Carter: Partita; Berio: Continuo; Takemitsu: Visions

On this CD:

1. Partita
Composed by Elliott Carter
Performed by Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Daniel Barenboim

2. Continuo, for orchestra
Composed by Luciano Berio
Performed by Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Daniel Barenboim

3. Visions, for orchestra
Composed by Toru Takemitsu
Performed by Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Daniel Barenboim

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Carter's Partita--a 1993 commission from Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony--is a complex, disjointed work that defies categorization. Its ideas are expressed in tight concussions (or explosions) of sound, but Carter is savvy enough to let his statements sink in before moving on to the next cluster. Berio's Continuo (of 1990) is a more fluid composition, if disjointed in its own manner. And Takemitsu's Visions, composed in 1989, is the most colorful and resonant of the works on this disc, with a stronger emotional core than the others. All in all, this is some of the best postmodern music available. -- Paul Cook

Tracks:

African Portraits: Act 1, The Drum And The Cross: Libation: Harvest, 16th Century West Africa...
African Portraits: Act 1, The Drum And The Cross: Chor: Duwa Beh
African Portraits: Act 1, The Drum And The Cross: Attack/Subjugation
African Portraits: Act 1, The Drum And The Cross: The Middle Passage
African Portraits: Act 2, The Land Of Milk And Honey: Auction: Potter's Mart, Charleston...
African Portraits: Act 2, The Land Of Milk And Honey: Wailing Song
African Portraits: Act 2, The Land Of Milk And Honey: Victor Nelson's Cotton Field, Elgin, Texas..
African Portraits: Act 2, The Land Of Milk And Honey: Music Man, Shaw, Mississippi, Delta Swamp
African Portraits: Act 2, The Land Of Milk And Honey: The Three Deuces Club, 52nd St, New York...
African Portraits: Act 2, The Land Of Milk And Honey: Chor: You Can Find A Way
African Portraits: Act 2, The Land Of Milk And Honey: 400 Years Ago Today - Living Inside...
African Portraits: Act 2, The Land Of Milk And Honey: Redemption
African Portraits: Act 2, The Land Of Milk And Honey: Epilogue, Kora
Continuo

Tracks:

Partita
Visions: Mystere
Visions: Les Yeux Clos
Sym No.1: Apologue: Of Rage And Remembrance
Sym No.1: Tarantella
Sym No.1: Chanconne: Giulio's Song
Sym No.1: Epilogue

Carter: Partita; Berio: Continuo; Takemitsu: Visions

Average customer rating:

Major composers, but uneven results
Partita is only the beginning.
Carter's Partita is worth the price of the disc.

Carter: Partita; Berio: Continuo; Takemitsu: Visions

Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000000SS3
Release Date: 1995-06-06

Tracks:

Partita
Comtiuo
Visions: Mystere
Visions: Les yeux clos

Amazon.com

Carter's Partita--a 1993 commission from Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony--is a complex, disjointed work that defies categorization. Its ideas are expressed in tight concussions (or explosions) of sound, but Carter is savvy enough to let his statements sink in before moving on to the next cluster. Berio's Continuo (of 1990) is a more fluid composition, if disjointed in its own manner. And Takemitsu's Visions, composed in 1989, is the most colorful and resonant of the works on this disc, with a stronger emotional core than the others. All in all, this is some of the best postmodern music available. -- Paul Cook

Customer Reviews:

Major composers, but uneven results.......2003-11-25

This disc collects together three Chicago Symphony Orchestra commissions of the period around 1990. While all are well played, only one features the composer at his best.

Elliott Carter's Partita has now been incorporated into his Symphonia as its first movement (the work was planned as a three-movement symphony but each movement was written as a separate commission since the aging composer was not sure he'd live to complete it: he did, and then went on to complete an opera, two major song cycles, several important chamber works, and still counting). This is a lithe, energetic score--the Partita of the title, says the composer, is to be understood in the sense of the non-musical meaning of the word: a game. The performance on this disc I find superior to Oliver Knussen's in his reading of the complete work--hopefully Baremboim will record the whole of Symphonia soon.

Berio's Continuo can perhaps be seen as a quasi-sequel to his excellent late-1980s score Formazioni. In both works there's a tendency towards the alto range and mid-level dynamics, with a range of solos against rhythmic motifs in the orchstral mass. Unfortunately, like so many sequels, this piece isn't half as good as the original, the energetic aura of Formazioni isn't replicated here, and the work operates generally at a much lower voltage.

Takemitsu's Vision is, unlike the other two works, in two movements rather than one. The first, Mystere, is one of the weakest of his late works, a rather routine exploration of his Messiaen-and-Debussy-influenced soundworld. Les yeux clos, an orchestration of a piano piece, is much stronger, with much more distinctive melodies and harmonies.

The present disc isn't really a major contender. If you're a Carter fan, you'll probably want the recording of Partita, but neither the Berio nor the Takemitsu are worth getting excited about. (Note also that there is a 2-CD reissue of this disc available at a slightly higher price, coupled with Hannibal's African Portraits--a jazz-classical fusion piece I have not heard.)

Partita is only the beginning........1999-11-03

Well the big news is that Deutsche Grammaphone has finally released Carter's Symphonia (available in Britain, not in the U.S. as yet), of which Partita, recorded earlier and separately on this disc, is only the first movement. What the rest of Symphonia makes clear is that the sometimes playful, sometimes explosive Partita is only the youthful prelude to what is ultimately a much more sober, more meditative work--the reflections of a great composer who has witnessed the nearly the entire century (1908-present). Adagio Tenebroso, the movement that follows Partita in Symphonia, is Carter's "Unanswered Question," his meditation on pain and loss (with broken quotations, it appears, from Ives' great work). But whereas Ives' "Unanswered Question" echoes through an empty and uncomprehending universe, Carter's "bubbles up" (Symphonia is tied to Crashaw's 17th-century poem, "Bubble") in a shifting, kaleidoscopic assemblage of thoughts and experiences and observations. It then deftly gives way to the final movement, Allegro Scorrevole, which is somehow both subdued and full of energy. Taken as a whole, Symphonia is one of the greatest orchestral works of our century, yet it leaves you more thoughtful than exhilerated. Certainly, it's one of the most profound statements in the history of the arts of what the world looks like from the vantage point of ninety years.

Carter's Partita is worth the price of the disc........1998-12-08

Carter's Partita, though only sixteen minutes long, is worth the price of the disc. It's full of complexity, with dense textures and rapid, whirring changes, yet manages to be playful and even humorous at the same time. No one writes for orchestra like Carter--and he was 85 when he wrote Partita! The Berio and Takemitsu, though, are dull, minimalist compositions. If you like trancing-out to atmospheric sounds, I suppose you'll like these works. If you like intelligent, dynamic, complex music that you can work your way into over repeated listenings, the Carter is a must.

Music Track:

Music Track

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