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Making Music - Elliott Carter: Soloists, Donald Palma (conductor), Frank Scheffer (film interludes), Jeremy Geffen (series moderator), Zankel Hall, New York City, 12.12.2008. (BH)

Tara Helen O'Connor, Flute
Charles Neidich, Clarinet
Stephen Taylor, Oboe
Stephen Gosling, Piano
Rolf Schulte, Violin
Hsin-Yun Huang, Viola
Fred Sherry, Cello
Kurt Muroki, Double Bass
Bridget Kibbey, Harp
Donald Palma, Conductor
Frank Scheffer, Film Interludes
Jeremy Geffen, Series Moderator

Elliott Carter: Canon for 4 (1984)
Elliott Carter: Enchanted Preludes (1988)
Elliott Carter: Duettino for Violin and Cello (2008, World Premiere)
Elliott Carter: Mosaic (2004, New York Premiere)
Elliott Carter: Con leggerezza pensosa (1990)
Elliott Carter: Gra (1993)
Elliott Carter: Esprit rude / esprit doux (1985)
Elliott Carter: Duo for Violin and Piano (1974)


As a sort of festive coda to the previous night's birthday celebration (or as Carnegie Hall's Jeremy Geffen described, "the exclusive after party"), some of New York's most incisive musicians gave a sampling of Elliott Carter's works from the last 34 years in Zankel Hall.  In a well-conceived audiovisual complement, each performance was prefaced by a brief segment filmed by Frank Scheffer, who drew out the kind of natural comments from the composer for which every interviewer hopes.

Treasures abounded, from the rugged Canon for 4, played with spectacular ease by Tara Helen O'Connor (flute), Charles Neidich (clarinet), Rolf Schulte (violin) and Fred Sherry (cello), to the final wrenching Duo for Violin and Piano, played with maximum intensity by Schulte and pianist Stephen Gosling.  The latter seemed the most grueling of all the works on display, and at the end the exhausted, yet happy pair stood before the applauding audience, before the rest of the musicians and the composer came onstage.

In between came classics like Enchanted Preludes, its restless, hyperactive surfaces expertly polished by O'Connor and Sherry, and Esprit rude / esprit doux, giving O'Connor and Neidich the chance to show how two great artists can frolic.  In Con leggerezza pensosa, Mr. Sherry's face said it all: This is so much fun!  And he and Mr. Schulte looked to be having an equally good time in the world premiere of Duettino for Violin and Cello, which pits franticness against drollery.

In between came Neidich's stunning reading of Gra, written for Witold Lutoslawski, who died just as it was completed.  This small bit of virtuosity almost stole the evening.  But there was plenty of eye-popping musicianship to go around, with the brilliant harpist Bridget Kibbey at the core of Mosaic, inspired by French harpist Carlos Salzedo (1885-1961).  In typical Carter style, the octet seems like a crowd of chattering party guests, each competing for conductor Donald Palma's attention to help decipher their overlapping dialogues.  The roster of stellar musicians was completed by Stephen Taylor on oboe, Hsin-Yun Huang on viola and Kurt Muroki on double bass, all superb.

In the filmed segment before the grief-ridden Duo (written after the death of Carter's wife), the composer notes, "As society becomes more complex, people will have to become much cleverer and sharper.  Then they will like my music."  Carter may be right, up to a point, but what that comment overlooks is the music's undeniable emotional power.

Bruce Hodges

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