Voices in Brass #7: Live listening

 In class today, we listened to the Elliot Carter Brass Quintet. It is quite the interesting piece, and very difficult for the musicians performing it.

A little bit of background info, Elliot Carter was a modern American composer (1908 - 2012)


In the opening of the piece it states very ethereal with the words “calm” in the score and “menacing” in the interjecting horn parts. The parts are all very detailed as each of the parts are very independent of each other, but together at the same time. Each musician has to pay very close attention to their own very syncopated and abrupt entrances that somehow call and response to what everyone else is doing. 

The composer does a great job making the music uncomfortable for the listener. Without the score to follow, I would not have known where the time was. There are plenty of moments in the music where there are intentional moments of emotion stated throughout the instruments. 

In regards to Elliot’s music, there are two major camps, people who love it and hate it. I didn’t dislike the piece that we listened to today, but it was definitely difficult to focus on what was happening and make sense of it. When it comes to “atonal” music, I am normally not a fan, but this piece has snippets of tonality to make specific statements. Kind of opposite of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven who use dissonance sparingly.

Let me know your thoughts on this piece and what you think of atonal music. 

Comments

  1. Jake FeketeApril 28, 2025 at 3:45 PM

    We recently played and recored Elliot Carter's clarinet concerto with the Center for New Music, and it was my first time ever playing Carter. What I appreciate about his music is not only does it fully embrace atonality, but it still manages to stay cute. There are still characters and vibes to the construction of his writing that gives it more of a narrative push. I feel more when I listen to the music. Some atonal music is so absolutely grim, with somber longwinded ideas that seem to begin and go nowhere. When I'm encountered with this music, I feel nothing but loathing and impatience until it's over. Carter never pushes too far into the esoteric for my taste.

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