
Thing is, there's a few shouty women in there already! I'm not exactly a combative sort.
I'll keep my fingers crossed, Lynn.
If it's not there by lunchtime, call 'em and demand payment in goods (ie, a nice Mac laptop).
You don't have to be combative. Rule one in complaining is to stand in the middle of the room and speak loudly and clearly and don't let them shush you into a side room where they can quietly fob you off.
I love doing that in shops. They get so embarrassed they'll do anything to get rid of you.
Do let me know what turns up in tomorrow's post.
Oh, and do go and photograph that penis from your blog.
Well Dive, I can see why the European royalties are higher than the US ones. The tone is rather black, like movie music for a crime scene. Just when one is slumbering through the strings, out pops the piano to scare the living daylights out of one. Looking at Ursula's expression, one of anticipatory fear I would say, it is a scary damn piece. Brilliant, yes. But scary also. I don't think I could sit through a second listening. As ignorant as I am about "classical" music, I think I know what I like (and don't).
So, while I'm glad and incredibly impressed that Mr Carter wrote this at such a monumental age, in that it gives you so much pleasure my dear Dive, I have to plead "philistine" once again.
No way are you a Philistine, Mme!
This music is not something to simply leap into and appreciate from the start; I'll confess to deliberately choosing a piece with a startling opening. Hee hee.
With me, it was hearing Stravinsky's Rite of Spring for the first time as a teenager that opened my eyes to the wonders of modern music.
I would advise getting into it gently, like a very hot bath, and then luxuriating in it.
And yes, Ursula's mad, stary expression is such fun. Her other Carter recordings with the Ardittis are marvellous, especially the sonata for cello and piano and teh duo for violin and piano. I also have a wonderful version of her playing Carter's "90+".
So, Dive, chalk up one for me. Last Thursday my husband and I went to the dress rehearsal of the Boston Symphony where they played Carter's "Interventions" for piano and orchestra, a commissioned piece especially for Carter's 100th birthday. AND, Carter was in the audience and received a standing ovation. Because I am not (yet?) a great fan of Carter's music, I thought it was okay, but probably something I will have to listen to a lot of times to "get it". I love John Adams, and Stravinsky and especially Shostakovich (and also Beethoven). I have copied a link to a site I found from the bso.org where it seems you can listen to a podcast of the concert.
http://bso.org/bso/mods/toc_01_gen_noSubCat.jsp?id=bcat12650019
I hope you're able to access this and have a good listen.
I think the full-house audience at the BSO rehearsal had an average age of 75, so their enthusiastic applause might have been for his accomplishment of achieving 100 years as a productive and vital guy.
Now I'm going to listen to your audio clips. Thanks.
Hi, Lupine Lady.
Woohoo!
I am so jealous! You got to see the old guy himself! Fantastic!
Unfortunately the BSO site will only let me download podcasts of the talky bits but it sounds like a great concert.
Coincidentally, today I got sidetracked from my Carter CDs to mid period Stravinsky and his piano sonatas which I have played by both him and Charles Rosen (best buddy of both Carter and Stravinsky).
I too am a John Adams fan; I was enjoying Nixon in China on the train earlier this week (my three and a half hour door to door commute means I can listen to whole operas; a tiny silver lining to the commuting cloud).
Carter's music (like Copland's) comes in three phases; an early flirtation with folky Americana, a strict "modernist" mid period and a more refined late period where the instrumentation gets pared down and the music distilled into less notes but more intense ones.
He's easy to get used to if you start with the early stuff and work up.
Hip-Hip-Hooray to a grand man. You gotta be good to last that long and still he is adding to his merits. I love a good success story and this one is the best I've ever seen. Here's to another 100 years!
Well put, Mark.
Here's to him!
lol you're great, Dive! How amusing to think of you doing that. Wow.
Thank you for your support, seriously, that's very kind.
In the far-reaching colonies of Britain - out where the palm trees swing - we get heaps of culture too smarty pants!!!! Weep with jealousy Dive - no 100 year old composers for us, we have so much more culture than that!!!! We will have KAMAHL (singing Christmas Carols) LIVE AT THE GOLF CLUB tomorrow evening ......as apposed to DEAD AT THE GOLF COURSE (which possibly would be less irritating)
I'm sure I'll be washing the dog or something and listening to Elliot Carter on CD!!!!
BRAVO - 100 years !!
Thanks, Dive, I'll start with the early works as you suggest.
Well, honestly I prepared to hate this crap, but I actually like it, and it's not crap after all. I'm not sure I want to listen to an entire evening of it, but watching the musicians makes it fascinating. You know it's tough stuff when the pianist has to count out loud.
Happy birthday Carter.
Amazing, exciting, breathtaking and dramatic! Awesome video. I felt like I was part of the quartet.
I was not familiar with Carter. Thank you for the intro and happy birthday to Mr. Carter. T'was amazing.
Since my youngest is now part of a symphony orchestra, I am appreciating orchestral musical in a new way. (I was never much of a musician, but always an avid music lover).
Thanks Dive. If you do not respond to this comment, I know I am on your shit list. (like yesterday - no response equals shit list). Thank you very much.
Lynn: My pleasure. Now get in there and get shouty (unless the cheque turns up today).
Jules: I am in AWE of your festive cultural event. If I were not down with the smegging flu I would be heading for the airport right now.
Lupine Lady: Enjoy!
Robyn: I remember the days when a comment like this would make me dance around the room singing "Robyn said crap! Robyn said crap!" like a little kid.
You certainly know it's tough when a pianist of Ursula Oppens' standard has to count out loud and stare at Irvine Ardittit in blind panic.
To paraphrase rather loosely Charles Rosen (another Carter pianist): "Never mind that Joe SixPack reaches for his gun when he hears this stuff, challenging modern music will be around as long as there are musicians willing to be challenged."
Neetzy: I can only plead my flu as having blinded me to yesterday's comment and I grovel abjectly at your lovely feet, begging your forgiveness.
So cool that your youngest is in a symphony orchestra! Yay! I wonder what their programme is; we have not only Carter's centenary this week but Messiaen's too so there's some challenging music to be played right now.
I grovel once again on my way back up to bed. I hate flu.
Thanks this introduction to Mr Carter, I guess you knew I'd be interested. It's as true of classical music as it is of pop and rock that the things which grab you immediately die pretty quickly too. Something which takes a few listens is a much deeper and more lasting affair. We don't play anything quite like this in the band, but some of the contest test pieces can be pretty inaccessible to start with, but by the time you've worked on something for weeks and know it intimately, you develop a real love for it. I guess it's the same for your Arditti friends and Mr Carter.
I'd have expected a man producing such work to look as mad as a brush, like Sir Roger Norrington perhaps, rather than a nice old man in a cardy!
Hey, Pea!
I'm glad you approve of the old codger in his cardy. He can actually be a real curmudgeon but I think he was on his best behaviour for his birthday portrait.
Having heard some of the stuff you guys play in the band - especially the competition pieces - I can only reiterate Rosen's words above: "Challenging modern music will be around as long as there are musicians willing to be challenged."
The stuff you guys play is awesomely complex and I love it.
I also love the fact that it is "our Peahen" who gets to stand up there and push musical boundaries. You rule!
Bing listens to exclusively to BBC radio now, says that the music is so superior to anything over here that she can hardly bear to listen to ours. I will have to ask her what it is exactly that she listens to...
I only listen to BBC Radio 3 (the snooty highbrow station) and occasionally the news on Radio 4.
The rest is rubbish.
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