Robert Carl

Robert Carl (b. July 12, 1954 in Bethesda, Maryland) is an American composer who currently resides in Hartford, Connecticut, where he is chair of the composition department at the Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford.

"'Music "'

Carl studied with Jonathan Kramer, George Rochberg, Ralph Shapey, and Iannis Xenakis. From each respectively, the composer has commented that he feels he learned about time, history, counterpoint/phrasing, and form. His music finds its roots in the spirit of eclectic juxtapositions, transcendentalism, and experiment embodied in the output of Charles Ives and other American "ultramodernists", including Carl Ruggles.

Carl’s music until 1997 tends to explore different styles, and to create unusual syntheses thereof. Because he was a history major as an undergraduate at Yale, he has felt that the musical past is a fertile source to be manipulated for new expressive purposes. "Duke Meets Mort" (1992) is a saxophone quartet that interprets the harmonic changes of Duke Ellington’s "Mood Indigo" in the voice of Morton Feldman. "Time/Memory/Shadow" (1988) is a double trio (piano quintet and harp) based on a march written in the composer’s adolescence, which is slowly “excavated” in the course of the piece, and only revealed at the end.

From 1998 on, starting with "Open" for string trio, Carl’s music has become less referential. Since 2001 he has developed a technique of basing his harmonies on the overtone series, with common partials above different fundamentals serving as pivots for progressions and modulations. More recent works that represent this approach include "The Wind’s Trace Rests on Leaves and Waves" (2005) for string quintet, "Marfantasie" (2004) for electric guitar and large ensemble, "Shake the Tree" for piano four-hands (2005), and "A Musical Enquiry Into the Sublime and Beautiful" (2006-07) for chamber orchestra.

Writings

Since 1994 Carl has been a critic for the magazine Fanfare, where he writes extensively on new music recordings. In addition, he has completed a book on Terry Riley’s In C that will be published in 2009 by Oxford University Press. His interest in Japanese music (Carl often performs his own solo pieces on the shakuhachi) led to a residency in Tokyo in spring 2007, which resulted in interviews with 25 contemporary Japanese composers, that will be the basis of a new book.

Selected Representative Works

Piano Sonata No.1, “Spiral Dances” (1984)

String Quartet No. 1, “A Path Between Cloud and Light” (1985)

"Roundabout" (1988) for contrabass and fixed electronic part

"Time/Memory/Shadow" (1988) for double trio

"Duke Meets Mort" (1992) for saxophone quartet

"A Sampler of the Senses" (1994) for viola, cello, and piano

Symphony No. 2, “Liberty and/or Death” (1989-92)

"Open" (1998) for string trio

"Our Heart and Home is With Infinitude" (1998) for soprano and piano

Violin Sonata No. 2, “Angel Skating” (1999)

String Quartet No. 2, “Fear of Death/Love of Life” (2001)

"Braided Bagatelles" for solo piano (2001)

Piano Trio No.2, “The Blossom” (2002)

"Simic Songs" (2004),15 madrigals for four voices on poems of Charles Simic

"The Wind’s Trace Rests on Leaves and Waves" (2005) for string quintet

"Shake the Tree" (2005) for piano four-hands

"Marfantasie" (2004) for electric guitar and large ensemble

"A Clean Sweep" (2005) for shakuhachi and Max/MSP

"A Musical Enquiry Into the Sublime and Beautiful" (2006-07) for chamber orchestra.

"La Ville Engloutie" (2007) for wind ensemble

Symphony No. 4, “The Ladder” (2008)

References

Adamian, John. "An Antique Song: Composer Robert Carl dusts off the madrigal using texts by poet Charles Simic." Hartford Advocate. (9/11/08) [http://http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=9583 http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=9583]

Gann, Kyle. "Liner Notes for Carl's Music for Strings". New World Records. (2006) [http://www.newworldrecords.org/album.cgi?rm=view&album_id=15360 http://www.newworldrecords.org/album.cgi?rm=view&album_id=15360]

External links

* [http://www.bruceduffie.com/carl.html Robert Carl interview] by Bruce Duffie
* [http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/CARL/ Robert Carl's website]
* [http://www.dramonline.org/composers/carl-robert Recordings of Carl's work available on the DRAM music database]