Morton Feldman & Elliott Carter in Buffalo

In October 1979, Elliott Carter visited the State University of New York at Buffalo for a concert of four of his works, including the "Double Concerto for Harpsichord and Piano" (1961). A film of the visit was made by D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus. During the visit, Feldman, who was Professor of Composition in the Music Department at the time, invited Carter, the pianist Ursula Oppens and the other guest musicians to a dinner party at his apartment. Filming went on at the party and a short fragment of conversation between Feldman, Carter and Oppens is included in the final film. This is the only sequence in which Feldman appears in the film, which primarily focuses on Carter and the rehearsal and performance of his pieces. A transcript of Feldman’s exchange with Carter is given below. Feldman had just completed his first “hour and a half piece”, his “String Quartet” (1979), completed in September and premiered the following May.
Source + transcript: www.cnvill.net/...

[@GymnopedieTornado]

people really here evaluating the entire worth of two of the 20th centuries most significant composers off a fragment of a conversation and previously held personal opinions (with a tabloid vehemence that’s pretty clearly not shared by the people actually in the video). no wonder we’re doing great, culturally
(thanks for posting this all those years ago OP)

[@kingjoeyliscious]

yep, seems people can only think for 15 seconds a time these days...

[@jeffryphillipsburns]

What do you mean “off of”? Anyway, it seems to me that judging by this video or judging by “previously held personal opinions” are logically the only possible alternatives (other than not judging at all, which you clearly don’t endorse). One can form an opinion either FROM this video or FROM something prior to watching this video. Them’s your choices.

[@danfriend9567]

Elliot's wondering when he and Ursula can make a run for it.

[@Twentythousandlps]

Carter's personal cheerfulness - so entirely absent from his music! - can be seen here.

[@pierredutilleux9550]

I would say the Clarinet Concerto is a pretty cheerful piece. He does have some dark- and tragic-sounding pieces though, like the Duo for violin and piano and the Adagio tenebroso.

[@ZacharyBlakesleeReid]

triple duo fills me with such joy

[@andrewbrown6307]

Greatest composer of the 20th century.

[@jeffryphillipsburns]

Carter or Feldman? Is Debussy, who lived until 1918, “of the [twentieth-]century”? If so, he gets my vote.

[@AndreyRubtsovRU]

Hahahahahhahaha

[@andrewbrown6307]

@@AndreyRubtsovRU you laughing at me? Feldman is unparalleled, you peasant.

[@andrewbrown6307]

@@AndreyRubtsovRU I hate you so much

[@EdoFrenkel]

What is this from? Would love to see the full film..

[@pegna7404]

but the feldman work is supreme.

[@jbthepianist]

Isn’t Feldman’s best piece of music (Rothko chapel) about 25 minutes long?

[@Wintermute0168]

The discourse among Giants.

[@arsenicbeats197]

Feldman oooof

[@barsdaghan4296]

Who are we?

[@OnceTheyNamedMeiWasnt]

Feldman's afterbirth.

[@abcdefzhij]

Algo

[@Hist_da_Musica]

Two great composers. Feldman was quite radical in his disregard for audience demands and Carter wrote very exciting music, albeit more 'moderate'

[@jeffryphillipsburns]

I can’t tell if Feldman is being facetious, but I won’t tolerate a one-movement ninety-minute piece.

[@mikalhowitzer5438]

Feldman wrote a one-movement 6-hour piece at the end of his life

[@southfloridaarcheryguy114]

Why? Do you need a bathroom break?

[@AK-ek4ze]

Contradiction in the first 30 seconds...

[@OnceTheyNamedMeiWasnt]

The first 20 seconds I think.

[@psijicassassin7166]

Feldman's talk about ength is pointless. He can repeat a note row forever and still not saying anything. His dearth of ideas is scattered against a eternal, monotonous sprawl.

[@frankfeldman6657]

The difference being that Carter was not a charlatan.

[@CarlosAugustoScalassaraPrando]

?

[@nandocordeiro5853]

@@CarlosAugustoScalassaraPrando L

[@OnceTheyNamedMeiWasnt]

Carter was an elephant.

[@charleslyall5857]

Did your Uncle Morton not leave you anything in his Will?

[@SergiuszWrotek8]

Carter's single method (postserial interval technique) used for almost all of his output since around 1950 for decades was an extreme kind of charlatenery compared to Feldman's superior creativity.