Elliott Carter's Late Music

Abstract

The first comprehensive study of the late music of one of the most influential composers of the last half century, this book places Elliott Carter's music from 1995 to 2012 in the broader context of post-war contemporary concert music, including his own earlier work. It addresses Carter's reception history, his aesthetics, and his harmonic and rhythmic practice, and includes detailed essays on all of Carter's major works after 1995. Special emphasis is placed on Carter's settings of contemporary modernist poetry from John Ashbery to Louis Zukofsky. In readable and engaging prose, Elliott Carter's Late Music illuminates a body of late work that stands at the forefront of the composer's achievements.

Narratology in the Practice Session Model of Elliott Carter's String Quartet No. 5

“…The rehearsal scenario's implied goal of individual voices working together to recreate a piece in performance remains unrealized, perhaps to suggest that the broader vision of a society of individuals collaborating in harmony remains a dream of the future. 23 In discussing the Horn Concerto, Link makes an observation that applies well to String Quartet No. 5: 'the late works more often resemble a mode of cinematic story-telling in which discrete scenes that may or may not be synchronic are cross-cut to form a linear sequence'.…”