... [I]n the early years of the twentieth century ... the Russians ... determined much of the direction of modern music... We all owe a great debt to such composers as ... Prokofiev...
ELLIOTT CARTER [1]
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If Carter included himself among the "we all" composers indebted to Prokofiev, he never, as far as I know, discussed in print the specifics of his debt to the Russian composer. Nor is this debt obvious in Carter's works, except perhaps for the short piano piece Catenaires published in 2006 when Carter was 98. This music's motoric, relentless forward drive has always reminded me of Prokofiev's Toccata Op.11, but then someone else may just as well hear it as a tribute to Schumann's Toccata Op.7. Or to the Gigue in Bach's B-flat major Partita BWV 825. Or to some of Scarlatti's virtuosic sonatas.
Be that as it may, Catenaires can be a hugely exciting encore piece, which is why it is regrettable that the pianist for whom this piece was written (Pierre-Laurent Aimard) plays it in the same dour, matter-of-fact manner he plays everything else. Fortunately there are other pianists who play Catenaires, and I doubt I will ever hear a more thrilling performance of this work than the one given by Vassilis Varvaresos at the 2009 Van Cliburn Piano Competition.
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1. Carter, E., "Soviet Music", Collected Essays and Lectures, U. of Rochester Press, 1997, p.331.
