Marguerite Boland is a researcher in the College of Arts and Social Sciences at the Australian National University, Canberra. Her scholarly interest is twentieth-century modernist music and aesthetics, particularly the music of Elliott Carter and of Johanna Beyer. John Link is a composer and Professor of Music at the William Paterson University of New Jersey. He is the author of Elliott Carter: A Guide to Research (2000) and co-editor, with Nicholas Hopkins, of Elliott Carter's Harmony Book.

• Preface Marguerite Boland and John Link; Part I. Overview: Music Early and Late: 1. The true significance of Elliott Carter's early works Jonathan Bernard; 2. Elliott Carter's late music John Link; Part II. Analysis and Aesthetics: 3. The search for order: Carter's late-modern thematicism Arnold Whittall; 4. Ritornello form in Carter's Boston and ASKO concertos Marguerite Boland; 5. 'The matter of human cooperation' in Carter's mature style John Roeder; 6. Time management: rhythm as a formal determinant in certain works of Elliott Carter Andrew Mead; 7. 'I try to write music that will appeal to an intelligent listener's ear': on Elliott Carter's string quartets Dörte Schmidt; 8. Composition with intervals: melodic invention in Elliott Carter's recent concertos Stephen Heinemann; Part III. Sketch Studies: 9. Left by the wayside: Elliott Carter's unfinished sonatina for oboe and harpsichord Felix Meyer; 10. At the edge of creation: Elliott Carter's sketches in the Library of Congress Stephen Soderberg; Part IV. Music and Text: 11. Three Illusions … and maybe a fourth: a hermeneutic approach to Carter's music Max Noubel; 12. Layers of meaning: expression and design in Carter's songs Brenda Ravenscroft; 13. 'It's as if our voices made no sound': irony in episodes 10-15 of What Next? Guy Capuzzo; 14. Words and music in The Defense of Corinth Annette van Dyck-Hemming; Bibliography.

'… this is a most valuable addition to the growing body of Elliott Carter literature. The fourteen chapters present a broad range of topics and approaches to this music, and address pieces throughout his career … a few of the essays, particularly those by Heinemann, Ravenscroft, and Schmidt should become essential reading for musicians undertaking their initial forays into Carter's unique approach to composition. Finally, the book is well edited, and the musical examples are beautifully engraved.' Notes