Soundings

Soundings celebrates the conductor/ pianist Daniel Barenboim, whose Chicago Symphony Orchestra commissioned this score which was written in New York City in 2005.


It presents a " soundings " of the conductor-pianist and of many instrumental groups or soloists within the orchestra and presents them with good - humor.


Elliott Carter


Reproduction Rights
This programme note can be reproduced free of charge in concert programmes with a credit to the composer.

“Soundings packs a lot of invention into its dozen minutes. Carter celebrates the two Barenboims, giving him music to play at the piano and a lot more music to conduct, but never at the same time… In between, Carter gives us a parade of rapidly shifting orchestral ideas: horn and woodwinds chopping up a darting phrase; the subterranean rumbles of contrabass clarinet; a twittering trio of piccolos; a pensive tuba solo that's actually longer than the entire piano part. Through it all, there's Carter the high-modernist artisan, delighting in the virtuosic sinew of a great orchestra he knows well.”
Chicago Tribune