Carter, E :: Flute Concerto

Elliott Carter's Flute Concerto is presented here in a reduction for flute and piano. Premiered by Emmanuel Pahud with the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Ensemble, the Flute Concerto immediately made a mark as quintessentially Carter.

Composer's Notes

For many years flutists have been asking for a flute concerto, yet I kept putting it off because I felt that the flute could not produce the sharp attacks that I use so frequently. But the idea of the beautiful qualities of the different registers of the instrument and the extraordinary agility attracted me more and more, so when Elena Bashkirova asked me write something for her and the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, I decided it would be a flute concerto. From mid - September, 2007 to March, 2008 ideas and notes for it fascinated me without relief.

- Elliott Carter, May 2008

Press Quotes

Rhapsodic and brilliant [ ] It opens with startling, crisp orchestral chords that prod the flute into scurrying figures, quickly taken up by other instruments. The flute s skittish riffs and winding lyrical lines sometimes ignite agitated orchestral responses; at other times they are cushioned by subdued, sustained harmonies. Even when the music breaks into a jumpy back-and-forth, the mood is industrious, not aggressive.

Mr. Carter s language has lost none of its piercing, atonal bite. Yet like most of his works from his 90s and later, this score is less densely complex and layered than those from earlier decades. The enhanced clarity is a welcome turn, making it easier to hear Mr. Carter s scintillating sonorities, myriad instrumental colors and complex rhythmic interplay.

- Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times

[Mr. Carter] has now upended expectations once again, writing a rigorous yet in its way ravishing concerto that seems to have been inspired by, of all things, the flute s lyrical possibilities. Many hallmark Carter gestures can still be heard in the pointy and mercurial orchestral writing, the taut and rapid interplay between soloist and ensemble, and the kind of sharp-edged virtuosity demanded of the soloist at certain points. But the work s heart, its central section, is dominated by a striking ruminative songfulness, with long solo melodies that meander and drift through different registers while the orchestra offers only modest commentary, or later, icy chords slowly drawn to arresting effect. The work ends with a burst of pure adrenaline. Carter has written what amounts to, within his high-modernist oeuvre, a real crowd pleaser.'

Jeremy Eichler, The Boston Globe

For the advanced player.