Chamber Music

soprano, tenor, clarinet, horn, cello, harp and piano

(1990)

text by James Joyce (from Chamber Music)

      Strings in the earth and air

      The twilight turns

      My dove, my beautiful one, arise!

      O cool is the valley now

      Because your voice & O Sweetheart

      Silently she's combing

      Sleep now & Gentle lady

      All day I hear the noise of waters

      I hear an army

“In his ability to select good texts and to set the English language to music, Carter reminds me of past masters Virgil Thomson, Benjamin Britten, and the still-creative Ned Rorem. His mastery of writing for instruments was also evident in each selection, in his exploitation techniques and timbre and in his very imaginative combinations of sonorities. . . One of Carter's most astonishing touches was accompanying a tenor solo with obbligato horn. The culmination of the work by both singers was deeply satisfying." - William Thomas Walker, Classical Voice of North Carolina

Chamber Music was premiered on December 18, 1990 at the Greenwich House in New York City by soprano Christine Akre, tenor Jason Oby and the Downtown Chamber Players; Mimi Stern-Wolfe, conductor.

Version for complete cycle for solo vocal quartet and piano four hands

Arranged for soprano and harp:

      Strings in the earth and air

      The twilight turns

      My dove, my beautiful one, arise!

10'