Quintet for Piano and String Quartet (1997)
Elliott Carter
Program Note

Quintet for Piano and String Quartet was composed during the summer of 1997 for the pianist, Ursula Oppens and the Arditti Quartet, commissioned for them by the Library of Congress with the intention of giving its premiere at a concert celebrating my 90th birthday at the Library.

The work is in one movement of many changing characters and contrasts. The moods and materials of the piano are contrasted with those of the string quartet, which, itself, is a combination of four different strands that maintain somewhat independent existences, played by the four strings.

— Elliott Carter

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This program note may be reproduced free of charge in concert programs with a credit to the composer.