Some believe Elliott Carter to be the greatest American-born composer; no less an authority than Igor Stravinsky considered Carter's Double Concerto (1961) the first true American masterpiece. Certainly he was one of the most intellectually rigorous composers of his or any other time. Carter's work is characterized largely by its rhythmic complexity, befitting a man who was a serious student of mathematics. Initially a neo-classicist, Carter went on to embrace aspects of 12-tone composition and serialism. Carter invented a concept he called "metric modulation," which musicolog...