Wednesday, May 10, 2006

as old as modern music itself

Elliott Carter.

a review of his recent work for piano.


And there he was on Friday night at Carnegie Hall, 97, standing to receive applause after the New York premiere of "Intermittences." Written last year for the pianist Peter Serkin, who performed it in his solo recital, the piece has more vim and vitality than plenty of music by composers a third of Mr. Carter's age.
More here.

And this
The work was typical Carter, arbitrary and interminable (although short). Honestly, any other note could have been substituted for any one of these and no one would have been disappointed. Was Mr. Serkin faithful to the score? Who knows? Mr. Carter was on hand for a nod to the crowd.


Whatever.

Lately, actually for good while now, I've been sorely disappointed with the Times (to say nothing of the Sun) in terms of the music criticism and reviews. More interesting writing I found in other places. Usually places far from New York.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Was the Sun reviewer joking when he said that he didn't know whether it was Josquin or Wuorinen who stood up after the latter's arrangement of a piece by the former?

The Well Tempered Blog said...

My guess: not joking.

It's that sad.