Outsider music: classics of American classical (55) - Elliott Carter - A Symphony of Three Orchestras (1976) A Symphony of Three Orchestras The dean of American music, the one who persevered the longest, composing right up until a few days before his death at the age of 103 in 2012. Carter took quite a long time to find his voice (he reached his 40s before developing a personal style), but what emerged afterward places him among the most important modernist composers of the late 20th century. Like this masterpiece from 1976.