So I did drag out the Naxos recording of Carter's 5th quartet last night, and encountered exactly what I expected: static, arid gesturing. A very common 20th-century sound. (I blame Webern.)
After ten or fifteen minutes of that, I switched over to Michael Gordon's =Trance=, which is being performed here in New York tonight (but which I think I'll skip because of the ticket price). Now, I'm not the biggest fan of minimalism, but the sheer rhythmic energy generated by Gordon's disjunct layers of ostinato was in startling contrast to Carter's etiolated discontinuities.
(Gordon's music also contrasts with the smoother, more dovetailing layering of Glass and Reich.)
Speaking of minimalism: the various descriptions of John Adams' new string quartet (of which yours was one of the best) are making my mouth water. If you should hear about a web broadcast of the piece, do let us know.
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Date: 2009-04-22 01:41 pm (UTC)After ten or fifteen minutes of that, I switched over to Michael Gordon's =Trance=, which is being performed here in New York tonight (but which I think I'll skip because of the ticket price). Now, I'm not the biggest fan of minimalism, but the sheer rhythmic energy generated by Gordon's disjunct layers of ostinato was in startling contrast to Carter's etiolated discontinuities.
(Gordon's music also contrasts with the smoother, more dovetailing layering of Glass and Reich.)
Speaking of minimalism: the various descriptions of John Adams' new string quartet (of which yours was one of the best) are making my mouth water. If you should hear about a web broadcast of the piece, do let us know.
Don Keller