Elliott Carter: Sonata for Cello and Piano

Elliott Carter: Sonata for Cello and Piano (1948)
4. Allegro
Norman Fischer, cello and Jeanne Kierman, piano at Rice University

Category:

Music

Tags:

• classical

[saladshootavvv]

When you say things like 'we tend to analyze and understand music by listening' you are implying that modern composition is purely cerebral and I think that is one of the biggest problems with the public's take on new music. If new music was only made to be admired through analysis then it would be nothing more than a craft. I find lots of aesthetic pleasure as well as cerebral admiration from modern compositions. Your attitude comes off as elitist and that's also a problem, alienation of people

[kombelpeter]

Violin? :')

[WrestlingHeretic]

I can't believe some of the comments here. If people think *this* is cerebral, they should try listening to some of Carter's music twenty years after this.

[drguitar78]

Hmm...on second thought, this is a ridiculous idea, but it would be interesting anyway to see if upon a million trials you could generate a peice that had an equivalent array of musical relationships throughout its composition.

I guess my point is, I see patterns in this music, and they are not simple..but I think that's why it's so beautiful. I liken it to an unpredictable film that has many twists and turns along the plot....if it was easy to predict, I'd probably get bored.

[drguitar78]

@sweeney665

I understand how it can seem random. I'm not sure that it's not, but I feel connected to it nonetheless. It would be interesting to do an experiment to test exaclty how random it is. Here's how you would do it: assign a set of numbers to the keys of the piano/frets of the cello. You could also discretize the note durations into small bins of time, say from 1/32 second to 4 seconds in 1/32 second increments. Then, you use a random number generator to obtain a musical code.

[sweeney665]

@drguitar78 yeah sure sure......music without structure is not music, i take it you feel the same pleasure when you hear random noises over a period of time?cuz that is what this is,and when it comes to abstract structure id rather listen to jazz than this.at least there you have a better chance of getting a motive or a repeated grrove that makes some sense.this, still doesnt classify as music.im seriously open to your arguments though,feel free to answer :)

[drguitar78]

@sweeney665

I was at this recital, completely sober, and it was deeply moving...I felt transformed...like my outlook on life and reality was forever changed.

[sweeney665]

ok if i take crack, a bit of mescaline and an ounce of ether, maybe i can classify this as music...

[cnmaster01]

@BachClarinet OH COME ON THE QUARTET EVEN HAS A KEY SGNATURE! it only enters atonality briefly

[cnmaster01]

@BachClarinet Stravinsky, Shostakovitch, Barber and Ginastera, have all written major serial works and Prokofiev pretty much predates it(only a fool would call Villa-Lobos a revolutionary) serialism is as much a tool as tonality is. there are good serial works and there are bad ones just as there are good and bad tonal works. the "cerebral" part of music is in the creation and its just as true of Bach and Beethoven as it is with Stockhausen. I find this music AESTHETICALLY pleasing and you don't

[wacosiege]

@BachClarinet quartet for the end of time definitely isn't serialist, it's pretty much tonal in a couple of the movements!