Elliott Carter - Piano Sonata, John Anderson, Part 1 - Maestoso- Legato scorrevole

First part of Elliott Carter's Piano Sonata, composed in 1945-46 and revised in 1982, performed July 19, 2009 in the Aula Magna of the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana in Lugano, Switzerland, as part of the Ticino Musica Festival. Elliott Carter is an American composer who turned 100 this year, and is still composing great music.

www.johnclementanderson.com

This piece is a little complex, but not so much when compared to his more mature works. It marks a stylistic turning point in his carreer, moving on from his former more neo-classical and diatonic works, and towards his ever more complex harmonic and rhythmic explorations. The rhythms are heavily influenced by jazz, and though his harmonies are very bold and American with octaves and stacks of fifths, the sonata's construction and economy of material is very controlled and European, and recalls perhaps the form of Beethoven's Op. 110, if not its character. Like Barber's sonata for the piano, Carter's finale uses a fugue, but if anything still more American in character and complex in execution. The fugue is bounded by andante sections, very lyrical and contrasting, yet based on the thematic rhythm of the opening octaves of the first movement. Like Beethoven's Op. 110, Carter's makes direct recalls back to the first movement.

His sonata, perhaps second only to Berio's Sequenza for the piano, makes more use out of the tonal pedal than any in the repertoire (the middle pedal on a grand piano, that sustains only depressed keys as opposed to the damper pedal which lifts the dampers on all strings), and features melodies that sound only as content of the harmonic series of silently depressed tones, resonating in sympathy to the bass. Perhaps excelling Berio's use of the same effect however, this serves to draw our attention to the natural character of his choice in material and theme, and suggests not so much a form of development as that the basic material itself was developed out of these natural harmonic relationships of the instrument and is the material's most extreme form of abstraction.

Youtube demands films be no longer than 10 minutes, which takes the first part up to the recapitulation. Please see parts 2 and 3 for the rest.


JOHN ANDERSON has two diplomas from the Music Academy of Pescara, where he studied with Bruno Mezzena. He began his musical education with Phyllis Olsen at the age of four in his hometown, Lawrence, Kansas, (USA), and continued to study privately with her until university, and attended occasional masterclasses with Byrnell Figler and one with José Ramos Santana. He graduated from Hertford College, Oxford, in 2004 with a First in music, and in 2005 served as artistic director to the first Oxford International Music Festival. He received perfect marks from the Academy of Pescara for his first piano diploma, and was awarded perfect marks, lauds and "special mention" for his second diploma concentrating in 20th century piano repertoire. He was a regular participant of the Ticino Musica Festivals in Lugano/Ascona/Locarno Switzerland from 2001 until 2010. He continues to study with Bruno Mezzena in Pescara.

He has performed in the USA, Italy, Switzerland, UK, and in Russia, and with various orchestras, including performances of Stavinsky's Concerto for Piano and Winds (with the Pescara Academy Orchestra), Saint-Saens' Rhapsodie d'Auvergne, Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2 (with the Lawrence Chamber Orchestra and Juan Francisco LaManna conducting), and the Schumann Concerto in A minor (with Hertford College Orchestra, Oxford, and the Pescara Academy Orchestra). His interests also include composition and analysis, which he studied with his Oxford tutor, Hugh Collins Rice. He was a jury member of the 2009 international singing competition "Putevka k zvezdam" in Moscow. He is president of the Italian music association "Project Odradek".

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[BlueCougar]

0:09-0:26: He managed to sneak in John Cage's "Piano Bench Music". Great performance!

[5tgb6yhn5tgb]

Good performance John - my favourite Piano piece - in years to come, this piece will be seen for what it is .... - one of the most beautiful creations of the 20th Century. Spine-tingling.

[lovesGenet]

This man has made this music speak to me as never before.I have had a german woman playing this for 20 years adn really never got into it.Here -now.I'm ready Wonderful.this guy was complexity way back whenBoulez &Messiaen seemed to have discovered it.

[1000Eyes0016]

@5tgb6yhn5tgb The thumbs up button doesn't do this comment justice.

[OAmus]

Thank you for the illuminating explanation

[OAmus]

Thank you for the illuminating explanation.

[daniel15671]

The first time I listened to this work, it didn't make sense to me. As I've listened to his later music, I now see what he was getting at, and it seems beautiful and passionate to me. And it's marvelously well written for the instrument.

[araturco]

great video. welldone