Carter: The Vocal Works (1975-1981) / Speculum Musicae

$18.99
Label
Bridge Records
Release Date
January 1, 1989
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      CARTER, ELLIOTT
    • PERFORMER
      Speculum Musicae
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      January 01, 1989
    • UPC
      090404901423
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      BCD9014
    • LABEL
      Bridge Records
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Classical Vocals
    Works ⌄

    1. I. Dust of Snow

      Composer: Elliott Carter

      Ensemble: Speculum Musicae

      Performer: Patrick Mason

      Conductor: David Starobin

    2. II. The Rose Family

      Composer: Elliott Carter

      Ensemble: Speculum Musicae

      Performer: Patrick Mason

      Conductor: David Starobin

    3. III. The Line Gang

      Composer: Elliott Carter

      Ensemble: Speculum Musicae

      Performer: Patrick Mason

      Conductor: David Starobin

    4. I. Anaphora

      Composer: Elliott Carter

      Ensemble: Speculum Musicae

      Performer: Christine Schadeberg

      Conductor: Donald Palma

    5. II. Argument

      Composer: Elliott Carter

      Ensemble: Speculum Musicae

      Performer: Christine Schadeberg

      Conductor: Donald Palma

    6. III. Sandpiper

      Composer: Elliott Carter

      Ensemble: Speculum Musicae

      Performer: Christine Schadeberg

      Conductor: Donald Palma

    7. IV. Insomnia

      Composer: Elliott Carter

      Ensemble: Speculum Musicae

      Performer: Christine Schadeberg

      Conductor: Donald Palma

    8. V. View of the Capitol from the Library of Congress

      Composer: Elliott Carter

      Ensemble: Speculum Musicae

      Performer: Christine Schadeberg

      Conductor: Donald Palma

    9. VI. O Breath

      Composer: Elliott Carter

      Ensemble: Speculum Musicae

      Performer: Christine Schadeberg

      Conductor: Donald Palma

    10. Syringa

      Composer: Elliott Carter

      Ensemble: Speculum Musicae

      Performer: Katherine Ciesinski, Jan Opalach

      Conductor: William Purvis

    11. I. Dolphin

      Composer: Elliott Carter

      Ensemble: Speculum Musicae

      Performer: Jon Garrison

      Conductor: Robert Black

    12. II. Across the Yard: La Ignota

      Composer: Elliott Carter

      Ensemble: Speculum Musicae

      Performer: Jon Garrison

      Conductor: Robert Black

    13. III. Harriet

      Composer: Elliott Carter

      Ensemble: Speculum Musicae

      Performer: Jon Garrison

      Conductor: Robert Black

    14. IV. Dies Irae

      Composer: Elliott Carter

      Ensemble: Speculum Musicae

      Performer: Jon Garrison

      Conductor: Robert Black

    15. V. Careless Night

      Composer: Elliott Carter

      Ensemble: Speculum Musicae

      Performer: Jon Garrison

      Conductor: Robert Black

    16. VI. In Genesis

      Composer: Elliott Carter

      Ensemble: Speculum Musicae

      Performer: Jon Garrison

      Conductor: Robert Black


"The Bridge disc features the expert New York chamber group Speculum Musicae, and has an attractive rarity as opener, the Three Poems of Robert Frost, composed in 1942 when Carter was still an obedient, highly effective adherent of the 'open-air' Coplandesque style, but orchestrated with exuberant resourcefulness as recently as 1980...The account of Syringa (1978), the most complex and hermetic of the vocal works, with its superimposition of the soprano's Robert Ashbery poem on a collection of ancient Greek texts sung by the bass, may strike listeners (and especially attentive score-readers) as more careful than inspired. But as it proceeds it conveys the spirit of the work's intricate yet impassioned enquiry into the sources and spaces of creativity very well. Momentum is maintained, and the instrumental detail is clear and precise.

A Mirror on which to Dwell (1976) is less ambitious, though these settings of six poems by Elizabeth Bishop are marvellously refined in sonority the vocal line ranging from lingering lyricism to subtly-patterned declamation. Christine Schadeberg characterizes the texts alertly, especially the tricky syntax of ''O Breath''...

It is indeed gratifying to find record companies so prompt in acknowledging the importance of the Carter phenomenon, and with performances that, if not always ideal in every respect, are for the most part worthy of this extraordinary music."

-- Arnold Whittall, Gramophone [2/1990]