This is an important disc, partly because it restores a major Carter work to the catalogue, partly for its useful update on some of the master's recent miniatures.
The major work is the Duo for violin and piano (1974), an epic exploration of co-existent incompatibilities which has the expressive scope and structural command of great drama. These may seem extravagant claims on behalf of a score some have found too unremitting, too gritty in its fractured syntax and forceful rhetoric. True, it takes time for the larger eloquence and coherence of the Duo to make their effect but, once perceived, they are irresistible. This performance starts with the violinist in danger of exaggerating the score's unusually detailed expressive markings, but it builds well and, as the piano comes increasingly into action, the co-ordination and interplay of the players arouses increasing admiration.
The other major work, the Cello Sonata (1948) also makes a strong impression: a technical breakthrough for the composer, it is unambiguously direct and potent for the listener, despite an over-resonant recording. The recorded balance in the Duo (same venue, but different piano) is more successful.
The remaining six works are all miniatures by comparison, and show Carter's extraordinarily spontaneous inventiveness reaching right up to Gra (1993), a witty, whimsical eightieth birthday present for Lutoslawski. True, some of Gra's routines are well-rehearsed, and earlier pieces like Riconoscenza and Enchanted Preludes have greater flexibility and freedom of expression. The two solo wind pieces are highly entertaining all the same, and sensitively played here, whereas Rolf Schulte labours rather over Riconoscenza's volatile arabesques. In Changes (1983) one can sense Carter's restless imagination running up against the special qualities (I won't say 'limitations') of the guitar. Yet Changes, no less than the other later pieces, is an object lesson in compositional discrimination, its lively shapes as fastidiously conceived as ever. David Starobin plays it with brio. '