Eliott Carter: Improvisation from
Eight Piece for four Timpani
“The Eight Pieces, you see, were written to develop notions of
metric modulation as a sort of experiment. Because I then wrote my big First Quartet which uses all the little metric modulations that you find here in the Eight Pieces on a simplified basis. So, this was a kind of sketch for a string quartet – if you can believe it!"
-Elliott Carter
Improvisation for four Timpani is composed in 1949 dedicated to
Paul Price, Improvisation is “a study in tempo modulation and free continuity.” Improvisationary- sounding sections are juxtaposed with strict rhythmic segments throughout this piece. The use of temporal modulation creates the illusion of tempo change due to improvisation. Like the other pieces in the Eight Pieces for Four Timpani, specific instructions relating to playing area have been included.(Tegan LeBrun. 2014)
Eliott Carter: Changing of his compositional style
Elliott Carter (1908-2012) was an American composer. one of the most respected composers of
the second half of 20th century (Grove, 201) andhe was noted as “one of America’s most distinguished creative artists in any field” by his friend Aaron Copland. He had written more than 150 Pieces, ranging from chamber music to orchestral works to opera, often marked with a sense of wit and humor He received numerous honors and accolades, including two Pulitzer Prize.(Eliottcarter.com)
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His early compositional style was Influenced by Charles Ives and Nadia Boulanger, his old
mentor. After returning form Paris in 1935, Cartermade a living as a performing pianist, vocalist and oboist, although he found no joy in performing and stopped whenever he could afford to. And in the late 1930s Carter devoted himself mainly to writing short Choral Composition, mainly for the chorus of elite American Colleges(Grove, 202), such as the Harward Glee Club. Carter also gained a position as music director of Lincoln Kirstein’s Ballet Caravan, for which he wrote the ballet “Pocahontas” (1939), a work with echoes of Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” Although Carter had achieved some success, he began to question his compositional identity – “By the mid-1940s Mr. Carter had won several prizes but had made little headway with the public, and he began to regard his consonant style as an unrewarding compromise” With this realisation came a change in compositional style and a new direction to Carter’s compositional career.(LeBrun. 3)
By the late 1940 Carter began to change his style of composition. one that led to his fascination
with "time" and it will be developed into "Metric Modulation" Carter has discussed this period that "One of the aspects of my period, in my life, was the notion of the experience of time. Of course, it's a very old idea, people have been working on time since Adam and Eve, I expect. But the idea of treating time as a very vivid and strong thing is certainly very important in Marcel Proust and James Joyce. Those were writers I read when I was too young to read such nasty pieces, but in any case this has been something that is very important to me. I have tried in my pieces to give the concept of the passage of time as a dramatic idea, so that the pieces change as they go along in one way or another; different kinds of rhythm conflict with each other and so on. This was a sense that I wanted to give because after all, as we live our own lives, we are constantly involved in all sorts of different aspects of time.”
After Carter's change of compositional style, his work began to be more complicated and have
more constantly changing of time. While he develop his new compositional style, he began to dissatisfied with the music of his previous influences such as Charles Ives and Nadia Boulanger. and Elliott carter also finding a more effective way to experiment with rhythmic manipulation in his works. In the same time he also Influenced by Henry Cowell (1897 – 1963) and Conlon Nancarrow (1912 – 1997) Carter’s views on ‘time’ in music were affirmed by these composers for, in his opinion, “all three (composers’) approaches to rhythmic emancipation proved, in one way or another, unsatisfactory” Carter continued this compositional path for a number of years, producing works such as his Second String Quartet (1959) and his Double Concerto (1961).(LeBrun. 4)
Eight Pieces for four Timpani's Composer's notes
Influences of 20th century music on the Eight Pieces
In the early 20th century there was rising in Percussion Music started from Luigi Russolo's Ideas
of the art of noise. In 1918 Stravinsky composed L’Histoire du Soldat. This piece employs Multiple percussionist, the role that used to require entire section, for the first time. and in 1931 there is Ionisation, first repertoire composed solely for percussion and this piece has unique sound like lion's roar and siren. and there're another sound such as Chinese cymbal, guiro, castanets, and maracas. The main theme is played on snare drums. These factors influnce Carter's Eight Pieces for four timpani sometimes to be interpret as a multiple percussion repertoire due to the sound making method of the piece . In the meantime Drumset Virtuoso such as Chick Webb and Gene Krupa that very popular during the first 20th century also have influence on Carter's Eight piece for four timpani too. such as Morris Lang puts it when referencing a particularly measure in in Improvisation, “you can’t tell me Carter never heard a great jazz drummer around the drum set – get it to swing!”(Altmire, 18-20)
The Passage of Improvisation
that morris Lang described.
Improvisation with commentary by Stuart Marrs
Modern Interpretation of Improvisation by Seokjung Park