Fwd: Carter repents
Lora Crighton
Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 6:53 pm From the Associated Press NEW YORK
---
American composer Elliott Carter, an exemplar of the atonalist style
of modernism and according to admirers the greatest living
practitioner of his craft, apologized to music lovers around the
world today for what he called "a half century of wasted time."
"What was I thinking?" the venerable Mr. Carter, 99, said at his home
in Manhattan. "Nobody likes this stuff. Why have I wasted my life?"
Carter said he "went wrong" back in the 1940s and spent the next 60
years pursuing the musical dead-end of atonality. In the past seven
decades, he has produced five string quartets, a half dozen song
cycles, works for orchestra, solo concertos and innumerable chamber
works for various combinations of instruments --- all in an advanced,
complex style he now dismisses as "noise."
Despite consistent encouragement of many mainstream musicians such
as Boston Symphony Music Director James Levine, for Chicago Symphony
conductor Daniel Barenboim, and the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Carter said his
many admirers were "delusional."
"The critics who said they were just congratulating themselves for
being smarter than everybody else were right all along," he said. "We
should all go back and get our heads on straight." Carter said he
blamed his late wife, Helen, for turning him into an unrepentant
modernist. "She liked this stuff, and I could never say no to her,"
he said. Mrs. Carter died in 2003 at age 95.
Since then, Carter said, he has been reevaluating his aesthetic. "I'd
like to write something pretty for a change --- maybe something based
on an Irish folk tune," he said. He was uncertain whether he would
withdraw his substantial catalogue from the repertoire, though one
alternative would be to revise his works, ending each with a tonic
triad, he said.
"I feel like an enormous weight has been lifted from my shoulders,"
Carter said. "From now on, I promise to be good."
sorabji...@lineone.net
here might just gain presence for a fleeting moment by waiting a whole
three weeks from the date of this "press report" before posting it
here? That date is, of course, of principal significance, being, as it
is (or rather was, the joint birthday of Busoni and Rakhmaninov (and
it has some other resonance, too).
One of "the great living practitioners of his craft" Carter may be -
"venerable" he undoubtedly is - but "99" he is not; he is a mere lad
of 98 (his centenary being due on 11 December next year).
It might be fair for Elliott Carter to credit his late wife Helen at
least for pushing him to concentrate on composing his own music rather
than writing about other people's, for this is indeed what she did; I
rather doubt whether she'd have done that if she hadn't "liked this
stuff". She was indeed a formidable lady and it may therefore indeed
be the case that he "could never say no to her" - and let us not
forget that she more or less abandoned her own career as a sculptor to
support her husband's art. As a matter of fact, it so happens that she
was "born on the Fourth of July" (1907), but I suppose that this fact
is not something that a Canadian would rush to celebrate...
The trouble with spoof articles like this is that they are effective
only to the extent that they sound as consistently credible as
possible, within reason; in this instance, however, the final
paragraph would surely give the game away to almost anyone.
If Elliott Carter himself has read this piece, I trust that it has
appealed to his not inconsiderable sense of humour; if not, he's
probably up there at NY's Associated Press waving his stick at them
threateningly...
Best,
Alistair
cormac
I don't have a reference, but I recall hearing that there was a
concert of "old" music in Vienna ca 1780. The music was by Bach and
Handel.
Just how old does music have to be today to be classed as old?. The
noise experiments described as atonality must be at least 100 years
old.
Meanwhile Bach, Handel & Vivaldi remain high in the classical charts.
Cormac.
Joe
This is indeed a hoax, and I know, because I wrote it. It was an April
Fool's gag for one of my classical music discussion boards, and now it
seems to have escaped.
I should mention here that I am a great fan of Mr. Carter's music, and
I meant this to tweak some people on the board who are not, and who
believe the nonsense I put into his mouth.
Oh, jeez, I hope he hasn't seen it. This could be a real Pandora's Box.
Joe
>
> Meanwhile Bach, Handel & Vivaldi remain high in the classical charts.
>
Mr. Carter's music is doing just fine.
Lora Crighton
arch...@lineone.net> wrote:
>
> Now I wonder if you thought for a moment that a whiff of credibility
> here might just gain presence for a fleeting moment
Actually, I hope not - it never occured to me that this was anything
but humour.
> by waiting a whole
> three weeks from the date of this "press report" before posting it
> here?
I forwarded it the day I saw it. I have since received a second copy
by email, and a link to a copy on somebody's blog.
> That date is, of course, of principal significance, being, as it
> is (or rather was, the joint birthday of Busoni and Rakhmaninov (and
> it has some other resonance, too).
>
Right.
>
> If Elliott Carter himself has read this piece, I trust that it has
> appealed to his not inconsiderable sense of humour; if not, he's
> probably up there at NY's Associated Press waving his stick at them
> threateningly...
>
LOL! I wonder what AP would make of that.
Lora Crighton
I wondered who had written it - the person I received it from didn't
credit an author. Thanks.
> This is indeed a hoax, and I know, because I wrote it. It was an April
> Fool's gag for one of my classical music discussion boards, and now it
> seems to have escaped.
>
Things posted to discussion boards have a habit of doing that.
> I should mention here that I am a great fan of Mr. Carter's music, and
> I meant this to tweak some people on the board who are not, and who
> believe the nonsense I put into his mouth.
>
Did anyone really believe it? It might be interesting to see what he
could do with an Irish folk tune ;-)
> Oh, jeez, I hope he hasn't seen it. This could be a real Pandora's Box.
How much time does he spend online? Aside from the copy I posted
here, it's making the rounds by email, including on at least one
public list, and has been posted on livejournal.
sorabji...@lineone.net
Of course no one in his/her right mind would have believed it! I
notice that William Bolcom, no less, posted it somewhere else as well,
a few days before you did so here. I don't somehow think that Elliott
Carter spends a whole lot of time online, especially since he's too
busy doing other more useful things for us all. Still, parts of it
were abit of fun. I somehow think that he'll survive it OK - after
all, he's survived pretty much everything else intact...
By the way, a fellow citizen of yours who hails from that toddlin'
town beginning with a "T" tells me that the way that it's pronounced
by the locals makes it sound as though it's actually the capital of
Albania; having been to the capital of Albania once but never yet to
the Canadian "T" town, I suspect that the former has less working
traffic lights...
Best,
Alistair
Joe
cared for his music. It's as boring and colorless as pulp.
Thanks, guys. It's comforting to know no one takes this seriously. Mr.
Carter spends no time on line, to my knowledge. He does not even have
an email address, but of course, I'm sure his friends do. I was
fearing a Seinfeld moment, where he reads the release, the worst
happens, and I spend the rest of my life saying things like, "For
heaven's sake, it was only a joke."
How was I supposed to know she had a pony?
Joe
>
> Did anyone really believe it?
>
A couple of people fell for it momentarily, then realized it was April
Fool's Day. I never expected it would make the rounds. I honestly
believed people would see it and forget about it. Apparently, I've
created a monster.Oh well, Godspeed. It's probably reached Levine by
now.
>It might be interesting to see what he
> could do with an Irish folk tune ;-)
I intended the giveaway to be the part about tacking a triad onto the
end of every piece, as though that would make it tonal. It was that
practice that Schoenberg had in mind when he finally cut the anchor
cable and ventured into atonality.
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)
Lora Crighton wrote:
>
> Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 6:53 pm From the Associated Press NEW YORK
> ---
>
>
> American composer Elliott Carter, an exemplar of the atonalist style
> of modernism and according to admirers the greatest living
> practitioner of his craft, apologized to music lovers around the
> world today for what he called "a half century of wasted time."
>
>
> "What was I thinking?" the venerable Mr. Carter, 99, said at his home
> in Manhattan. "Nobody likes this stuff. Why have I wasted my life?"
Although I am not personally a fan of atonal music, my first
reaction to such a statement is "he must be senile". How
sad that a leading composer in the genre should consider his
life "wasted"!
I doubt whether any serious twentieth century composer
composed music intending to become rich - not unless he also
wrote schlock for the moving picture industry. (Some did,
of course - Korngold, Bernstein, Copland, even Stravinsky on
occasion - no shame in that, IMO, and many of their movie
scores have found their way into mainstream classical
music.) It is an unfortunate fact that many composers are
not really appreciated during their lifetimes - witness
those like Charles Ives and John Alden Carpenter, who never
"quit their day jobs", but wrote music in their spare time.
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)
sorabji...@lineone.net wrote:
> Of course no one in his/her right mind would have believed it!
Well, I consider myself to be "in my right mind", and since
there was no "smiley" or other indication it was a joke (and
today is April 22, not April 1) I'm afraid I accepted it as
a genuine article by one of today's idiot "music critics",
and rsponded accordingly. I did find it hard to believe,
but people's mental powers don't always survive as long as
their physical bodies.
Gary Goldberg
Joe <joeba...@juno.com> wrote:
> My God, what have I done?
>
> This is indeed a hoax, and I know, because I wrote it. It was an April
> Fool's gag for one of my classical music discussion boards, and now it
> seems to have escaped.
Well, he SHOULD have apologized :-)
Michael Haslam
Did I tell you about the time I listened to Carter's Third (I think)
Piano Concerto at the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall? At the end I
applauded enthusiastically, the posh middle-aged couple in front of me
turned round in astonishment and the man said "You couldn't *possibly*
have enjoyed that!"
--
MJHaslam
Remove accidentals to obtain correct e-address
Joe
> Did I tell you about the time I listened toCarter'sThird (I think)
> Piano Concerto at the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall? At the end I
> applauded enthusiastically, the posh middle-aged couple in front of me
> turned round in astonishment and the man said "You couldn't *possibly*
> have enjoyed that!"
Mr. Carter has written only one Piano Concerto, so titled. A second is
known as "Dialogues." There is no third.
I had an experience similar to yours when I saw Oppens play the Piano
Concerto with the NYPO. A woman a few rows back who couldn't believe
anyone could like the piece. and but she did believe that judgment
entitled her to talk through most of the performance.
It's a common judgment among the anti-atonalists: they think that
because they don't like something, no one else could, either. Charles
Rosen has written eloquently on the subject.
cormac
> > Did I tell you about the time I listened toCarter'sThird (I think)
> > Piano Concerto at the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall? At the end I
> > applauded enthusiastically, the posh middle-aged couple in front of me
> > turned round in astonishment and the man said "You couldn't *possibly*
> > have enjoyed that!"
>
> Mr. Carter has written only one Piano Concerto, so titled. A second is
> known as "Dialogues." There is no third.
Why the title "Mr"?. Bach & Handel need no titles.
Cormac.
>
>
Joe
>
> Why the title "Mr"?. Bach & Handel need no titles.
It's a habit I've gotten into, since I've met the man a few times.
That's how I address him. Thanks for asking.
Peter T. Daniels
It's required by the New York Times style guide, for instance. Common
courtesy.
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)
Peter T. Daniels wrote:
Exactly! I have been an ardent fan of Belgian bass-baritone
Jose Van Dam ever since I first heard him in 1996. I have
managed to attend many of his performances both in the U.S.
and in Europe, he knows me by sight, and has actually done
favors for me once or twice. However, I am still merely an
acquaintance, NOT a personal friend, so would never dream of
addressing him any way but "Monsieur Van Dam". (And he
addresses me as "Madame Gamble".)
I know it's the current trend in America to address even
total strangers by their first names, so I cringe and accept
it from bank tellers and grocery check-out clerks, even
though I don't like it. (However, several political
candidates who would otherwise have my support lost it when
their bulk e-mailings came addressed to "Dear Evelyn", not
"Dear Ms/Mrs. Gamble".)
cormac
I accept that the title "Mr" is apppropriate for a 99 year old man. I
am only addressed as "Mr" if someone wants to sell me something or to
seek alms.
The style of address was very different 60 plus years go. Adolf H was
always named as Herr Hitler by the BBC up to his death in the bunker
and possibly later.
Cormac.
Michael Haslam
> The style of address was very different 60 plus years go. Adolf H was
> always named as Herr Hitler by the BBC up to his death in the bunker
> and possibly later.
I think Churchill always referred to him as Herr Hitler, but Herr
pronounced as in British English "her" [rather as college servants could
address snotty undergraduates as "Sir" but make it sound like an
insult]; he also pronounced "Nazi" as Nahzi with a very long "ah" and an
English z, not a German one.
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)
cormac wrote:
>>I know it's the current trend in America to address even
>>total strangers by their first names, so I cringe and accept
>>it from bank tellers and grocery check-out clerks, even
>>though I don't like it. (However, several political
>>candidates who would otherwise have my support lost it when
>>their bulk e-mailings came addressed to "Dear Evelyn", not
>>"Dear Ms/Mrs. Gamble".)
>
>
> I accept that the title "Mr" is apppropriate for a 99 year old man. I
> am only addressed as "Mr" if someone wants to sell me something or to
> seek alms.
>
> The style of address was very different 60 plus years go. Adolf H was
> always named as Herr Hitler by the BBC up to his death in the bunker
> and possibly later.
SFAIC, BBC News STILL refers to people in the news as "Mr.",
"Mrs.", "Dr.", etc. (or their proper titles, if speaking of
someone with official status - "president", "senator", or
whatever). In my experience, it's strangers trying to SELL
me something who insist upon using my first name, even
though I've never even MET them! (Perhaps you are less
discriminating, but I prefer to CHOOSE the people with whom
I am on a first-name basis.)
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)
Michael Haslam wrote:
> cormac <cormac....@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>>The style of address was very different 60 plus years go. Adolf H was
>>always named as Herr Hitler by the BBC up to his death in the bunker
>>and possibly later.
>
>
> I think Churchill always referred to him as Herr Hitler, but Herr
> pronounced as in British English "her" [rather as college servants could
> address snotty undergraduates as "Sir" but make it sound like an
> insult]; he also pronounced "Nazi" as Nahzi with a very long "ah" and an
> English z, not a German one.
He had that in common with most other Englishmen - that's
how the Brtish pronounced it!
>
Tachyglossus
news:1hx3mna.94dto31udkdttN%innat...@macflat.com...
> cormac <cormac....@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> The style of address was very different 60 plus years go. Adolf H was
>> always named as Herr Hitler by the BBC up to his death in the bunker
>> and possibly later.
Not later:
"The German radio has just announced that Hitler is dead."
>
> I think Churchill always referred to him as Herr Hitler
Not at all:
"Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island, or lose the
war".
"Hitler is a monster of wickedness, insatiable in his lust for blood"
T.
Michael Haslam
> Michael Haslam wrote:
>
> > I think Churchill always referred to him as Herr Hitler, but Herr
> > pronounced as in British English "her" [rather as college servants could
> > address snotty undergraduates as "Sir" but make it sound like an
> > insult]; he also pronounced "Nazi" as Nahzi with a very long "ah" and an
> > English z, not a German one.
>
> He had that in common with most other Englishmen - that's
> how the Brtish pronounced it!
Is it not possible that "most other Englishmen" were influenced in their
pronunciation of this strange word by the forthright Mr Churchill? Just
an idea, you understand. And where did you get the chance to hear most
Englishmen say the word?
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)
Michael Haslam wrote:
> EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) <evg...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>
>>Michael Haslam wrote:
>>
>>
>>>I think Churchill always referred to him as Herr Hitler, but Herr
>>>pronounced as in British English "her" [rather as college servants could
>>>address snotty undergraduates as "Sir" but make it sound like an
>>>insult]; he also pronounced "Nazi" as Nahzi with a very long "ah" and an
>>>English z, not a German one.
>>
>>He had that in common with most other Englishmen - that's
>>how the Brtish pronounced it!
>
>
> Is it not possible that "most other Englishmen" were influenced in their
> pronunciation of this strange word by the forthright Mr Churchill?
Not really - the "tz" pronunciation of the letter "z" is
German, not English. America adopted the German
pronunciation, England chose to apply Englsih rules,
instead. As in so many other pronunciations (and spellings)
American "English" and the British version differ.
> Just
> an idea, you understand. And where did you get the chance to hear most
> Englishmen say the word?
On radio broadcasts and movie newsreels during that
conflict. (I was alive then, were you?)
Michael Haslam
> Michael Haslam wrote:
>
> > EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) <evg...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> >
> >>Michael Haslam wrote:
> >>
> >>>I think Churchill always referred to him as Herr Hitler, but Herr
> >>>pronounced as in British English "her" [rather as college servants
> >>>could address snotty undergraduates as "Sir" but make it sound like an
> >>>insult]; he also pronounced "Nazi" as Nahzi with a very long "ah" and
> >>>an English z, not a German one.
> >>
> >>He had that in common with most other Englishmen - that's how the
> >>British pronounced it!
> >
> > Is it not possible that "most other Englishmen" were influenced in their
> > pronunciation of this strange word by the forthright Mr Churchill?
>
> Not really - the "tz" pronunciation of the letter "z" is
> German, not English.
as I'd already pointed out.
> America adopted the German pronunciation, England chose to apply English
> rules, instead. As in so many other pronunciations (and spellings)
> American "English" and the British version differ.
All I know is that the first time I heard the non-"ts" pronunciation of
Nazi was in a recording of Churchill. I'd heard it many hundreds of
times with the "ts". This was in the 1960s.
How would "England" (I presume you mean the UK+Northern Ireland)
*choose* a pronunciation? The BBC would be instrumental in informing, of
course, but I can't imagine *them* saying Nazi without a "t" in the same
way as I can't imagine them pronouncing Beethoven on analogy with
beetroot. WWI produced such demotic travesties as Wipers for Ypres, but
that was in the days before radio.
>
> > Just an idea, you understand. And where did you get the chance to hear
> > most Englishmen say the word?
>
> On radio broadcasts and movie newsreels during that
> conflict. (I was alive then, were you?)
No, I wasn't. Were you listening to the BBC radio (the only British
broadcasting outfit at the time) or British people speaking on US
stations? And how could what you heard be taken as representative of the
British people in general? Were there lots of "vox pop"s with cheery
Cockneys popping up out the rubble of the Blitz saying "Gor blimey, guv,
vat were ha bel'er an' no mistike. But I hain't niver goin' 'a le' vat
Her 'itler stop hus being Grea' Bri'ain and I hain't niver goin' 'a live
under the Narzi jackboo', so 'elp me!"?
In fact, I have a vague recollection of them being called, in a jocular
fashion, the Nasties, which would only work if people knew they were
really the Nahtsies, wouldn't it?
Joe
> The style of address was very different 60 plus years go. Adolf H was
> always named as Herr Hitler by the BBC up to his death in the bunker
> and possibly later.
>
Joe
> The style of address was very different 60 plus years go. Adolf H was
> always named as Herr Hitler by the BBC up to his death in the bunker
> and possibly later.
I think this thread is over.
Paul Dormer
evg...@earthlink.net (EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)) wrote:
My father always pronounced "Mozart" with an English pronunciation
of the zed. I try and pronounce the 'tz', but I'm told the result falls
halfway between the two.
Keith Edgerley
> EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) <evg...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> > Michael Haslam wrote:
> >
> > > EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) <evg...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> > >
> > >>Michael Haslam wrote:
> > >>
> > >>>I think Churchill always referred to him as Herr Hitler, but Herr
> > >>>pronounced as in British English "her" [rather as college servants
> > >>>could address snotty undergraduates as "Sir" but make it sound like
an
> > >>>insult]; he also pronounced "Nazi" as Nahzi with a very long "ah" and
> > >>>an English z, not a German one.
> > >>
> > >>He had that in common with most other Englishmen - that's how the
> > >>British pronounced it!
> > >
> > > Is it not possible that "most other Englishmen" were influenced in
their
> > > pronunciation of this strange word by the forthright Mr Churchill?
> >
> > Not really - the "tz" pronunciation of the letter "z" is
> > German, not English.
>
> as I'd already pointed out.
>
> > America adopted the German pronunciation, England chose to apply English
> > rules, instead. As in so many other pronunciations (and spellings)
> > American "English" and the British version differ.
>
one point George C. Scott quite clearly says Na-zis without any hint of a
ts.
Keith Edgerley
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)
Michael Haslam wrote:
> EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) <evg...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>>On radio broadcasts and movie newsreels during that
>>conflict. (I was alive then, were you?)
>
>
> No, I wasn't. Were you listening to the BBC radio (the only British
> broadcasting outfit at the time) or British people speaking on US
> stations?
Believe it or not, even back in those "dark ages", radio
news broadcasts throughought the Allied world included
transcriptions from sources outside of the U.S. Certainly
newsreel cameras went everywhere TV cameras do now, as did
those "war correspondents" whose media was radio. Maybe we
didn't see/hear their output in real time - radio
correspondents needed access to a short-wave transmitter,
and film had to be processed and released to theaters.
However, most of us listened to the radio news several times
a day, and attended movies often. Elapsed time between
event and radio broadcast was not much longer than it is
now. There was also surprisingly little delay between
events and the release of the relevant newsreel footage.
> And how could what you heard be taken as representative of the
> British people in general? Were there lots of "vox pop"s with cheery
> Cockneys popping up out the rubble of the Blitz saying "Gor blimey, guv,
> vat were ha bel'er an' no mistike. But I hain't niver goin' 'a le' vat
> Her 'itler stop hus being Grea' Bri'ain and I hain't niver goin' 'a live
> under the Narzi jackboo', so 'elp me!"?
I seriously doubt whether you heard much of that over the
airwaves in Britain, either - or on the British stage,
unless it were in a "character" role. (For that matter, you
still don't!)
>
> In fact, I have a vague recollection of them being called, in a jocular
> fashion, the Nasties, which would only work if people knew they were
> really the Nahtsies, wouldn't it?
How do you arrive at THAT conclusion? (FYI, it was the
British - Churchill, IIRC - who first called them
"Nasties".) A play on words is not required to conform
precisely to the word being played upon. Our moron in the
White House is often referred to as the "shrub" (i.e. "baby
bush") - I suspect that analogy would exist even if their
surname were spelled "Busch". (Perhaps it's true that the
average American IQ has dropped considerably since the
1940's?)
did Barney@earthlink.net David Gray Porter
Soviet State Cappelle played at a place in Pasadena that no longer exists,
and they did Ives's Robert Browning Overture. (That tame old thing.) I
even had a score with me and I was telling them about all the wrong notes in
the printed score that were played so accurately. (I hope I scared 'em!)
"Michael Haslam" <innat...@macflat.com> wrote in message
news:1hwzz6q.15ryrb21s8dexsN%innat...@macflat.com...
did Barney@earthlink.net David Gray Porter
subscribe to this stuff 30 or so years ago, but now it just seems silly.
He's just as parochial and "baroque" (in the strict sense of the word as an
adjective) as some of the stuff he decries! Sure, if you want to write a
piece based on paper imperfections, it doesn't matter at all what piece of
paper you use, but a sound cannot help being the sound, no matter what
cultural "glue" you bring to it. But WTF, I can hear anything as music,
except Disco.
Apparently he had not heard any Ives when he dismissed him on p. 70.
Somewhere elsed he decries Ives's use of popular tunes. Well, when I play a
Cage piece with an AM radio part (and I have), I get popular tunes -- but
Cage would say his ego wasn't involved. (What shit! HA!)
<sorabji...@lineone.net> wrote in message
news:1177225660.6...@o5g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
> On Apr 22, 3:50 am, Lora Crighton <lcrigh...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 6:53 pm From the Associated Press NEW YORK
>> ---
>>
>> American composer Elliott Carter, an exemplar of the atonalist style
>> of modernism and according to admirers the greatest living
>> practitioner of his craft, apologized to music lovers around the
>> world today for what he called "a half century of wasted time."
>>
>> "What was I thinking?" the venerable Mr. Carter, 99, said at his home
>> in Manhattan. "Nobody likes this stuff. Why have I wasted my life?"
>> Carter said he "went wrong" back in the 1940s and spent the next 60
>> years pursuing the musical dead-end of atonality. In the past seven
>> decades, he has produced five string quartets, a half dozen song
>> cycles, works for orchestra, solo concertos and innumerable chamber
>> works for various combinations of instruments --- all in an advanced,
>> complex style he now dismisses as "noise."
>>
>> Despite consistent encouragement of many mainstream musicians such
>> as Boston Symphony Music Director James Levine, for Chicago Symphony
>> conductor Daniel Barenboim, and the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Carter said his
>> many admirers were "delusional."
>>
>> "The critics who said they were just congratulating themselves for
>> being smarter than everybody else were right all along," he said. "We
>> should all go back and get our heads on straight." Carter said he
>> blamed his late wife, Helen, for turning him into an unrepentant
>> modernist. "She liked this stuff, and I could never say no to her,"
>> he said. Mrs. Carter died in 2003 at age 95.
>>
>> Since then, Carter said, he has been reevaluating his aesthetic. "I'd
>> like to write something pretty for a change --- maybe something based
>> on an Irish folk tune," he said. He was uncertain whether he would
>> withdraw his substantial catalogue from the repertoire, though one
>> alternative would be to revise his works, ending each with a tonic
>> triad, he said.
>>
>> "I feel like an enormous weight has been lifted from my shoulders,"
>> Carter said. "From now on, I promise to be good."
> Now I wonder if you thought for a moment that a whiff of credibility
> here might just gain presence for a fleeting moment by waiting a whole
> three weeks from the date of this "press report" before posting it
> here? That date is, of course, of principal significance, being, as it
> is (or rather was, the joint birthday of Busoni and Rakhmaninov (and
> it has some other resonance, too).
>
> One of "the great living practitioners of his craft" Carter may be -
> "venerable" he undoubtedly is - but "99" he is not; he is a mere lad
> of 98 (his centenary being due on 11 December next year).
>
> It might be fair for Elliott Carter to credit his late wife Helen at
> least for pushing him to concentrate on composing his own music rather
> than writing about other people's, for this is indeed what she did; I
> rather doubt whether she'd have done that if she hadn't "liked this
> stuff". She was indeed a formidable lady and it may therefore indeed
> be the case that he "could never say no to her" - and let us not
> forget that she more or less abandoned her own career as a sculptor to
> support her husband's art. As a matter of fact, it so happens that she
> was "born on the Fourth of July" (1907), but I suppose that this fact
> is not something that a Canadian would rush to celebrate...
>
> The trouble with spoof articles like this is that they are effective
> only to the extent that they sound as consistently credible as
> possible, within reason; in this instance, however, the final
> paragraph would surely give the game away to almost anyone.
>
> If Elliott Carter himself has read this piece, I trust that it has
> appealed to his not inconsiderable sense of humour; if not, he's
> probably up there at NY's Associated Press waving his stick at them
> threateningly...
>
> Best,
>
> Alistair
>
did Barney@earthlink.net David Gray Porter
>> > Did I tell you about the time I listened toCarter'sThird (I think)
>> > Piano Concerto at the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall? At the end I
>> > applauded enthusiastically, the posh middle-aged couple in front of me
>> > turned round in astonishment and the man said "You couldn't *possibly*
>> > have enjoyed that!"
>>
>> Mr. Carter has written only one Piano Concerto, so titled. A second is
>> known as "Dialogues." There is no third.
There is one to be played on his 100th birthday.
did Barney@earthlink.net David Gray Porter
druggie with relatives. (We've got "movie sign" on A & E!)
cormac
Bar...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Have you ever read some of the stuff Cage put into "Silence"? I used to
> subscribe to this stuff 30 or so years ago, but now it just seems silly.
> He's just as parochial and "baroque" (in the strict sense of the word as an
> adjective) as some of the stuff he decries! Sure, if you want to write a
> piece based on paper imperfections, it doesn't matter at all what piece of
> paper you use, but a sound cannot help being the sound, no matter what
> cultural "glue" you bring to it. But WTF, I can hear anything as music,
> except Disco.
>
> Apparently he had not heard any Ives when he dismissed him on p. 70.
>
> Somewhere elsed he decries Ives's use of popular tunes. Well, when I play a
> Cage piece with an AM radio part (and I have), I get popular tunes -- but
> Cage would say his ego wasn't involved. (What shit! HA!)
>
>
> - Show quoted text -
Gage's " Silence" is acclaimed by the music elite.
Alas, the innocent little boy who saw the the Emperor had no clothes
is no longer with us.
Cormac.