Elliott Carter: A Guide to Research. (Book Reviews).

Elliott Carter: A Guide to Research. By John F. Link. (Composer Resource Manuals, 52.) New York: Garland, 2000. [xiv, 331 p. ISBN 0-8153-2432-4. $90.]

When reviewing a book such as this, I am reminded of the Amish farmers near my home. Farming is arduous work that always begins with breaking the hard ground, particularly difficult with horse and plough. In the same way, all scholarship begins with a knowledge of primary source collections and relevant bibliography. John F. Link's work has "broken the ground" for us. Elliott Carter, now more than ninety years old, continues to be one of the most productive American composers. As he continues to compose, others continue to write about him and his compositions; thus we have a constant need to keep up with the literature.

Elliott Carter: A Guide to Research appears in the Garland series Composer Resource Manuals. Garland has undergone the fate of so many other publishers of music books in our time, having been taken over by a large conglomerate, the Taylor & Francis Group. While we can be happy that Taylor & Francis has decided to continue the Composer Resource Manuals series, we can expect that with profit-driven motivation the prices will be high, as is the case with this volume.

Link's work does not include a biography; instead, there is a chronology of important dates in Carter's life and career. The chronology is useful in gaining a general and succinct view of Carter's life, but it necessarily leaves out a great many details. Carter has had a very interesting life, with many awards and composer-in-residence positions. Scanning the chronology gives the impression that he may be one of the few contemporary composers who has made his living primarily from composing rather than teaching. The same impression may not come to mind when reading one of his biographies.

Link lists Carter's music in three categories: "Works Presumed Lost or Destroyed," "Juvenilia and Unpublished Works in Manuscript," and "Published Works." The compositions are listed alphabetically by title, though there is an appendix listing them in chronological order. In each entry, Link provides details of the work's date of origin, instrumentation, publisher, ...