I have a tough time absorbing Carter.
Go backwards: start from the later (and in his case this means really late: those he's composed in the last 10 years or so, after turning 90...) works, they are more lyrical or "melodious" and not quite so dense. And at the beginning stick with the chamber works: Carter's compositions are unbelievably dense and the more instruments involved, the tougher they are to really follow. Some of the former can also be quite beautiful, such as for instance found on this CD (very good performances, too):
State-of-the-art sound to boot. There's also a DVD version of this, in at least equally impressive if not even better sound IIRC (no longer have a DVD player at home) and fascinating extra materials added. A top classical-music video recommendation for me.
Or just wait for the next issue from his indefatigable ink pen!
-PT
Good idea. I'd probably do this anyway, probably because it interests me what he's up to now.
I once heard his Variations for Orchestra live, and was intrigued, although it was pretty thorny. My only other exposure was hearing his Concerto for Orchestra and Three Occasions for Orchestra on disc.
