| | The Arditti Quartet concert at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall on December 4th was expectedly phenomenal. The program boasted (and was our biggest draw) Elliot Carter's (b. 1908) Quartet Nr. 5. Also dished up was Ligeti's (b. 1923) 3rd Quartet, Lachenmann's (b. 1935) 4th Quartet, and Nancarrow's (b. 1912) 3rd Quartet...(actual order: Nancarrow, Carter, Ligeti, Lachenmann).
Little could be more difficult than giving a full assessment of the Carter; this chiliagonal work is topographically declamatory, engaging each instrument through the meticulous development of a series of unique sonic profiles. The first 2-3 minutes of the work suggest some possible teleologies of the opening gestures. The logic of the un-folding of these developments is not, to my ears at least, predictable, but logical nonetheless. I find this often in Carter's music: the extension, extrapolation, and embellishent of primary gestures, or 'motives', or 'situations' seem in retrospect quite reasonable, even inevitable, but often seem impossible to predict. When this occurs above a subjective threshold of frequency, it occurs to me that I don't "connect" with the work. The ability to acknowledge a lack of connection with a work, while still engaged with the music's internal activity and flow, seems to me a fundamental, and trying, development of listening.
The Helmut Lachenmann, Quartet nr. 4, was remarkable, showcasing the composer's highly innovative regard of timbre and instrumental technique. One possible issue in music that is engineered with instruments' and performer's capabilities in mind (as Lachenmann's seems to me to be) arises when the listeners' attention to the flow of the work is directed, however unwittingly, to the special techniques employed. Happily, while Lachenmann borders (at times) on this edge, nowhere does his music become shallow or 'technique-driven.' Rather, the surface of his works is rich and variecolored, embracing all posibilities of the discourse rather than 'ecploiting' the virtuousities of the musicians. Does the music of Brian Ferneyhough fall into the exploitative camp?
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| | Posted 1/13/2005 12:29 PM - 24 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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