Elliott Carter
• "One of America's most distinguished creative artists in any field" (Aaron Copland)
• Awarded two Pulitzer Prizes (String Quartet No. 2, 1960; String Quartet No. 3, 1973); as well as official recognition from the governments of France, Germany, Italy, and the US
• Intricate, mercurial work often mirrors human interactions and relationships
• Music championed by leading conductors including Boulez, Barenboim, Knussen, Dohnányi, Levine, Gielen, Holliger and Morlot
• Late career creative burst yielded an outpouring of major orchestral scores and chamber works, in a style marked by clarity of texture and a new directness of formal design
Works by Elliott Carter include:
Triple Duo (1983) for chamber ensemble
Symphonia for orchestra: Partita (1993), Adagio Tenebroso (1994), Allegro Scorrevole (1996)
What Next? (1999) opera in one act
Flute Concerto (2008) for flute and ensemble
Looking Ahead: Symphoniker Hamburg performs Three Illusions for Orchestra, led by Sylvain Cambreling (Nov 10); Liverpool’s Ensemble 10:10 performs Instances, led by Manoj Kemps (Nov 20)
"There is often wit and humour to be heard in [Carter's] work; anger in some of the earlier big pieces; increasing lyricism and beauty in the compositions of the recent decades. He is America's great musical poet." — Andrew Porter, Musical America
“[Carter’s music is] often suffused with quiet delight, as if the Moderns’ great crisis of subjectivity might, and should, be looked on as an opportunity rather than an occasion for terrible doubt.” — Guy Dammann, Times Literary Supplement