Celebrating Elliott Carter in his 100th year, Ursula Oppens has recorded the complete solo piano music for Cedille and provided authoritative performances of these difficult but brilliant keyboard works, which are as rewarding as they are challenging. Oppens has played and recorded Carter's music since the 1970s and has helped establish several of his major works in the repertoire, such as the Piano Sonata (1945-1946), and Night Fantasies (1980), which represent Carter's early and middle phases, respectively. These modern ...
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Celebrating Elliott Carter in his 100th year, Ursula Oppens has recorded the complete solo piano music for Cedille and provided authoritative performances of these difficult but brilliant keyboard works, which are as rewarding as they are challenging. Oppens has played and recorded Carter's music since the 1970s and has helped establish several of his major works in the repertoire, such as the Piano Sonata (1945-1946), and Night Fantasies (1980), which represent Carter's early and middle phases, respectively. These modern classics are the longest and most substantial offerings on this 2008 disc, and because of their significance in the composer's development, listeners new to Carter should digest them first, and then take their pick of the remaining works. Carter was not prolific as a composer of solo piano music until his late period, beginning with 90+ (1994), and continuing through Two Diversions (1999), Retrouvailles (2000), Two Thoughts About the Piano (2005-2006), and Matribute (2007). As far as...
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