Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Elliott Carter has passed away

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...c-c5da-11df-94e1-c5afa35a9e59_story.html

currently listening to the vastly underrated piano sonata.

It is. When I get home I'm going to listen to it.

I guess we're all mortal after all.

The piano sonata is indeed good; so are the challenging, mind-bending, insatiable string quartets.

RIP


-J

And let us not forget his marvelous cello sonata! I heard it live several years ago, and could not help wondering why it is not in the standard repertoire.

A couple of my teachers knew him - I mostly heard that he was a wonderful person with an ever present twinkle in his eyes.

RIP. His 2nd string quartet was a large part of my musical diet during my formative years. I've tried to start work on the piano sonata at least 6 times over the course of my life - admitting defeat each time either through my own incompetence or through career logistics. I've had slightly better luck with the 2 Diversions.....slightly.....

This is very saddening to hear. He composed until the very end, and although I've got plenty of Carter to discover still, I think his contribution to music was a very very valuable one overall. At one point I started looking at the "Night fantasies", but I somehow felt it wouldn't be worthwhile to learn it, even though there are very fascinating moments in that piece.

RIP.

Gerard12, same here -- I've never seriously assigned time to the Sonata, although I consider it to be one of the three greatest American Piano Sonatas (other two being Copland and Barber, no disrespect to Griffes and Ives). The technical challenges were just too daunting. His later compositional efforts blew me out of the water musically as well (I wouldn't begin to attempt Night Fantasies, for example), but his very late output, of which "Two Diversions" is a good example, is for me quite accessible, both musically and technically. I've heard a few others ("Retrouvailles" "Catenaires") that I wouldn't attempt, but at least I sort of "get it".

I'll have to check out whether he wrote piano music beyond the age of 96 -- to date, I had given the "priza" for the oldest person ever to write significant piano music to Leo Ornstein, who provided his massive Piano Sonatas No 7 and 8 at the age of 95 - 96.

It's remarkable how Carter kept on composing far past the point when others would've stopped (for example, Babbitt remarked how tired he was even though he would still live for a few more years). What an active mind!

I'm still torturing myself for not getting the recording of his incredible Symphonia: sum fluxae pretium spei. And I have yet to listen to his quintet for piano and winds, of which I've heard many good things.

I didn't know anyone considered his Piano Sonata underrated. At least I didn't underrate it!

I think it is overrated, so I must be underrating it (unless I'm not).