VIFF Review: Elliot Carter: A Labyrinth of Time

I was not previously familiar with American composer Elliot Carter before seeing this film. Born in 1908 and now in his 90's he's still composing classical music, traveling to have his work performed, and walking the streets of his hometown New York City.

Carter has a different sensibility about music than many other modern composers. His notion of time is the human experience of it which can vary greatly according to mood as opposed to the regular mechanical tick of the clock. His music is always changing, avoiding repetition, and flowing irregularly to its own mood. You would never mistake him for Philip Glass.

Interestingly both he and Glass studied with Nadia Boulanger who taught many of the greats of American 20th century music. (A film on her would be fascinating in its own right.) The film takes us to Paris where Carter revisits Boulanger's school, and he recounts stories about her rigorous lessons. Carter later meets up with his friend composer Pierre Boulez who will be conducting one of his works. Together they mark up the score and make adjustments for the orchestra as we listen in on the rehearsal process.

A broad range of his compositions from string quartet, to vocal, to opera are well presented in the film. A choir gives a wonderful demonstration of multipart counterpoint. Segments of the Berlin production of his opera What Next? which depicts the aftermath of a traffic accident are interspersed with the World Trade Center aftermath. Was that emergency worker part of the opera or 9/11?

Much of the film interview is shot in Carter's New York apartment where he has lived together with his wife Helen since the end of World War II. From their windows you get a view of the New York skyline including the omnipresent World Trade Center towers. The figures of the towers loom in the background throughout the film like ghosts. To reinforce the fluid sense of time many of the New York skyline images are filmed in grainy sepia tone and mixed with historical footage to confuse the past and present.

At the end of the film Carter puts the 9/11 events into their historical perspective along with all the others he has witnessed. He is ever hopeful that people will improve to meet the challenges of living in increasing complicated times and when they do they will finally learn to like his music.