Search - Elliott Carter :: Choral Music

Even Elliott Carter himself had forgotten about these nine choral pieces, written between 1936 and 1947. When conductor John Oliver recently proposed to "resurrect" them, Carter insisted he must first hear them to dispel lingering doubts about their worthiness. "Not as bad as I remembered," he proclaimed regarding "Let's Be Gay," a 1937 work for women's chorus and two pianos. "Harvest Home," for unaccompanied mixed chorus, became "more bearable" after "a little doctoring." Amazingly ambitious and refreshingly original, these pieces, whose texts range from Robert Herrick to Ovid to Emily Dickinson and whose music offers hints of Ives and Stravinsky, will present any choir with formidable challenges. But after listening to settings of Herrick's "To Music" and Dickinson's "Heart Not So Heavy As Mine," two of the program's shorter, tonal pieces, it's easy to understand why Carter was pleased with John Oliver's performances--and why his faith in his choral music's value was at least partially restored. --David Vernier