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Saturday, October 1, 2011

The Assertive Sonic Self: Anne-Sophie Mutter, on Making Every Note Heard in a Large Hall

W orld-class Mozart interpreters will have a carefully worked-out sound world in mind for each piece, and a profound sense of the music’s underlying rhetoric—that is, the language of tension and release that unlocks Mozart’s phrases and allows them to unfold as statements of great eloquence and often subtle but deep emotion... The best argument for playing these works without a conductor is that the soloist and orchestra can communicate directly, without an intermediary.”
— Jeremy Eichler, Boston Globe.

A ttended BSO’s opening last night, with Anne-Sophie Mutter performing (and conducting) Mozart violin concertos Nos. 3 and 5 with a ~20-instrument ensemble of BSO members. Admirable in all respects. Her pianissimos were fully audible, and the ensemble had sensitivity and control over its dynamics to let her sound come through.

I n part, the contrast and audibility are a result of the somewhat wider, European-style vibrato that Mutter chooses. Such ‘focus’ and projection of the voice and ‘self’—all that comes from the tiny violin box!

T hese Mozart concertos are wonderful, innocent things—ones that might merit less vibration in a smaller, more intimate venue. But the aesthetic rationale for vibrating more demonstratively in this way is clear, I think—the reason comes from the acoustic requirements of performing in a large hall like this, packed nearly to capacity with people as it was last night. In other words, authenticity in performance is not just faithfulness-to-the-text or appropriate in an historical performance practice sense. It presents a clean and stylistically coherent rendition, and one that takes into account not only the dialogue with the ensemble but also the dialogue with the audience under the conditions and constraints that prevail in the performance space. In this case, the wider-than-usual vibrato was in no way an affective, romanticized conceit, but instead was an accomodation to the realities of the large hall—an accomodation on behalf of us in the audience: Mutter communicating with us directly, as directly as she did with her ensemble colleagues.

M utter’s cadenzas were inspired—fresh as if they were improvised on the spot, and especially beautiful, magical. She makes you believe that the story she is telling is true, a personal fact, and you are the first one she is telling it to. Why we go to hear serious music, performed live.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Some Resources for Timpani Chamber Music

T he performances by Steven Merrill and Kyle Zerna at Tanglewood were spectacular. The music was almost like it was floating—it was fluid and virtuosic and amazingly tuneful. I’d never realized there was chamber music for timpani—a shortcoming of my training, I suppose, but there you are. Where might I go to find more of these—not just Carter’s chamber works and solo pieces for timpani, but other chamber works for timpani too, where the composer writes for timpani so the melodic and conversational capabilities of the instrument are featured? This [performance at Tanglewood] was way beyond ‘timpani-as-percussion’ [and I’d like to find and program other chamber pieces like these].”
— Anonymous.

The BSO’s Festival of Contemporary Music at Tanglewood (Elliott Carter Centenary) was consciousness-raising in many ways, and not just as a showcase for virtuosic solo timpani (reader comment above).

Saeta (1949) and Canaries (1949) [Steven Merrill (timpani)]
Canto (1966) and March (1949) [Kyle Zerna (timpani)]

Here are a few mp3 clips from several available recordings of other timpanists, to give you a flavor for some of the literature that’s out there:

[30-sec clip, Jonathan Faralli, Carter, ‘Canto’, 1MB MP3]

[30-sec clip, Staffan Borseman with Danmarks Radiosymfoniorkester members, Holmboe, ‘Chamber Concerto No. 1, Molto allegro’, 1MB MP3]

[30-sec clip, Alexander Peter with Dresden Phil Chamber Orch, Sammartini, ‘Symphony in g minor, for 2 Horns, 2 Violins, Viola, Double-Bass & Timpani, IV. Bouree’, 1MB MP3]

And here is a short list of some of the literature you may or may not be familiar with. There are some solo timpani works in here, but most of these are for ensembles consisting of timpani plus one or more non-percussion instruments.

Adams - Concerto for Timpani, Percussion & Winds
Andersen - Pirun Polska, Op. 49, for 2 Bassoons, 2 Horns, 2 Trumpets, Trombone, Timpani & Triangle
Arevalo - Meridian for Timpani, Cello & Piano
Badings - Passacaglia for Timpani & Organ
Bartók - Sonata for 2 Pianos & Percussion
Batigne - caracteres for Timpani & Piano
Beck - Sonata for Timpani; Three Episodes for Timpani
Biber - Sonatae tam Ares, for Trumpets, Strings, Timpani & Continuo
Bolcom - Dark Music for Timpani & Cello
Bovey - Tombeau d’Antenor
Britten - Concert Piece for Jimmy (Timpani & Piano)
Bump - Studie II: Epthyic for Percussion Quartet
Buss - Capriccio
Carroll - Chaconne
Carter - 8 Pieces for 4 Timpani
Chavez - Partita for Solo Timpani
Cheadle - Melodic Movements for Timpani
Cirone - Sonata No. 1 for Timpani & Piano
Denisov - Music for 11 Wind Instruments and Timpani, Op. 13
Druschetzky - Timpani Concerto, Partita in C, etc.
Firth - Solo Impressions for Timpani & Piano
Granados - Escena religiosa for Violin, Organ, Piano & Timpani
Graupner - Symphony in D major for 2 Trumpets, 4 Timpani, 2 Violins, Viola & Basso continuo (GWV 520-534); Symphony in G major for 2 Horns, 4 Timpani, 2 Violins, Viola & Basso continuo (GWV 596-599); Symphony in A major for 2 Horns, 4 Timpani, 2 Violins, Viola & Basso continuo (GWV 612).
Haydn - The Seven Last Words; others …
Helble - Night Music
Holmboe - Chamber Concerto for Piano, Strings & Timpani, Op. 17, No. 1 (molto allegro)
Houllif - Four Verses for Timpani
Kellogg - Ben, for Chamber Orchestra (Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, English horn, 3 Clarinets, 3 Bassoons, 4 Horns, 3 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, Tuba, Timpani, Percussion, and Strings)
Kessner - Sonata for 4 Timpani
Kloppers - Concerto for Organ, Timpani & Strings
Kohler - Concertino fur Pauken und Streicher
Kraft - Concerto for Percussion and Chamber Ensemble; Brazen for Timpani, Brass & Organ; Concerto for Timpani & Orchestra (arr. for Piano)
Leonard - Canticle for Solo Timpani
Lindberg - Marea Sinfonietta (2 Flutes, Oboe, English horn, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, Contrabassoon, 2 Horns, Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba, Timpani, Percussion & Strings); Fanfare for Arne Wessberg (4 Horns, 3 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, Tuba & Timpani)
Muczynski - Designs for 3 Timpani, Op. 11, No. 2
Paliev - 19 Pieces Bulgares
Richter - Düsseldorf Concerto for Flute, Harp, Timpani, Percussion & Strings (chamber version)
Sagnier - Six Pieces for Timpani & Piano
Sammartini - Symphony in G minor, for 2 Horns, 2 Violins, Viola, Double-Bass & Timpani
Schinstein - Tympendium for Timpani & Piano; Sonata no. 1 for Timpani & Piano
Schmitz - Spiritual Excursion for Viola, Vibraphone & Timpani
Schnittke - 4 Hymns, No. 4, (Septet for Timpani, Cello, Double-bass, Bassoon, Harp, Harpsichord & Tubular bells)
Schwantner - From a Dark Millennium
Scriabin - Deux Morceaux, Op. 57, for 2 Horns, 2 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, Tuba, Timpani, Harp & Strings
Sibelius - Andante Festivo (JS 34b) for Strings & Timpani; Rakastava Op. 14, for 2 Violins, Viola, Cello, Basso, Timpani & Triangle.
van Slyck - Octet for Flute, Clarinet, Horn, Violin, Viola, Cello, Timpani & Piano
Surinach - Tientos for English Horn, Timpani & Piano
Takemitsu - Rain Tree
Tcherepnin - Sonatina for Two or Three Timpani & Piano
Thoresen - Lop, Lokk Og Linjar
Utvolskaya - Concerto for Piano, String Orchestra & Timpani
Vinao - Khan Variations
Vivaldi - Concerto for Violin, 2 Oboes, 2 Horns, Timpani, Strings & Basso continuo
Whaley - Scherzo for Timpani; Statement for Timpani
Wuebold - Fantasy for Timpani & Piano
Wuorinen - Percussion Quartet
Zivkovic - Cadenza for 5 Timpani; Trio per Uno

There are probably plenty more pieces, but the above list is what just a quick hour or two of web searching turns up.

Besides a trip to your nearest friendly local Conservatory’s library, the list of links below may offer some additional help.

S o often, great artists, soloists, and orchestral instrumentalists have remarked to me after a performance that they never realized before that it was possible to hear from the timpani such clear defined pitch, tone quality and such a musical sound. Previously, they had the concept that timpani could sound only noisy, with no musical potential. This brings us to the unhappy recognition that too often today timpani are being played with a snare drum technique, and as such, has no relation to true timpani technique. Often this happens because a percussionist———who has never studied timpani at all—or, if he has, never with a professional timpanist—but who does know all the rest of the percussion———applies the snare drum technique to the timpani because of the similarity of wrist action and rhythmical requirements. This style of playing, almost mechanically pointed and rhythmical—staccato: we play this way when it is especially called for; but many performers play this way all the time. Missing is the knowledge of how to achieve tone quality, resonance and a noble full sound with an artistic touch. The nature of the timpani is to ring—full and resonant—so this should be developed to its full capability.”
— Cloyd Duff, 1966.

S o, how do you make your timpani sound like musical instruments? How do you get timpani to blend with other instruments? Start by eliminating as many variables as possible.
1) The timpano bowl should be free of large dents and must be in-round.
2) The lip of the bowl (the bearing edge) must be smooth, level and free of any nicks, dents and imperfections and create an air-tight seal between the bowl and head.
3) The counterhoop must be flush and in-round.
4) The head must be centered in the counterhoop.
5) The head must be true, free of dirt and defects and be centered on the drum.
6) The mechanics of the timpano must be functioning so that a uniform or equal tension can be maintained at all lug points throughout the range of the drum.
7) The proper MSR for the size of the drum must set.”
— Richard Jones, Nebraska Wesleyan Univ, 2006.

There are some challenges for scoring for timpani—as with practical realities for any instrument. Many of those challenges involve the narrow range of pitches achievable by tuning each size; the speed with which the head tension and pitch can be changed on any one timpano; and (if the harmonic complexity desired and tuned-pitches-per-second velocity are great, and therefore can’t be accommodated by pedaling a smaller set) the space required for a set of 5 or more timpani.

Passages where the timpanist has to change the pitch of a drum while playing—for example, playing two consecutive notes of different pitches on the same drum—require pedaling. To do this on Dresden-type timpani, the timpanist has to disengage the clutch with the foot, adjust the pedal to change the pitch of the drum, and reengage the clutch. Doing this with musical precision takes time. The faster the changes are as-scored, the more risk for the timpanist in performance. One clutch or pedal adjustment screw-up can demolish the melodic/harmonic effects and ruin the piece. So, for very rapid figures, you need a bigger set of more timpani—and that requires more floor space; you need a longer, even acrobatic reach for the timpanist to strike the desired sticking spots on the drum heads that are furthest away; you need more pre-event time for the more finicky gear set-ups on-stage prior to performance; and so on.

What else? Prior to performance, the timpanist has to clear the heads by equalizing the tension at each tuning screw. When the head is ‘clear’, the timpano intonation is acceptable and blends reasonably well with other instruments. If the head is not clear, the pitch will bend after the initial mallet impact. The drum will also give different pitches at different dynamics: not something you want, in general. Clearing requires a similar level of care as piano tuning. The rental expense, or the complexity of shipping, or the pre-event tensioning/clearing, or relative shortage of timpanists accessible to chamber music ensembles, or other logistical challenges, though, are surely not the reasons for the rarity of timpani in chamber music performances. Probably instead it’s mainly that non-percussionist composers don’t think to write for timpani very often--which is a shame.

For safety’s sake and healthy composer-timpanist relations, a composer might do well to observe the red brackets in the figure below (from Dwight Thomas’s website) that circumscribe a portion of the nominal range for each head and show the extent of the best notes in the range for that head size. These ranges can vary a fair amount depending upon the manufacturer and the design of the instruments, but Dwight’s suggestions are good guides for composers who’d dare to write chamber works for these challenging instruments.

Even if due care is taken, there can be some inherent intonation challenges that can restrict the music’s practical harmonic possibilities. The tensioning/tuning to a predominant (1,1) head vibration mode as suggested by Richard Jones and others can mitigate some of these challenges. Using cross-tuning, the timpanist tightens each pair of diametrically-opposing tension lugs to get a uniform pitch with an electronic tuner. Basically, you want to get the head into a (1,1) vibrating mode, from which the purest ‘fundamental’ pitch of the head is generated. But even in (1,1) mode, there are residual extraneous harmonics that may interfere with the timbre of other instruments, and those harmonics are impossible to eliminate entirely. But, in fact, maybe that’s the beauty of timpani: it makes them what they are. The safe harmonic choices for timpani are a bit like scoring for carillon and all its complex bell harmonics.

Timpano head acoustic vibration mode (2,2)

No matter. Despite those challenges, the good fun that timpani, expertly tuned and virtuosically played, bring to the ensemble is really hard to resist, as the CMT commenter put it and as those of us at Tanglewood this past week experienced. There’s no reason why the chamber timpani literature—however big or small it may be—can’t be performed more. There’s considerable diversity to it, in terms of periods and genres and orchestrations, as the cursory list above suggests. Presenters, how about considering that possibility, with an eye toward audience development and marketing? There might even be room in your programming next year for a ‘Percussion Masters’ series?

Thank you again for your CMT comments. Thank you, Steven and Kyle, for your illustrious and beautiful performances this week.

Friday, July 25, 2008

On Stylized Naturalism: Chamber Music of Elliott Carter

Elliott Carter, Oliver Knussen, and TMC Orchestra, 24-JUL-2008, Tanglewood

F inally, I began to understand what he [Carter] was doing. Then I said, ‘Well, it’s really not all that interesting: the same gestures over and over again.’ ”
— Robert Baska, comment on Allan Kozinn’s NY Times ArtsBeat blog post, 24-JUL-2008.

A nd, to each his/her own. Is it true, then, that maybe you are not interested in patterns in nature: flocks of birds in flight; ripples on water; fresh breezes on your face? Those are the same gestures over and over again. Are those not interesting and beautiful? Do you turn away from those? No. Well, to me, Carter’s stylized naturalism—referred to by Oliver Knussen on Monday—is neither more nor less interesting than Nature itself. There is no law that says all music has to have a dramatic human-centric plot, no law that says all chamber music has to have explicit dialogue between the parts, no law that says you have to work yourself up to a big rhetorical finale.”
— DSM, 24-JUL-2008.

The BSO’s Festival of Contemporary Music at Tanglewood (Elliott Carter Centenary) on Thursday had a wonderful performance of several of Carter’s smaller instrumental pieces by Tanglewood Music Center Fellows, plus special guests Charles Rosen and Fred Sherry.

Saeta (1949) and Canaries (1949) [Steven Merrill (timpani)]
Four Lauds for Violin (1984-2001) [Martin Schultz: Remembering Aaron, and Remembering Roger; Stephanie Nussbaum: Riconoscenza per Goffredo Petrassi, and Rhapsodic Musings for Robert Mann]
Figment IV (2007) [Gareth Zehngut (viola)]
Figment III (2007) [Kevin Jablonski (double-bass)]
Steep Steps (2001) [Brent Besner (bass clarinet)]
Canto (1966) and March (1949) [Kyle Zerna (timpani)]
Elegy (1943) [Fred Sherry (cello), Charles Rosen (piano)]
90+ (1994) [Charles Rosen (piano)]

[30-sec clip, Charles Rosen, Elliott Carter, ‘90+ for Piano’, 1MB MP3]

Before the performance, we were treated to a captivating discussion, with former Boston Globe music critic Richard Dyer interviewing Elliott Carter. Elliott extemporizes his responses in a vivid, easy-going way—a way that enables us to see the genuineness of the man and his thinking. No mere reminiscences, his comments were up-to-the-minute ‘pearls’ reflecting his current assessment of how things are and why they are that way.

On matters where he feels he has no answer or where he thinks his views might be biased, he says so, simply and matter-of-factly. When one is 100, there is a premium on integrity.

But on most topics, Carter is expansive, each point leading to others in rapid succession. Those lucky enough to attend the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music have much to be thankful for. Bravo!

I have not thought about periods in my development as a composer. I do not think I have been striving to be more ‘transparent’, for example, in my recent compositions. In fact, I may return to my so-called ‘Second Period’ shortly. [Laughs.] Frankly, I have always simply written things that interest me … I am always just trying new things.”
— Elliott Carter, interview with Richard Dyer, Tanglewood, 24-JUL-2008.

T he role of ‘intuition’ in the compositional process? Oh! That is a question! It’s a question I’d like to transpose into something else: What is the role of intuition in conversation, as you and I are talking to each other? Things come out automatically, without our having to think too much. … I get an idea that seems to be an interesting one, and I go from there.”
— Elliott Carter, interview with Richard Dyer, Tanglewood, 24-JUL-2008.

I ntuition, yes. Composing, for me, is something like writing a letter. First you have a word, then it becomes a sentence. Pretty soon it’s a paragraph, and, eventually, what you have in front of you is what you would call a letter. Things just germinate. Composing is a process not unlike what each of us does every day—it’s like what we are living all the time.”
— Elliott Carter, interview with Richard Dyer, Tanglewood, 24-JUL-2008.

T o answer your question [of where does the idea of putting a contrabassoon against the cello part come from] ... the very different timbres and registers—I’d say I’ve always been impressed with sounds. Sounds. I remember being very impressed by gardens in Japan, the sounds of water dropping and striking pieces of bamboo: very touching, very beautiful, like a soft pizzicato. And, you know, to make the cello part sound very high, you just need some low notes. Contrabassoon!”
— Elliott Carter, interview with Richard Dyer, Tanglewood, 24-JUL-2008.

M ore than water dropping or leaves flickering—your allusion to the shimmering rubato of Liszt—I am instead trying to communicate something deeper than that [in my compositions]. It isn’t a literal naturalism exactly … but I can’t really explain it adequately. For the ‘Symphonia’, which you will hear performed tonight, I just thought about sad things and then I wrote it, that’s all. It is a vision—the sadness of Life, the joy of Life, and, in the end, a ‘balloon’: the piccolo going up. Not a big rhetorical ending. That would’ve been awful. ”
— Elliott Carter, interview with Richard Dyer, Tanglewood, 24-JUL-2008.

T he musical ideas are not the problem. So many! Even now, I am trying to keep my mind off of them! [Laughs.]”
— Elliott Carter, interview with Richard Dyer, Tanglewood, 24-JUL-2008.

I t’s not just I, I suppose, who should express gratitude for this extraordinary Festival. If the pieces of music spoke English instead of notes, they would say, ‘Thank you’. Their gratitude this week is immense.”
— Elliott Carter, interview with Richard Dyer, Tanglewood, 24-JUL-2008.

BSO Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music
Carter page at Classical.net
Carter Centenary website
Kozinn A. Blogging at Tanglewood on NYT ArtsBeat.
Carter E. (Bernard J, ed.) Elliott Carter: Collected Essays and Lectures, 1937-1995. Univ Rochester, 1998.
Kay L, Kinsley Z, Phillips T, Roughley A, eds. Mapping Liminalities: Thresholds in Cultural and Literary Texts. Lang, 2007.
Ligeti G. On my etudes for piano. (trans. Sid McLaughlin) Sonus 1988; 9(1):3-7. (pp. 4-5 discuss the mechanics and psychology of shimmering rubato, mainly via hemiolas ... the metric ambiguity imposed on a measure of six beats, which can either be divided in three groups of two or in two groups of three)
Meyer F, Shreffler A. Elliott Carter: A Centennial Portrait in Letters and Documents. Boydell, 2008.
Oteri F. Fields of Sound. NewMusicBox, 22-JUL-2008.
Ponthus M, ed. Elliott Carter: A Centennial Celebration. Pendragon, 2008.
Rosen C. Elliott Carter: The Complete Music for Piano. (Bridge, 1997.)
Spariosu M. Wreath of Olive: Play, Liminality, and the Study of Literature. SUNY, 1997.
Viljoen H, van der Merwe C, eds. Beyond the Threshold: Explorations of Liminality in Literature. Lang, 2007.
Nikon Microscopy Galleries
Nikon SmallWorld Photomicrography Contest
Wildlife Sound Recording Society

Steven Nagy, Nikon SmallWorld 2007 Microscopy Photography Competition, 10th-place winner

Convection regime of intersecting flows, semi-stable line on pool surface

Convection regime of intersecting flows. Robert Baska would not think this flow-line is interesting or beautiful. But it reminds me of the processes in Carter's String Quartet No. 2

Convection regime of intersecting flows, art in nature, nature in art

Convection regime of intersecting flows, something in nature that interests me

Convection regime of intersecting flows makes me think of the structure of Elliot Carter's music

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Pulse! : Motivic Wave Propagation in the Chamber Music of Elliott Carter

New Fromm Ensemble members, Carter Quintet for Piano & Winds, Tanglewood, 23-JUL-2008

T he Second Quartet signifies for Carter a leap forward in terms of control of harmony (and, by extension, melody), register, and rhythm, from the smallest rhythm to the largest form, and including the way in which time passes in the piece—in each part, and in the whole.”
— Robert Kirzinger, Program Notes, p. 67.

The BSO’s Festival of Contemporary Music at Tanglewood (Elliott Carter Centenary) on Wednesday had a wonderful performance by members of the New Fromm ensemble.

Quintet for Piano and Strings (1991) [Henry Ward (oboe), Raymond Santos (clarinet), Rose Vrbsky (bassoon), Lauren Moore (horn), Nolan Pearson (piano)]
String Quartet No. 2 (1959) [Stephanie Nussbaum (1^st violin), Martin Schultz (2^nd violin), Garth Zehngut (viola), Kathryn Bates (cello)]

The rich textures and rhythmic complexity thoroughly diverted the appreciative SRO audience filling the 200-seat Chamber Music Hall. (The Chamber Music Hall is a weather-worn barn with wood plank walls, 2-by-10 rafters, and simple folding-chair seating in the west side of the Tanglewood campus in Lenox, Massachusetts.)

From the tiny scale of microsounds and fragments and motives, to the large scale of whole movements of a piece, to the yet-larger scales of multiple works by a composer, a pattern normally only attains a level of significance if it occurs more than once, in more than one setting. In Carter’s chamber music works we experience a wide and innovative range of evocative patterns. For those of you who are interested in the theory of such things, the recurrence of patterns is treated from a post-modern intertextuality and other perspectives in Steven Jan’s nice book, ‘The Memetics of Music’.

But it’s more than that, more than sequences and recurrences. In Wednesday afternoon’s performance: we experienced the ‘vascular’ or ‘hemodynamic’ propagation of musical motives and phrases, as though they were blood. Within a Carter piece, it as though the expression in one instrument’s part is like a contraction of the heart, sending a pulse of blood outward into the circulatory system—of the composition, of the performance. Depending on the distance traveled and the stretchiness or ‘compliance’ of the blood vessels (the channels of acoustic and visual communication that prevail amongst the performers and the neurophysiology of their attention), the pressure ‘wave’ that is ejected in each pulse propagates with a finite speed and has its effects on the other body systems some milliseconds to seconds later. In other words, the patterns propagate, not so much as intimate ‘conversations’, but as though they were blood pressure waves from successive heartbeats among the various organs (instruments/parts) that comprise this living organism of performers.

Furthermore, between and among compositions by a particular composer like Carter, I think the morphologically and dynamically similar expressions are like Richard Dawkins’s ‘selfish genes’, propagating down through generations of a species. The stylized Carterian naturalism to which conductor Oliver Knussen referred on Monday here arises in part through a kind of organic, self-replicating, mutually-reinforcing recursion. In the ‘refinements’ of Carter’s style, we see a cumulative evolutionary ‘selection’ among the best and most effective of these self-conserving compositional ‘genes’. (I suppose the idea can be over-done, pushed beyond the limits of its validity. All I am saying is that there is more to the human composer than intellect and ‘will’. There is an unconscious, organic element, too. And only by hearing several pieces in close succession—ones composed decades apart from each other—only by doing this is one likely to hear these possibilities and think these thoughts.)

Propagation of expressions in ‘waves’. The sensations of point, pulse (series of points), line (tone), and surface (texture) emerge as acoustic particle density increases. Sounds coalesce, evaporate, and mutate into other sounds—and they do so as though they had mass and viscosity. This Carter quintet and this Carter quartet feel as though they were made of living, flowing blood.

Hemodynamics wavefronts and velocities in coarct of aorta

What do I deduce from this? Rather than looking at the performer as an ‘instrument’ of the analyst/composer—as an ‘executant’—we should remember that the performer’s interpretive choices are themselves inherently analytical. But (of course!) the performer’s ‘analysis’ is not 100% cerebral. The neurophysiology of pitch and rhythm kicks in, and—here, nicely illustrated by the Tanglewood New Fromm Players’ performance of these Carter pieces—we get these genuine, honest, primal, highly physical interpretive responses. Some of you Conservatory-based theorists may want to confer with your cardiologist and neurophysiologist colleagues over in the School of Medicine, to see whether the analytics that are used to study human circulatory and nervous systems can be brought to bear on better understanding some of this wonderful, exciting music by Elliott Carter. And have a look at some of the sources in the list of links below.

Thank you for this superb performance! Bravo, New Fromm artists!

New Fromm Ensemble members, Carter Quartet No. 2, Tanglewood, 23-JUL-2008

I love Elliott, but I loved his music first. (I can’t do this in reverse; I can’t love the music just based on a rapport with the composer.)”
— Conductor James Levine.