Anniversary (1989) | Compositions | Elliott Carter, composer

Instrumentation: 3(III=picc).2.corA.2.bcl.2.dbn-4.3.3.1-timp.perc(2):vib/marimba/xyl/3susp.cym-pft(=cel)-strings(16.14.12.10.8)
Contained In: Three Occasions for Orchestra (1986)
Dedication: For Helen [Carter]
Buy Score: Hendon Music (Boosey & Hawkes)
Manuscripts: Paul Sacher Stiftung

Premiere: Oct 5, 1989/ BBC Symphony Orchestra / Oliver Knussen/ Royal Festival Hall, London

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Anniversary clip

The last movement of Three Occasions for Orchestra, Anniversary is my gift to my wife celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary. I owe the idea of writing both Remembrance and Anniversary to the English composer and conductor Oliver Knussen who, after conducting A Celebration of Some 100 x 150 Notes, encouraged me to write another piece of similar size which became Remembrance. Yet, after performing the first two he pressed me for a third for his concert with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in October 1989, hence, at least in part, Anniversary. I chose occasions for the last two appropriate for the times they were written, hence their dedications. Yet in a very real sense they should be dedicated to Oliver Knussen, without whom they would not have taken the orchestral shape they now have.

– Elliott Carter

Recordings (4)

Elliott Carter: Concerto for Orchestra; Oliver Knussen: Océan de Terre
Virgin Classics 5099909635 (2011)
London Sinfonietta, Oliver Knussen, conductor | Ole Bøhn, violin
American Classics: Elliott Carter
Warner Classics 5099920662 (2008)
London Sinfonietta, Oliver Knussen, conductor | Ole Bøhn, violin
Elliott Carter: Piano Concerto; Concerto for Orchestra; Three Occasions
Arte Nova 74321 2773 2 (1995)
Ursula Oppens, piano | SWF Symphony Orchestra, Michael Gielen, conductor
Elliott Carter: Concerto for Orchestra; Violin Concerto; Three Occasions
Virgin Classics VC 7 91503-2 (1992)
London Sinfonietta, Oliver Knussen, conductor | Ole Bøhn, violin