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Cedille

Oppens Plays Carter - The Complete Piano Music

$19.99

Details

Composer
CARTER, ELLIOT
Artist
Ursula Oppens
Format
CD
Label
Cedille
Released
Nov 01, 2008
Catalog #
CDR 108
UPC
735131910828

About


Ursula Oppens has been a steadfast and masterful champion of Elliott Carter's music for more than three decades, and her recital encompassing the prolific 100-year-old composer's complete piano music clearly is a labor of love. What is more, her interpretations have evolved. For example, Oppens' 1998 Night Fantasies recording (Music & Arts) abounds with dead-on accuracy and drive. However, it sounds relatively earnest and literal next to this far more flexible, overtly contrasted, and color-conscious remake. Oppens also has rethought and internalized "90 +" to the point where her detached and legato articulations now are more sharply profiled and truer to Carter's written dynamics.

In her vivid, incisive performance of the early Piano Sonata Oppens particularly relishes the grand sonorities and overtones resulting from the composer's imaginative use of the sostenuto pedal, although her softest playing ultimately lacks Charles Rosen's magical tonal allure. Two recent works appear in their first recordings: Oppens imparts a strong sense of line via her precise yet unhurried handling of Caténares' rapid repeated notes (shades of Ravel's Scarbo); conversely, she forges a welcome, multi-dimensional tonal landscape from Matribute's continuous single-line texture. Superb production values (thanks to producer Judith Sherman and the Academy of Arts and Letters' marvelous acoustics) and informative booklet notes add further value to a significant release for Carter's centennial year, or any other year for that matter.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Tracklist 10 tracks

  1. 1 90+ 04:55
    Track
    1
    Title
    90+
    Duration
    04:55
    Composer
    Elliott Carter
  2. 2 Retrouvailles 01:38
    Track
    2
    Title
    Retrouvailles
    Duration
    01:38
    Composer
    Elliott Carter
  3. 3 Night Fantasies 19:48
    Track
    3
    Title
    Night Fantasies
    Duration
    19:48
    Composer
    Elliott Carter
  4. 4 I. — 04:03
    Track
    4
    Title
    I. —
    Duration
    04:03
    Composer
    Elliott Carter
  5. 5 II. — 03:21
    Track
    5
    Title
    II. —
    Duration
    03:21
    Composer
    Elliott Carter
  6. 6 Matribute 02:05
    Track
    6
    Title
    Matribute
    Duration
    02:05
    Composer
    Elliott Carter
  7. 7 I. Maestoso - Legato scorrevole 10:22
    Track
    7
    Title
    I. Maestoso - Legato scorrevole
    Duration
    10:22
    Composer
    Elliott Carter
  8. 8 II. Andante 13:03
    Track
    8
    Title
    II. Andante
    Duration
    13:03
    Composer
    Elliott Carter
  9. 9 2 Thoughts About the Piano: No. 1. Intermittences 07:04
    Track
    9
    Title
    2 Thoughts About the Piano: No. 1. Intermittences
    Duration
    07:04
    Composer
    Elliott Carter
  10. 10 2 Thoughts About the Piano: No. 2. Caténaires 03:48
    Track
    10
    Title
    2 Thoughts About the Piano: No. 2. Caténaires
    Duration
    03:48
    Composer
    Elliott Carter
    Performer
    Ursula Oppens