Music of Elliott Carter
Liner Notes   Cat. No. NWCR610     Release Date: 2007-01-01
American Composers Orchestra; Paul Dunkel, Conductor; Jan DeGaetani, mezzo-soprano; Thomas Paul, baritone; Group for Contemporary Music; Speculum Musicae; Benjamin Hudson, violin; John Graham, viola; Jerry Grossman, cello; Alvin Brehm, bass; Robert Stallman, alto flute; Virgil Blackwell, clarinet, bass clarinet; Taylor Steven, English horn; Lawrence Benz, bass trombone; Joseph Passaro, percussion; David Starobin, guitar; Robert Black, piano; Harvey Sollberger, Conductor

As an undergraduate at Harvard, Elliott Carter majored in English literature, but studied and heard a great deal of music inside and outside college. After taking his B.A., he remained to do graduate work with Walter Piston, Archibald T. Davison, Edward B. Hill and Gustav Holst, then a visiting professor. Upon taking the M.A. degree in 1932, Carter went to Paris for three years of study with Nadia Boulanger. The first public performances of Carter's music took place while he still was a student. He writes:

“I am told that the line of continuity of my works is very definite, each deriving from the previous one with little apparent relation to the various musical trends that have come and gone during the past forty years. The initial influence may have been the constructivism prevalent in American music in the ‘20s and ‘30s somewhat related to Scriabin, Roslavetz, and the Schoenberg school. Ives, Varèse, Ruggles, and Ruth Crawford all had certain tendencies in that direction as did Copland and Sessions.

“In fact, I was very much attracted to the avant-garde in the ‘20s and ‘30s with its interest in randomness, its collages, its fun and games with audiences and its artistic paradoxes, andhave felt that this cause was effectively presented then and did not need to be repeated again. The next step had to be taken and this is what I have tried to do insofar as my work can be said to adopt any aesthetic position, for I have been more concerned with writing the works than in demonstrating aesthetic notions.”

This title, originally issued on the CRI label, is now available as a burn-on-demand CD (CD-R) or download in MP3/320, FLAC or WAV formats. CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print booklet or jewel case included. Liner notes are accessible via the link above.

American Composers Orchestra

Music of Elliott Carter

MP3/320 $16.00
FLAC $16.00
WAV $16.00
CD-R $16.00
CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print material or jewel case included.
A *.pdf of the notes may be accessed here free of charge.
   Liner Notes



Track Listing

Holiday Overture
Elliott Carter
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Suite from Pocahontas: I. Overture (Allegro vigoroso)
Elliott Carter
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Suite from Pocahontas: II. John Smith and Rolfe Lost in The Virginia Forest
Elliott Carter
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Suite from Pocahontas: III. Princess Pocahontas and Her Ladies (Allegro grazioso)
Elliott Carter
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Suite from Pocahontas: IV. Torture of John Smith (Maestoso)
Elliott Carter
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Suite from Pocahontas: V. Pavane - Farewell of Pocahontas (Andante Sostenuto e Pesante)
Elliott Carter
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Syringa
Elliott Carter
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