Bariolage for harp (1992) | Compositions | Elliott Carter, composer

Contained In: Trilogy for oboe and harp (1992)
Dedication: To Ursula Holliger
Buy Score: Hendon Music (Boosey & Hawkes)
Manuscripts: Paul Sacher Stiftung

Premiere: Mar 23, 1992/ Ursula Holliger, harp/ Salle Patino, Geneva

News

Harpist Bridget Kibbey plays Carter at the 2016 VIVO Music Festival

September 2, 2016
"One of the most energising musical occasions in years."

February 7, 2018
Journée Elliott Carter

December 11, 2018

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Bariolage clip

Bariolage, the first part of my Trilogy for oboe and harp, composed for those great performers and dear friends, Ursula and Heinz Holliger, has as its motto the last two stanzas of Rainer Maria Rilke’s Sonette an Orpheus, II. 10.

Aber noch ist uns das Dasein verzaubert; an hundert
Stellen ist es noch Ursprung. Ein Spielen von reinen
Kräften, die keener berührt, der nicht kniet und bewundert.

Worte gehen noch zart am Unsäglichen aus…
Und die Musik, immer neu, aus den bebendsten Steinen,
baut im unbrauchbaren Raum ihr vergöttliches Haus.

But existence is still enchanting for us; in hundreds of places it is still
pristine, A play of pure forces, which no one can touch without kneeling
and adoring.

Words still peter out into what cannot be expressed…
And music, ever new, builds out of the most tremulous stones her divinely
consecrated house in unexploitable space.

Each of the three sections of Trilogy was written for a special occasion. Bariolage is a harp solo written for a festival of my music given in Geneva in March, 1992, for Ursula Holliger, to whom it is dedicated, to play. I was interested in writing for the harp as I had been a friend and admirer of Carlos Salzedo who wrote for the harp in such an inventive way.

– Elliott Carter

Recordings (6)

Transatlantique
ARS Produktion ARS38333 (2022)
Anne-Sophie Bertrand, harp
Elliott Carter: 103rd Birthday Concert
NMC Recordings (2014)
Rolf Schulte, violin | Fred Sherry, cello | Richard O'Neill, viola | Virgil Blackwell, bass clarinet | Bridget Kibbey, harp | Marie Tachouet, flute | Mike Truesdell, marimba (+8)
American Harp
Azica Records ACD-71281 (2013)
Yolanda Kondonassis, harp
James Austin Smith & Bridget Kibbey: Distance
TwoPianists (2015)
James Austin Smith, oboe | Bridget Kibbey, harp
Nieuw Ensemble: Homages & Dedications
Auvidis Montaigne MO 782089 (2003)
Nieuw Ensemble, Ed Spanjaard, conductor | Hans Wesseling, mandolin | Helenus de Rijke, guitar | Ernestine Stoop, harp | Herman Halewijn, vibraphone | Ad Welleman, trumpet (+19)
Inner Song
Philips 445 095-2 (1997)
Heinz Holliger, oboe | Elmar Schmid, clarinet | Klaus Thunemann, bassoon | Radovan Vlatkovic, horn | András Schiff, piano | Ursula Holliger, harp