Boston Concerto (2002) | Compositions | Elliott Carter, composer

Instrumentation: 3(II,III=picc).2.corA.3(III=bcl).3(III=dbn)-4.3.3.1-perc(3):I=xyl/vib/log dr/4bongos/high SD/susp.cym/wood chime; II=marimba/log dr/4tpl.bl/2cowbells/susp.cym; III=BD/tom-t/4wdbls/guiro/susp.cym/maracas/med SD-harp-pft-strings
Dedication: To my wife Helen [Carter]
Buy Score: Hendon Music (Boosey & Hawkes)
Manuscripts: Paul Sacher Stiftung

Premiere: Apr 3, 2003/ Boston Symphony Orchestra / Ingo Metzmacher/ Symphony Hall, Boston, MA

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Boston Concerto (clip)

The marvelous Boston Symphony was very important to me in the ’20s and ’30s as a Harvard student. At that time I went every Saturday and stood on the steps of Symphony Hall for a “rush seat” in the balcony. Those years also included singing with the Harvard Glee Club and the BSO in many of the great choral works. I am so grateful for those years and I have, I hope, written a “thank you” piece – Boston Concerto. It throws a spotlight on each of the remarkable sections of the orchestra, surrounding them with short orchestral pizzicati sections for the entire group, not unlike the plan of a concerto grosso.

Finding the pointillist textures in the orchestra that I imagined fascinating and meaningful, and wanting to dedicate a new piece to my wife, Helen, I came across the opening of William Carlos Williams’s poem, “Rain”:

As the rain falls
so does
your love
bathe every
open
Object of the world—

In the Boston Concerto such textures form a refrain that separates episodes featuring different sections of the orchestra.

There are a few fundamental chords that are heard throughout, both harmonically and melodically.

I hope in this work I have found a way of repaying the debt I owe to the Boston Symphony, which I attended regularly during my six years at Harvard and which increased my knowledge and love of music enormously.

– Elliott Carter

Recordings (1)

The Music of Elliott Carter, Volume Seven
Bridge Records 9177 (2005)
Nicolas Hodges, piano | London Sinfonietta, Oliver Knussen, conductor | BBC Symphony Orchestra | Fred Sherry, cello | Asko Ensemble