Figment for cello (1994) | Compositions | Elliott Carter, composer

Dedication: To Thomas Demenga
Buy Score: Hendon Music (Boosey & Hawkes)
Manuscripts: Paul Sacher Stiftung

Premiere: May 8, 1995/ Thomas Demenga, cello/ Merkin Hall, New York, NY

News

Jay Campbell reviewed in the New York Times

December 11, 2015
Elliott Carter Memorial Concert Streaming on WQXR

January 5, 2017

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Figment clip

The idea of composing a solo cello piece had been in the back of my mind for many years, especially since many cellists had been urging me to do so. When Thomas Demenga asked me for this at my 85th birthday concert in Basel (in 1994) for a concert he was giving sponsored by the Naumburg Foundation in New York, I soon set to work. Thomas Demenga had already impressed me greatly when he played some of my chamber works at my 80th birthday concert in Badenweiler, Germany and especially by his wonderful recording of these works for ECM, New Series.

Figment, for solo cello, presents a variety of contrasting, dramatic moments, using material derived from one musical idea.

– Elliott Carter

Recordings (13)

Hypersuite 2: Music for Solo Cello
Oberlin Music OC13-2 (2016)
Darrett Adkins, cello
Orbit: Music for Solo Cello (1945-2014)
PentaTone Classics PTE 5186542 (2015)
Haimovitz, Matt
Caroline Chin & Brian Snow: Elliott Carter: 4 Lauds; Figment; Figment II; Tre Duetti
Centaur (2014)
Caroline Chin, violin | Brian Snow, cello
Caroline Stinson: Lines
Albany 1281 (2011)
Caroline Stinson, cello
Elliott Carter: The Complete String Quartets; 100th Anniversary Release
Naxos 8.503225 (2010)
Pacifica Quartet: Simin Ganatra, violin I; Sibbi Bernhardsson, violin II; Masumi Per Rostad, viola; Brandon Vamos, cello
Franklin Cox: The New Cello, Vol. 1: American Composers
Centaur (2010)
Franklin Cox, cello
Matt Haimovitz: Figment
Oxingale OX2016 (2009)
Matt Haimovitz, cello
Elliott Carter: 100th Anniversary Release
Naxos 8.559614 (2008)
New Music Concerts Ensemble, Robert Aitken, conductor | Max Christie, clarinet | David Hetherington, cello | Virgil Blackwell, bass clarinet | Fujiko Imajishi, violin | David Swan, piano
Chamber Music by Elliott Carter: Figments and Fragments
2L 2L-054-SACD (2008)
Johannes Martens, cello | Anders Nilsson, violin | Yi Yang, violin | Anders Rensvik, viola | Andjei Majewsk, clarinet | Tom Ottar Andreassen, flute | Joachim Kwetzinsky, piano
Elliott Carter: Oeuvres avec violoncelle
Assai 222602 (2004)
Alexis Descharmes, cello | Sébastien Vichard, piano & harpsichord | Jean-Luc Menet, flute | Mario Caroli, flute | Hélène Devilleneuve, oboe | Nicolas Baldeyrou, clarinet | Nicolas Miribel, Violin
Lauds and Lamentations: Music of Elliott Carter and Isang Yun
ECM New Series 1848/9 (2003)
Heinz Holliger, English horn | Thomas Zehetmair, violin | Ruth Killius | Thomas Demenga, cello
The Music of Elliott Carter, Volume Five - Nine Compositions (1994-2002)
Bridge Records 9128 (2002)
Virgil Blackwell, bass clarinet | Charles Rosen, piano | Maureen Gallagher, viola | Speculum Musicae: Stephen Taylor, oboe; Curtis Macomber, violin; Eric Bartlett, cello (+5)
Ursula Oppens; Arditti String Quartet: Elliott Carter: Chamber Music
Auvidis Montaigne MO 782091 (1998)
Ursula Oppens, piano | Arditti Quartet: Irvine Arditti, violin; Graeme Jennings, violin; Garth Knox, viola; Rohan De Saram, cello