Carter Elliott, *11 December 1908 New York, †5 November 2012 New York, American composer, teacher. He taught composition at many American universities: the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore in 1946–48, Columbia University in New York in 1948–50, Queens College in New York in 1955–56, Yale University in 1960–62, Cornell University in Ithaca (New York), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1967–68, the Juilliard School of Music in New York in 1964–84, and also at summer composition courses in Salzburg, Dartington, and Tanglewood. Carter received the Pulitzer Prize twice (in 1960 for String Quartet No. 2 and in 1973 for String Quartet No. 3), the UNESCO Prize (in 1961 for String Quartet No. 2), the Sibelius Medal (1961), the Gold Medal of the National Institute of Arts and Letters (1971), and the E. von Siemens Prize (Munich 1981). He is the first composer to be awarded the United States National Medal of Arts (1985); he has been twice honoured by the French government: appointed Commander of the “Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” (1988) and Commander of the Legion of Honour (Commandeur de la Légion d’honneur, 2012). In 2009, he received the Grammy Trustees Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Carter was active in the governing bodies of the League of Composers, the American Composers Alliance, and the ISCM. He received honorary doctorates from several American universities (including Princeton University in 1967, Yale University and Harvard University in 1970, and the University of Cambridge in 1983). On the occasion of Carter’s 90th birthday in 1998, there were numerous concerts (Amsterdam, Brussels, Cologne, London, Montreal, New York, Toronto, Zurich) and festivals devoted to his work (in the United States, England, Italy). Carter’s music was met with great critical acclaim in Europe, which resulted in the decision in 1987 to acquire the composer’s manuscripts by the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel.
Carter commented extensively on his own work and contemporary musical life in numerous published statements. In his work, dominated by instrumental music, he continued the native traditions of new music under the banner of the American Five, developed Stravinsky’s creative ideas in the area of shaping musical time, referred to the concept of “developing variation” and Schoenberg’s Grundgestalt, but already in the 1950s and 1960s, he developed his own principles of musical dramaturgy related to exposing many simultaneous layers of sound. In his stage, instrumental and vocal works from 1938–48, one can notice the influence of the compositional idiom of Stravinsky, Hindemith and Copland, manifested in the preference for transparent texture and diatonic progressions. An interesting compositional proposal in the area of time organisation was – inspired by the works of Stravinsky, Ives and non-European music – the so-called metric modulation consisting, among other things, in a proportional change of the metric pulse, and in terms of form – the idea of simultaneously conducting several different musical actions, contrasted by a different type of movement, tempo, other interval relations, articulation and means of performance. In the late 1940s (influenced, among others, by reading S. Freud and the philosophy of A.N. Whitehead), Carter accepted the aesthetics of expressionism and until the mid-1970s, he was open to the avant-garde ideas formulated by European and American composers and theoreticians. The evidence of the new aesthetic attitude manifested in the emancipation of dissonance and the various realisations of the idea of a pre-compositional series of pitch classes are his chamber works (string quartets) and orchestral works (concerts from the 1960s). The basis for shaping the musical dramaturgy was the principle of symmetrical evolution of musical events: from a multitude of different, simultaneously presented sound planes to their homogenisation, and then their gradual contrast to the original complexity and intricacy of the texture. Such a structure is found, among others, in Double Concerto (1961), where the outer parts are maximally complex and complicated, and in the central parts, both ensembles play in unison in a simplified texture. The music evolves on a similar principle in Quartet No. 2, where each instrument realises a different sound course giving the impression of improvisation, but it is based on a pre-compositionally selected group of intervals and combined with such a type of movement of sounds and their articulation, which emphasises separate “characters” associated with virtuosity (1st violin), brevity and order (2nd violin), theatre, pathos (viola), violence and anxiety related to the accelerando-decelerando tempo (cello). In Quartet No. 3, the composer divided the ensemble into two groups playing simultaneously; the first always performs quasi rubato four fragments of different expression, while the second plays sempre giusto, realizing six other fragments, which create a separate sequence of successions. Carter’s pieces composed in the second half of the 1970s are characterised by a simplification of texture, a renunciation of total dissonance and a favouring of a lyrical sound climate, especially distinct in vocal compositions (A Mirror on which to Dwell 1975, Syringa 1978, In Sleep, in Thunder 1981, Of Challenge and of Love 1994). However, the idea of dialogue and polyphony is still important in Carter’s music (e.g. Syringa is a song about Orpheus sung by a mezzo-soprano in English and simultaneously by a baritone in Ancient Greek). In the 3-part Symphonia, inspired by the poetry of the 17th-century English poet R. Crashaw, Carter refers to the music of both Bruckner and the New York experimentalist M. Feldman. Carter’s latest instrumental pieces, especially the frequently performed Violin Concerto (1990) and Clarinet Concerto (1996) and the opera What Next? (1998), on the one hand testify to the search for class, balance and “lost beauty” of sound, and on the other hand are a continuation of the basic principles of shaping music developed in previous years. Carter’s pieces have been presented in Poland, including at the Warsaw Autumn festivals (e.g. String Quartets No. 1 [in 1960], No. 4 [in 1990], and in 1986 the Triple Duo was performed in the composer’s presence). Critics have noted Carter’s extraordinary creative explosion in the final years of his long life: he wrote over 150 pieces during his 75 years of creative work, but after the age of ninety he composed over 60 pieces (solo, chamber and orchestral). His last work, Epigrams (2012), for piano trio, premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival in June 2013.
Literature: Flawed Words and Stubborn Sounds. A Conversation with Elliott Carter, ed. A. Edwards, New York 1971; R. Jackson (ed.), Elliott Carter: Sketches and Scores in Manuscript, New York 1973; D. Schiff The Music of Elliott Carter, New York 1983, new extended ed. Ithaca (New York) 1998; Ch. Rosen The Musical Languages of Elliott Carter, Washington 1984; D. Harvey The Later Music of Elliott Carter. A Study in Music Theory and Analysis, New York 1989; E. Restagno, Elliott Carter in Conversation with Enzo Restagno for Settembre Musica 1989, Brooklyn 1989; Carter, ed. E. Restagno, Turin 1989; H. Pollack Harvard Composers: W. Piston and His Students, from Elliott Carter to F. Rzewski, Metuchen (New Jersey) 1992; Ch. Rosen, H. Holliger, A. Edwards Entretiens avec Elliott Carter, Geneva 1992; W.T. Doering Elliott Carter. A Bio-Bibliography, Westport (Connecticut) 1993; Zbigniew Skowron, Nowa muzyka amerykańska, Kraków 1995; H. Eisenlohr Komponieren als Entscheidungsprozess. Studien zur Problematik von Form und Gehalt, dargestellt am Beispiel von Elliott Carters „Trilogy for oboe and harp” (1992), Kassel 1999; John F. Link Elliott Carter. A Guide to Research, New York 2000; Max Noubel, Elliott Carter, ou le temps fertile, Geneva 2000; Felix Meyer, Anne C. Shreffler (ed.), Elliott Carter: A Centennial Portrait in Letters and Documents, Woodbridge 2008; Marc Ponthus, Susan Tang (ed.), Elliott Carter: A Centennial Celebration. Hillsdale 2008; James Wierzbicki, Elliott Carter, Urbana 2011; Guy Capuzzo, Elliott Carter’s ‘What Next?’: Communication, Cooperation, Separation. Rochester 2012; Marguerite Boland, John Link (ed.), Elliott Carter Studies. Cambridge 2012; Max Noubel (ed.), Hommage à Elliott Carter, Paris 2013; David Schiff, Carter, Oxford 2018; Laura Emmery, Compositional Process in Elliott Carter’s String Quartets: A Study in Sketches. New York 2020; Elliott Carter Studies Online, ed. John Link, Marguerite Boland, Guy Capuzzo, vol. I–IV (2016, 2017, 2018, 2021); John F. Link, Elliott Carter’s Late Music, Cambridge 2022.
Works:
The Writings of Elliott Carter: An American composer looks at modern music, ed. E. Stone, K. Stone, Bloomington–London 1977
Carter, ed. Enzo Restagno (Italian transl. of a few Carter’s essays), Turin 1989
Elliot Carter. Collected Essays and Lectures 1937–1995, ed. J.W. Bernard, Rochester 1997
La dimension du temps: Seize essais sur la musique (French transl. of a few Carter’s essays), Geneva 1998
Harmony Book, ed. N. Hopkins, J.F. Link, New York 2002
articles:
A. Skulsky Elliott Carter, “American Composers Alliance Bulletin” II, 1953
W. Glock A Note on Elliott Carter “The Score and I.M.A. Magazine” (12) 1955
R.F. Goldman The Music of Elliott Carter “The Musical Quarterly” II, 1957; reprint in: Selected Essays and Reviews 1948–1968, ed. D. Klotzman, Brooklyn 1980
M. Boykan Elliott Carter and the Postwar Composers, “Perspectives of New Music” II, 1964; reprint in: Perspectives on American Composers, ed. B. Boretz, E. T. Cone, New York 1971
B. Northcott Elliott Carter: Continuity and Coherence, “Music and Musicians” XII, 1971–72
Th. DeLio Spatial Design in Elliott Carter’s Canon for 3, “Indiana Theory Review” I, 1980
Ch. Rosen, P.-É. Will Un morceau facile: Le double concerto d’Elliott Carter, “Critique: Revue générale des publications françaises et étrangères”, 1981
G. Gass Elliott Carters Second String Quartet. Aspects of Time and Rhythm, “Indiana Theory Review” 1981 No. 3
R. Derby Carter’s Duo for Violin and Piano, “Perspectives of New Music” I/2, 1981–1982
J. Bernard Spatial Sets in Recent Music of Elliott Carter, “Music Analysis” II, 1983
A. Mead Pitch Structures in Elliott Carters String Quartet No. 3, “Perspectives of New Music” XXII, 1983/84
L. Kramer Song as Insight: John Ashbery, Elliott Carter, and Orpheus, in: Music and Poetry. The Nineteenth Century and After, Berkeley 1984
R. Piencikowski Fonction relative du timbre dans la musique contempraine: Messiaen, Carter, Boulez, Stockhausen, “Analyse musicale” III, 1986
R. Groth Über die Konzerte Elliott Carters, in: Amerikanische Musik seit Ch. Ives, ed. H. Danuser, D. Kämper and P. Terse, Laaber 1987
S. Lipman Doing New Music, Doing American Music, “New Criterion” III, 1987
J. Bernard The Evolution of Carters Rhythmic Practice, “Perspectives of New Music” XXVI, 1987/88
D. Schiff Elliott Carter’s Harvest Home, “Tempo” 1988 No. 167
H. Danuser Spätwerk als Lyrik. Über Elliott Carters Gesänge nach Dichtungen von E. Bishop, J. Ashbery und R. Lowell, in the book of the international symposium devoted to Ch. Ives, Cologne 1988, ed. K.W Niemöller, Regensburg 1990; reprint as Elliott Carter, Late Work as Lyric Poetry, English transl. by M. Truniger, “Sonus” I, 1998
J. Bernard An Interview with Elliott Carter, “Perspectives of New Music” XXVIII, 1990
H. Holliger Abseits des Mainstreams: Ein Gespräch mit dem amerikanischen Komponisten Elliott Carter, “Neue Zeitschrift für Musik” III, 1991
A. Shreffler “Give the Music Room”. Elliott Carters “View of the Capitol from the Library of Congress” aus “A Mirror on Which to Dwell”, in: Zwölf Komponisten des 20. Jahrhunderts, «Quellenstudien» II, ed. F. Meyer, Basel 1993
W. Gratzer Wahlverwandter des Expressionismus. Über Elliott Carters Traditionsverständnis, in: Die Neue Musik in Amerika. Über Traditionslosigkeit und Traditionslastigkeit, ed. O. Kolleritsch, Graz 1994
A. Mead The Role of Octave Equivalence in Carter’s Recent Music and A. Shreffler Elliott Carter and His America, “Sonus” 1994 No. 2
J. Lochhead On the ‘Framing’ Music of Elliott Carter’s First String Quartet, in: Musical Transformation and Musical Intuition: Essays in Honor of David Lewin, ed. R. Atlas, M. Cherlin, Roxbury 1994
J. Bernard Elliott Carter and Modern Meaning of Time, “The Musical Quarterly” LXXIX, 1995
A. Mead Twelve-Tone Composition and the Music of Elliott Carter, in: Concert Music, Rock and Jazz Since 1945. Essays and Analytical Studies, ed. E. West Marvin and R. Hermann, Rochester (New York) 1995
T. Koivisto Aspects of Motion in Elliott Carter’s Second String Quartet, “Intégral” (10) 1996
D. Vermaelen Le statut de l’esquisse dans la pensée musicale d’Elliott Carter, “Les cahiers du CIREM” (40–41), 1997
F. Meyer Klassizistische Tendenzen in der amerikanischen Musik der zwanziger bis vierziger Jahre, in: Die klassizistische Moderne in der Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts, ed. H. Danuser, Winterthur 1997
M. Noubel, Expressivité et structure chez Carter. Les caractères musicaux et les formes de la composition, “Dissonance” 1998
D. Vermaelen Aspects de la pensée musicale d’Elliott Carter dans Syringa: Invention formelle et réflexion sur le temps, “Revue de musicologie” I, 1999
D. Vermaelen Fonction de la polyrhythmie dans la pensée musicale d’Elliott Carter, “Mitteilungen der Paul Sacher Stiftung”, 1999
F. Cox Elliott Carter zum 90. Geburtstag: Figment for solo cello, “Musik & Ästhetik” IX, 1999
J. Gottlieb Elliott Carter’s Piano Concerto and the Ford Foundation’s Support of American Composers and Performers, in: Pianist, Scholar, Connoisseur: Essays in Honor of Jacob Lateiner, ed. B. Brubaker, J. Gottlieb, Stuyvesant 2000
D. Schmidt Formbildende Tendenzen der Musikalischen Zeit. Elliott Carters Konzept der Tempo-Modulation im zweiten Quartett als Folgerung aus dem Denken Schönbergs, in: Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Instituts für Musikforschung Preußischer Kulturbesitz 1999, ed. G. Wagner, Stuttgart 2000
L. Powell Die Musik von Elliott Carter, “Musik & Ästhetik” VI, 2002
B. Ravenscroft, Setting the Pace: The Role of Speeds in Elliott Carter’s ‘A Mirror on Which to Dwell’, “Music Analysis” (22) 2003
M. Noubel, D. Vermaelen, L. Quetin Le Quatour pour hautbois et cordes d’Elliott Carter ou la complexité de l’évidence, “Musicorum”, 2003
A.C. Shreffler Instrumental Dramaturgy as Humane Comedy: What Next? by Elliott Carter and Paul Griffiths, in: Musiktheater heute, ed. H. Danuser, M. Kassel, Mainz 2003
J.W. Bernard Poem as non-verbal text: Elliott Carter’s Concerto for Orchestra and Saint-John Perse’s Winds, in: Analytical Strategies and Musical Interpretation, ed. C. Ayrey, M. Everist, Cambridge 2004
G. Capuzzo The Complement Union Property in the Music of Elliott Carter, “Journal of Music Theory” I, 2004
T. Koivisto Syntactical Space and Registral Spacing in Elliott Carter’s Remembrance, “Perspectives of New Music” II, 2004
D. Vermaelen Elliott Carter’s Sketches: Spiritual Exercises and Craftsmanship, in: A Handbook to Twentieth Century Musical Sketches, ed. P. Hall, F. Sallis, Cambridge 2004
Ch. Carey Elliott Carter: ‘Fountain of Youth’, “Signal to Noise: The Journal of Improvised and Experimental Music” (41) 2006
M. Kunkel, A. Schmid Fons juventatis: Heinz Holliger im Gespräch mit Elliott Carter, “Dissonanz/Dissonance”, 2006
M. Boland ‘Linking’ and ‘Morphing’: Harmonic Flow in Elliott Carter’s ‘Con Leggerezza Pensosa,’ “Tempo” (60/237) 2006
J. Roeder Autonomy and Dialogue in Elliott Carter’s ‘Enchanted Preludes’, in: Analytical Studies in World Music, ed. M. Tenzer, New York 2006
Ph. Albèra Elliott Carter à travers ses écrits, in: Le son et le sens: Essais sur la musique de notre temps, Geneva 2007
M. Noubel What do I say? How do I say? Who am I to say?’: Quelques considérations sur la dramaturgie musicale dans ‘What Next?’ d’Elliot Carter, in: L’écriture musicale et son expression scénique au XXe siècle, ed. G. Ferrari, Paris 2007
D. Vermaelen Vue sur l’atelier d’Elliott Carter (à partir du Triple duo), “Circuit: Musiques contemporaines” I, 2008
Elliott Carter on the ‘different time worlds’ in string quartets nos. 1 and 2, in: Music in the USA: A documentary companion, ed. J. Tick, P. Beaudoin, Oxford 2008
G.R. Koch, Halbamerikanischer Amerikaner: Elliott Carter zum Hundertsten – Elliott Carter, Nestor der Gegenwartsmusiker, zum Hundertsten, “Neue Musikzeitung” XII, 2008
S. Stähr Im Jungbrunnen der Musik: Elliott Carter zum 100. Geburtstag, “Berliner Philharmoniker: Das Magazin”, 2008
F.J. Oteri The Carter Century, “Symphony” VI, 2008
È. Poudrier Local Polymetric Structures in Elliott Carter’s ‘90+ for Piano’ (1994), in: The Legacy of Modernism, ed. B. Heile, London 2008
A. Whittall A Play of Pure Forces’? Elliott Carter’s Opera in Context, “The Musical Times” 2008
D. Albright Elliott Carter and Poetry: Listening to, Listening Through, in: Music Speaks: On the Language of Opera, Dance, and Song, Chicago 2009
L. Lesle Transatlantische Zeitzeichen: Porträt eines Jahrhunderts – Elliott Carter in Briefen und Dokumenten, “Neue Zeitschrift für Musik: Das Magazin für neue Töne” II, 2009
J.W. Bernard The String Quartets of Elliott Carter, in: Intimate Voices: Aspects of Construction and Character in the Twentieth-Century String Quartet, E. Jones, Rochester 2009
J.B. Mailman An Imagined Drama of Competitive Opposition in Carter’s ‘Scrivo in Vento’, “Music Analysis” II/III, 2009
J. Roeder A Transformational Space for Elliott Carter’s Recent Complement-Union Music, in: Mathematics and Computation in Music: First International Conference, MCM 2007, ed. T. Klouche, Th. Noll, Heidelberg 2009
J. Daniel Jenkins After the Harvest: Carter’s Fifth String Quartet and the Late Late Style, “Music Theory Online” III, 2010
J.-Y. Bosseur Elliott Carter: Écoute, temps et mémoire, in: De vive voix: Dialogues sur les musiques contemporaines, Paris 2010
F. Meyer, ‘… keine Geduld mehr für längere Sachen’: Ein Blick auf szei späte Miniaturen von Elliott Carter, in: Ereignis und Exegese: Musikalische Interpretation, Interpretation der Musik, Schliengen 2011
D. Guberman Elliott Carter’s Cold War Abandonment of the Chorus, “Mitteilungen der Paul Sacher Stiftung” 2012
L. Emmery Rhythmic Process in Elliott Carter’s Fourth String Quartet, “Mitteilungen der Paul Sacher Stiftung”, 2013
P. Hahn Elliott Carter ruhe sanft, “Die Tonkunst: Magazin für klassische Musik und Musikwissenschaft” I, 2013
N.Y. Rao, ‘Allegro scorrevole’ in Carter’s First String Quartet: Crawford and the Ultramoden Inheritance, “Music Theory Spectrum” II, 2014
Th. DeLio A Web of Words: Elliott Carter’s ‘End of a Chapter’, “College Music Symposium” (56) 2016
K. Coulembier Static Structure, Dynamic Form: An Analysis of Elliott Carter’s Concerto for Orchestra, “Perspectives of New Music” I, 2016
A. Mead, Fuzzy Edges: Notes on Musical Interaction in the Music of Elliott Carter and J. Nichols, Mistaken Identities in Carter’s Variations for Orchestra, “Elliott Carter Studies Online”, 2016
D. Rust A kinetic projection of ideas: Rhythm and phrasing in Elliott Carter’s piano sonata, “Elliott Carter studies online” (2), 2017
G. Capuzzo Balancing the familiar and the unfamiliar: Three Elliott Carter pieces with quiet endings, “Elliott Carter studies online” (3), 2018
R.S. Vandagriff, An old story in a new world: Paul Fromm, the Fromm Music Foundation, and Elliott Carter, “The journal of musicology” IV, 2018
J.F. Link Harmony in Elliott Carter’s late music, “Music theory online” I, 2019
L. Emmery Beyond long-range polyrhythms: Harmonic process in Elliott Carter’s fourth string quartet, “Contemporary music review” III/IV, 2019
J. Leathwood, D. Leong, Local frictions and long-range connections in Carter’s Changes for guitar, in: Performing knowledge: Twentieth-century music in analysis and performance, ed. D. Leong, Oxford 2019
G. Capuzzo Elliott Carter and musical silence: Intermittences and Sound and silence in time, “Journal of music theory” I, 2020
I. Braus Elliott Carter’s analysis of his piano sonata (1945–46): A moment of music historical agnosia?, “Current musicology” (108) 2021
M. Santana Particular cases of approach to rhythm, metric, and time in Elliott Carter’s piano work, in: Perspectives on contemporary musical practices: From research to creation, ed. M. Soveral, Cambridge 2022
Films and video recordings:
Ch. Hegedus, D. A. Pennebaker Elliott Carter (produced by “Programs in the Arts of SUNY”, Buffalo, 1980
A. Benson Elliott Carter (London Weekend Television), 1986
F. Scheffer Time Is Music: Elliott Carter and John Cage (production: Henk Pauwels. Sine Film/Video), 1988
F. Scheffer A Labyrinth of Time (Alegri Film BV DVD), 2004
Compositions:
Instrumental:
for orchestra:
Suite [from the ballet Pocahontas], 1939, revised 1960
Symphony no. 1, 1942
Holiday Overture, 1944
Suite [from the ballet The Minotaur], 1947
Variations for Orchestra, 1955
Double Concerto for harpsichord, piano and 2 chamber orchestras, 1961
Piano Concerto, 1965
Concerto for Orchestra, 1969
A Symphony of Three Orchestras, 1976
Three Occasions, 1986–89: A Celebration of Some 100 x 150 Notes, 1986, Remembrance, 1988, Anniversary, 1989
Oboe Concerto, 1987
Violin Concerto, 1990
Symphony “Sum fluxae pretium spei”, 1993–97, 3 parts: Partita, 1993, Adagio tenebroso, 1995, Allegro scorrevole, 1997
Clarinet Concerto, 1996
Cello Concerto, 2000
Boston Concerto, 2002
Dialogues for piano and chamber orchestra, 2003
Réflexions for chamber orchestra 2004
3 Illusions for Orchestra, 2002–2004 (Micomicón 2002, Fons Juventatis 2004, More’s Utopia 2004)
Soundings for piano and orchestra, 2005
Concerto for horn, 2006
Interventions for piano and orchestra, 2007
Sound Fields for string orchestra 2007
Concertino for bass clarinet and chamber orchestra 2009
chamber:
Canonic Suite for 4 saxophones, 1939 revised for 4 clarinets, 1955–6
Pastoral for English horn/viola/clarinet and piano, 1940
Elegy for cello and piano, 1943
Sonata for cello and piano, 1948
Woodwind Quintet, 1948
8 Etudes and a Fantasy for flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon, 1949–50
8 Pieces for 4 timpani, 1950–66
String Quartet no. 1, 1950–51 (Polish performance at the Warsaw Autumn Festival 1960)
String Quartet no. 2, 1959
String Quartet no. 3, 1971
String Quartet no. 4, 1986 (Polish performance at the Warsaw Autumn Festival 1990)
String Quartet no. 5, 1995
Sonata for flute, oboe, cello and harpsichord, 1952
Canon for 3: in memoriam Igor Stravinsky for 3 the same instruments, 1971
Duo for violin and piano, 1973–4
A Fantasy about Purcell’s “Fantasia Upon One Note” for horn, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, 1974
Brass Quintet for horn, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, 1974
Triple Duo for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion, 1983, (Polish performance at the Warsaw Autumn Festival 1986)
Canon for Four for flute, bass clarinet, violin and cello, 1984
Esprit rude/esprit doux for flute and clarinet, 1984
Penthode for 5 groups with 4 instrumentalists each, 1985
Birthday Flourish for 5 trumpets, 1988
Enchanted Preludes for flute and cello, 1988
Con leggerezza pensosa. Omaggio a Italo Calvino for clarinet, violin and cello, 1990
Quintet for piano and wind instruments, 1991
Trilogy: 1. Bariolage for harp, 2. Inner Song for oboe, 3. Immer neu for oboe and harp, 1992
Fragment for string quartet, 1994
Fragment no. 2 for string quartet, 1999
Esprit rude/esprit doux II for flute, clarinet and marimba, 1995
Luimen for trumpet, trombone, harp, vibraphone, mandolin and guitar, 1997
Quintet for piano and string quartet, 1998
Asco Concerto (for a Dutch band ASKO), 2000
Oboe Quartet, 2001
Hiyoku for 2 clarinets, 2001
Au Quai for bassoon and viola, 2002
Call for 2 trumpets and horn, 2003
Mosaic for a group of instruments, 2004
Tri-Tribute (Matribute, Fratribute, Sistribute) for piano, 2008
Clarinet Quintet, 2007
Tintinnabulation for a sextet of percussion instruments, 2008
Nine by Five for flute, oboe, bassoon, horn, 2009
Tre Duetti for violin and cello, 2008–9
Double Trio for trumpet, trombone, percussion, piano, violin, cello, 2011
Trije glasbeniki for flute, bass clarinet, harp, 2011
Rigmarole for cello and bass clarinet, 2011
String Trio for violin, viola and cello, 2011
Epigrams for piano, violin and cello, 2012
for instruments solo:
Sonata for piano, 1946; revised version, 1982, Polish performance at the Warsaw Autumn Festival 1994
Night Fantasies for piano, 1980, Polish performance at the Warsaw Autumn Festival 1986
Changes for guitar, 1983, Polish performance at the Warsaw Autumn Festival 1989
Riconoscenza per G. Petrassi for violin, 1984, Polish performance at the Warsaw Autumn Festival 1986
Scrivo in vento for flute, 1991
Gra for clarinet, 1993, Polish performance at the Warsaw Autumn Festival 1994
90+ for piano, 1994
Figment for cello, 1994
Figment II: Remembering Mr. Ives, for cello, 2001
Figment III for double bass, 2007
Figment IV for viola, 2007
Figment V for marimba, 2009
Figment VI for oboe, 2011
A 6 Letter Letter for English horn, 1996
Shard for guitar, 1997
2 Diversions for piano, 1999
Retrouvailles for piano, 2000
Retracing for bassoon, 2002
Retracing II for horn, 2009
Retracing III for trumpet, 2009
Retracing IV for tube, 2011
Retracing V for trombone, 2011
Steep Steps for bass clarinet, 2001
2 Thoughts About the Piano (Intermittences, Caténaires) for piano, 2005–06
Tri-Tribute for piano, 2007–2008
Mnemosyné for violin, 2011
Vocal-instrumental:
choral:
Harvest Home for SATB, words by R. Herrick, 1937 revised 1997
Let’s be Gay for SSAA and 2 pianos, words by J. Gay, 1937
Heart not so heavy as mine for SATB, words by E. Dickinson, 1938
The Harmony of Morning for SSAA for chamber orchestra, words by M. Van Doren, 1944
Musicians Wrestle Everywhere for SSATB and trumpet ad libitum, words by E. Dickinson, 1945
Emblems for TTBB and piano, words by A. Tate, 1947
Mad Regales for soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass, words by J. Ashbery, 2007
for voices solo:
Tell me where is fancy bred? for alto and guitar, words by W. Shakespeare, 1938
Voyage for mezzo-soprano or baritone and piano, words by H. Crane, 1943
Warble for Lilac-Time for soprano or tenor and piano or chamber orchestra, words by W. Whitman, 1943, revised 1954
A Mirror on which to Dwell for soprano and a group of instruments, words by E. Bishop, 1975
Syringa, song for mezzo-soprano, baritone and 11 instruments, words by J. Ashbery, 1978
In Sleep, in Thunder, song for tenor and 14 instruments, words by R. Lowell, 1981
Of Challenge and of Love, song for soprano and piano, words by J. Hollander, 1994
Tempo e Tempi for soprano, violin, English horn and bass clarinet, words by E. Montale, S. Quasimodo, G. Ungaretti, 1998
Of Rewaking for soprano and orchestra, words by W.C. Williams, 2002
In the Distances of Sleep for mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra, words by W. Stevens, 2006
La Musique for soprano, words by Baudelaire, 2007
On Conversing with Paradise for baritone and a group of instruments, words by E. Pound, 2008
Poems of Louis Zukofsky for soprano and clarinet, words by L. Zukofsky, 2008
What Are Years for soprano and a group of instruments, words by M. Moore, 2009
A Sunbeam’s Architecture for tenor and chamber orchestra, words by E.E. Cummings, 2010
Three Explorations for baritone and a group of wind instruments, words by T.S. Eliot, 2011
Scenic:
Pocahontas, ballet, 1938–9, staged in New York 1939
The Minotaur, ballet, 1947, staged in New York 1947
What Next?, opera in 1 act, libretto P. Griffiths, 1998, staged in Berlin 1999 (later also in Tanglewood, Munich, New York, Vienna, Melbourne, Montpellier and Duisburg)
