Allegro scorrevole (1996) | Compositions | Elliott Carter, composer

Instrumentation: 2.picc.2.corA.2(II=Ebcl).bcl.2.dbn-4.3.3.1-perc(4):timp/glsp/xyl/vib/4bongos/SD/2tom-t/wdbl/3susp.cym/2cowbells/guiro/2metal blocks/4tpl.bl/BD/marimba-harp-pft-strings
Contained In: Symphonia: sum fluxae pretium spei (1993)
Dedication: The Cleveland Orchestra and Oliver Knussen
Awards: Lauréat du Prix de Composition Musicale, by a jury led by Henri Dutilleux, 1998. Award for Musical Composition of the Prince Pierre of Monaco Foundation, 1998.
Buy Score: Hendon Music (Boosey & Hawkes)
Manuscripts: Paul Sacher Stiftung

Premiere: May 22, 1997/ Cleveland Orchestra / Christoph von Dohnanyi/ Severance Hall, Cleveland, OH

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Allegro scorrevole clip

Allegro Scorrevole, as its title suggests, consists primarily of a continuous flow of soft, rapid passages that move over the entire range of the sound spectrum, and here and there form into thematic material. Against this is a lyrical idea also developed throughout, sometimes slowing down to hesitantly separated notes and at other times tightly joined together to form intensely expressive lines.

The fleeting, evanescent character of the score was suggested by these lines from the Latin poem, Bulla (Bubble) by the English Jacobean poet, Richard Crashaw – The bubble speaks, as it floats through the air:

Sum venti ingenium breve
Flos sum, scilicet, aeris
……..
Sum blandum, petulans, vagum,
Pulchrum, purpureum, et decens,
Comptum, floridulum, et recens.

I am the brief nature of the wind
To be sure, I am the flower of air
……..
I am charming, wanton, inconstant,
Beautiful, gleaming, and noble,
Ornate, somewhat blooming, and fresh.

Allegro Scorrevole was commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Music Director, and is dedicated to it and to Oliver Knussen. It was composed during the summer of 1995 in Southbury, Connecticut.

– Elliott Carter

Recordings (3)

Carter: Symphonia / Ives: Robert Browning Overture
Neos (2015)
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra | Emilio Pomarico, conductor
Elliott Carter: Symphonia: Sum Fluxae Pretium Spei
Deutsche Grammophon 0289 479 1520 1 (2013)
Michael Collins, clarinet | London Sinfonietta, Oliver Knussen, conductor | BBC Symphony Orchestra
Carter: Clarinet Concerto; Symphonia
Deutsche Grammophon 459 660-2 (2000)
Michael Collins, clarinet | London Sinfonietta, Oliver Knussen, conductor | BBC Symphony Orchestra