Night Fantasies for piano (1980) | Compositions

Commission: Commissioned by Paul Jacobs, Gilbert Kalish, Ursula Oppens, and Charles Rosen
Dedication: For Paul Jacobs, Gilbert Kalish, Ursula Oppens, and Charles Rosen
Buy Score: Associated Music Publishers
Manuscripts: Paul Sacher Stiftung

Premieres: Jun 2, 1980/ Ursula Oppens, piano/ Bath International Music Festival, Bath, United Kingdom; Nov 11, 1981/ Paul Jacobs, piano/ 92nd Street Y, Kaufmann Concert Hall, New York, NY, United States; Nov, 1982/ Gilbert Kalish, piano/ Badenweiler Musiktage, Badenweiler, Germany; Mar, 1981/ Charles Rosen, piano/ Unknown Venue (Toronto), Toronto, Canada

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Mari Asakawa's The Flow of Music: Piano works of Carter & Babbitt

July 6, 2018
Journée Elliott Carter

December 11, 2018

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Night Fantasies clip

Night Fantasies is a piano piece of continuously changing moods, suggesting the fleeting thoughts and feelings that pass through the mind during a period of wakefulness at night. The quiet, nocturnal evocation with which it begins and to which it returns occasionally, is suddenly broken by a flighty series of short phrases that emerge and disappear. This episode is followed by many others of contrasting characters and lengths that sometimes break in abruptly and at other, develop smoothly out of what has gone before. The work culminates in a loud periodic repetition of an emphatic chord that, as it dies away, brings the work to its conclusion.

In this score, I wanted to capture the fanciful, changeable quality of our inner life at a time when it is not dominated by strong, directive intentions or desires – to capture the poetic moodiness that, in an earlier romantic context, we employ in the works of Robert Schumann like Kreisleriana, Carnaval, and Davidsbündlertänze.

The work is dedicated to the four pianists who jointly commissioned it: Paul Jacobs, Gilbert Kalish, Ursula Oppens, and Charles Rosen. The commissioning was made possible by a matching grant from the American Music Center of New York. Funding for the commissioning program was given by the New York State Council for the Arts, the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, and the Kaplan Fund.

Paul Jacobs, who organized the project, gave his first performance of the piece in New York City, November 1981; Gilbert Kalish, his, at the German Badenweiler Festival, November 1982; Ursula Oppens, hers, at the English Bath Festival, June 1980, and Charles Rosen, his, in Toronto, March 1981.

– Elliott Carter

Upcoming Performances (1)

Pierre-Laurent Aimard. Photo by Marco Borggreve.

Apr 28, 2023 7:00 pm

Pierre-Laurent Aimard: Piano Fantasies

Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano

Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, United Kingdom/More Info

Video (1)

Recordings (16)

Tempo e Tempi
Odradek ODRCD378 (2020)
Pina Napolitano, piano
The Flow of Music: Piano Works of Carter & Babbitt
Centaur CRC3646 (2018)
Mari Asakawa, piano
Eric Huebner plays Schumann, Carter, and Stravinsky
New Focus (2015)
Eric Huebner, piano
Håkon Austbø: Wanted
Aurora ACD5071 (2012)
Håkon Austbø, piano
Elliott Carter: A Nonesuch Retrospective
Nonesuch 510893-2 (2009)
Paul Jacobs, piano | Jan DeGaetani, mezzo-soprano | Gilbert Kalish, piano | New York Chamber Symphony, Gerard Schwarz, conductor | Joel Krosnick, cello | The Composers Quartet (+21)
Oppens Plays Carter
Cedille (2008)
Ursula Oppens, piano
Pierre-Laurent Aimard: Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit; Carter: Night Fantasies
Warner Classics 2564 62160-2 (2005)
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano
Winston Choi: Elliott Carter: Complete Piano Works
l'empreinte digitale ED 13164 (2003)
Winston Choi, piano
Florence Millet: Elliott Carter: Night Fantasies; 90+
Pianovox PIA 501-2 (1998)
Florence Millet, piano
Charles Rosen: Elliott Carter: The Complete Music for Piano
Bridge Records 9090 (1997)
Charles Rosen, piano
Ursula Oppens: American Piano Music of Our Time
Music & Arts MUA 862 (1995)
Ursula Oppens, piano
Stephen Drury: Contemporary Piano Music
Neuma 450-76 (1991)
Stephen Drury, piano
Ursula Oppens: Carter: Night Fantasies; Adams: Phrygian Gates
Music & Arts CD 604 (1989)
Ursula Oppens, piano
Aleck Karis: Chopin, Carter, Schumann
Bridge Records BCD 9001 (1986)
Aleck Karis, piano
Charles Rosen: Elliott Carter: Night Fantasies; Piano Sonata
Etcetera ETC 1008 (1983)
Charles Rosen, piano
Paul Jacobs: Elliott Carter: Night Fantasies; Piano Sonata
Nonesuch 79047 (1983)
Paul Jacobs, piano