Comments on: Getting to grips with Carter, part 1

By: Stuart Estell

Stuart Estell — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:27:46 +0000

Thanks for both your comments, Joe. Good to know that even Oppens isn’t superhuman enough to play Caténaires twice!

I did realise that the long chords in the first Diversion were in a steady pulse but hadn’t done the maths to know what that pulse was! Given that Carter is so fond of providing preambles to his own scores it’s rather a pity that he didn’t go into that level of detail with the Diversions’ foreword. I think I’m going to have to count it as written to work out the relationships and to get the hang of how it should sound, and then play it – rhythmically at least – by ear.

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:10:36 +0000

Stuart: Just saw your tweet about needing two brains for the Diversions. As for No. 1, just keep in mind that the basic pulse is 40. You don’t need to count all the tied quintuplets and such. Just keep to 40 and work all the other stuff around it. Eg., on the first page, the half thr hslf note is given as 64. Multiply by five (for the quintuplets) and you get 320. Now divide that by eight (since he’s tying the quintuplets together in groups of eight), and you get (ta-da!) 40 again. It works that way througout the piece. Forgive me if you already know this. It’s one of the few bits of mathematics I’ve ever figured out in a Carter score.

By: Joe Barron

Joe Barron — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:13:50 +0000

>>there’s something unquantifiably and wonderfully right about Carter’s music. It might be fiendish, but it fizzes with energy and fun.

Hurrah! Wonderful to know there’s another fan out there who is “getting” Mr. Carter’s music in the right spirit.

To give you some encouragement: I saw Ursula Oppens perform Catenaires live at Symphony Space, NYC, in January 2008. It was the last piece on the program, and she performed brilliantly, of course. The audience gave her a standing ovation, and we weren’t letting her go. It was obvious we wanted an encore. As I had been sitting in the front row, I caught her eye, pointed to the piano and mouthed the words, “Do it again.”

She shook her head at me and mouthed back, “No, it’s too hard.”