Double Concerto for harpsichord and piano with two chamber orchestras

Year
1961
Duration
23'
Category
Solo and Orchestra

Instrumentation: 1(=picc).1.1(=Ebcl).1-2.1.1.0-perc(4)-strings(1.0.1.1.1)
Dedication: Paul Fromm
Awards: New York Music Critics’ Circle Award, 1961
View Score
Buy Score: Associated Music Publishers
Manuscripts: Paul Sacher Stiftung

Premiere: Sep 6, 1961/ Ralph Kirkpatrick (hps), Charles Rosen (pno), Gustav Meier (cond)/ Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, New York, NY

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My Double Concerto for Harpsichord and Piano, commissioned by the Fromm Foundation, is dedicated to Paul Fromm. Completed in August, 1961, it is an antiphonal work for two small orchestras each led by one of the soloists. The harpsichord is associated with an ensemble of flute, horn, trumpet, trombone, viola, contrabass, and percussion (largely metallophones and lignophones) while the piano is joined by an ensemble of oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, cello, and percussion (largely membranophones). In addition to being isolated in space and timbre, the antiphonal groups are partially separated musically by the fact that each emphasizes its own repertory of melodic and harmonic intervals – the harpsichord ensemble: minor seconds, minor thirds, perfect fourths, augmented fourths, minor sixths, minor sevenths and minor ninths; the piano ensemble: major seconds, major thirds, perfect fifths, major sixths, major sevenths and major ninths. Each of these intervals is associated, for the most part, with a certain metronomic speed with the result that the speeds and their inter-relationships are also different for the two groups. Rhythmically the harpsichord ensemble is apt to specialize in derivations of the polyrhythm 4 against 7, while the piano ensemble in 5 against 3. These fields of specialization of the two groups are not carried out rigorously throughout the work but give way to the more important considerations which come from the fact that the two groups not only also have different repertories of musical character, gestures, logic, expression and “behavioral” patterns, but that all of these are meant to be combined within each group and from group to group and result in recognizable overall patterns. The motion of the work is from comparative unity with slight character differences to greater and greater diversity of material and character and a return to unity. The form is that of confrontations of diversified action patterns and a presentation of their mutual inter-reactions, conflicts and resolutions, their growth and decay over various stretches of time.

The Concerto, although continuous, falls into seven large interconnected sections. During the Introduction, the two groups in becoming progressively more differentiated state each facet of their material with greater and greater definition. The Cadenza for Harpsichord presents in condensed form all the salient characteristics, rhythms and intervals of its ensemble. The Allegro Scherzando is primarily for the piano ensemble with brief interruptions and comments by the other group. An Adagio, largely for the winds of both groups accompanied by accelerating and retarding figurations by the two soloists and the percussion joined occasionally by the strings, follows, and is concluded by an extended duet for the two soloists meeting at a stage in the piano’s acceleration and the harpsichord’s retardation only to separate as the piano proceeds toward its maximum speed while the harpsichord and its percussion proceed toward their minimum speed simultaneously.

The Presto is for harpsichord and all the other instruments except the percussion and the piano, which later constantly interrupts with fragments of the Adagio. Twice the soloist breaks into a short Cadenza based on other elements of its material, and its second cadenza leads to an amplification of the questioning inflections of the Presto by all the instruments with the percussion dominating. After a brief pause, the work closes with an extended Coda, using the entire ensemble in a series of long-phased oscillations (that include many subsidiary short-phased ones) from one group to the other, during which previous ideas are recalled in new contexts. Reversing the general plan of the Introduction (although not the musical one) these fragments lose their definition bit by bit, become shorter, sometimes more condensed, sometimes more dispersed, gradually merging into the slow waves of percussion rolls that move according to the basic polyrhythmic structure of the whole work.

– Elliott Carter

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photo by Marguerite Boland

Upcoming Performances (1)

Ensemble Musikfabrik. Photo by Katharina Dubno.

Jun 23, 2025 8:00 pm

Ensemble Musikfabrik

Ensemble Musikfabrik; Bas Wiegers, conductor; Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano; Benjamin Kobler, harpsichord; Carl Rosman, clarinet

Kölner Philharmonie, Köln, Germany/More Info

Recordings (8)

Charles Rosen plays Modern Piano Music
Sony (2017)
Charles Rosen, piano | Ralph Kirkpatrick, harpsichord | Gustav Meier, conductor
Elliott Carter: Variations for Orchestra; Double Concerto; Piano Concerto
Sony 49994 (2013)
New Philharmonia Orchestra, Frederik Prausnitz, Conductor | Paul Jacobs, Harpsichord | Charles Rosen, Piano | English Chamber Orchestra | Jacob Lateiner, Piano | Boston Symphony Orchestra (+1)
Elliott Carter: A Nonesuch Retrospective
Nonesuch 510893-2 (2009)
Paul Jacobs, piano | Jan DeGaetani, mezzo-soprano | Gilbert Kalish, piano | New York Chamber Symphony, Gerard Schwarz, conductor | Joel Krosnick, cello | The Composers Quartet (+21)
Sequitur: Concertos
Albany TROY607 (2003)
Steven Beck, piano | Sarah Laimon, harpsichord | Sequitur | Paul Hostetter, conductor
Elliott Carter: Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello, and Harpsichord; Sonata for Cello and Piano; Double Concerto
Elektra Nonesuch 79183-2 (1988)
Harvey Sollberger, flute | Charles Kuskin, oboe | Fred Sherry, cello | Paul Jacobs, harpsichord | Joel Krosnick, cello | Gilbert Kalish, piano | The Contemporary Chamber Ensemble (+1)
Elliott Carter: Double Concerto; Duo for Violin and PIano
Nonesuch H-71314 (1975)
Paul Jacobs, harpsichord | Gilbert Kalish, piano | The Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, Arthur Weisberg, conductor | Paul Dunkel, flute | Raymond DesRoches, percussion | Claire Heldrich, percussion (+14)
Elliott Carter: Variations; Double Concerto
Columbia MS 7191 (1968)
New Philharmonia Orchestra, Frederik Prausnitz, conductor | Paul Jacobs, harpsichord | Charles Rosen, piano | English Chamber Orchestra
Elliott Carter: Double Concerto; Leon Kirchner: Concerto
Epic LC 3830; BC 1157 (1962)
Ralph Kirkpatrick | Charles Rosen, piano | Gustav Meier, conductor