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On 16 September, 1999, a giant of American modernism, Elliott Carter, premiered his very first opera, What Next? at the Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin. He was 90 years old.

Contrary to any stereotype of what an artist鈥檚 late style might involve, the opera was hilarious, invigorating, fizzing with bright energy and sharp, surrealist wit. Carter said that, as he got older, he鈥檇 become more concerned with the expression of music and less concerned with the formation of details. 鈥淚鈥檓 trying to be more spontaneous,鈥� he said as he approached his 100th birthday. 鈥淚n general, my music seeks the awareness of motion we have in flying or driving a car, and not the plodding of horses.鈥�

In a way, Carter had been writing opera all his life, making characters out of his instruments, setting up dramatic dialogues and ensemble pieces within his concert works. Finally, aged 90, he let loose with vocal lines, filling them with skittish leaps and daunting precipices. It is acrobatic writing, a product of the most agile mental gymnast.

What Next? is music for modern times. The opera starts with a car crash, played out in the spectacular clangs and spasms and general musical wreckage that you can hear in this clip. The action unfolds as we get to know the six survivors. They鈥檇 been on their way to a wedding - or maybe they hadn鈥檛. It turns out that all the characters think they were going somewhere different. Imagine the opening sequence of Four Weddings and a Funeral, sent spinning through the sweet absurdism of Jacques Tati and set to ultra refined late 20th-Century modernism.

What Next? is a comedy and a tragedy, because what emerges from the farce is a contemplation of something deeper. Towards the end of the opera, a pair of road workers appear. It's like a lost scene from Waiting for Godot. As the workers fail to acknowledge the other characters, it becomes clear that these aren鈥檛 survivors after all. They鈥檙e in a limbo realm, trying to make sense of a question that only the little boy articulates in the very last words of the opera: What next?

This is one of 100 significant musical moments explored by 成人论坛 Radio 3鈥檚 Essential Classics as part of Our Classical Century, a 成人论坛 season celebrating a momentous 100 years in music from 1918 to 2018. Visit bbc.co.uk/ourclassicalcentury to watch and listen to all programmes in the season.

This is an excerpt from a recording by the Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra with conductor P茅ter E枚tv枚s.

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