Elliot Carter was 90 on December 11th and Concorde celebrated his birthday with a programme of his shorter pieces.

The American timpanist, Arnie Lang, came to the Lane Gallery on Sunday to play four of Carter's Pieces for Timpani (1950-66). The timpani are, in a way, the workhorses of the orchestra, supporting the rhythms and harmonies when extra power is required; hearing them played solo by Lang was a revelation of their capabilities - their varieties of pitch, their richness of tone, their long breathed resonance. After this it would not be surprising if Irish composers rushed to produce their own pieces for timpani.

Carter's music is extremely dense in texture: even in the duets Esprit rude/Esprit doux (1984) for flute and clarinet and Enchanted Preludes (1988), for flute and cello, it sounded as if at least four instruments were involved, so many were the notes, so wide were the intervals. One had to listen intently for fear of losing the thread, or rather threads.

The trios - Canon for Three: In Memoriam Igor Stravinsky (1971) and Con Leggerezza Pensosa (With Thoughtful Lightness (1990) - were perhaps easier to follow; the Canon was performed three times, by flute, violin and clarinet, with each instrument taking each part in turn, and Con Leggerezza Pensosa, for violin, clarinet and cello, attains the thoughtful lightness of its title.

The Pieces for Timpani, though complex, were not as difficult to appreciate as the drumming of Indian tabla players, and are probably Carter's most approachable music.