In Carter's own words: "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

Performer: Constance Luzzati