David Schiff, who often writes on contemporary music for The New York Times, is also the author of Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue.

Schiff has written this new edition with the kind of renewed freshness and sense of development that Carter's work continues to reflect.... A wholly different book from the first edition and a valuable new contribution to the critical literature.(Choice) This new edition effectively replaces the earlier one and is particularly welcome for its inclusion of a wealth of compositions and bibliographic citations from 1981 to 1998.... A chronological list of works, an extensive bibliography, and a discography add immeasurably to this volume. Highly recommended for sophisticated music collections.(Library Journal) Unlike many other composers, Carter has always known exactly how to bring his pieces to an end. David Schiff, in the new edition of his The Music of Elliott Carter, finds the right words for the end of the First String Quartet: 'With the most stunning gesture of all,' he says, 'the first violin completes the motion of the work in solitude, slowing the music to stillness on a celestial high E.'- John Russell (The New York Review of Books)

David Schiff, who often writes on contemporary music for The New York Times, is also the author of Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue.

Schiff has written this new edition with the kind of renewed freshness and sense of development that Carter's work continues to reflect.... A wholly different book from the first edition and a valuable new contribution to the critical literature.(Choice) This new edition effectively replaces the earlier one and is particularly welcome for its inclusion of a wealth of compositions and bibliographic citations from 1981 to 1998.... A chronological list of works, an extensive bibliography, and a discography add immeasurably to this volume. Highly recommended for sophisticated music collections.(Library Journal) Unlike many other composers, Carter has always known exactly how to bring his pieces to an end. David Schiff, in the new edition of his The Music of Elliott Carter, finds the right words for the end of the First String Quartet: 'With the most stunning gesture of all,' he says, 'the first violin completes the motion of the work in solitude, slowing the music to stillness on a celestial high E.'- John Russell (The New York Review of Books)

David Schiff, who often writes on contemporary music for The New York Times, is also the author of Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue.

Schiff has written this new edition with the kind of renewed freshness and sense of development that Carter's work continues to reflect.... A wholly different book from the first edition and a valuable new contribution to the critical literature.(Choice) This new edition effectively replaces the earlier one and is particularly welcome for its inclusion of a wealth of compositions and bibliographic citations from 1981 to 1998.... A chronological list of works, an extensive bibliography, and a discography add immeasurably to this volume. Highly recommended for sophisticated music collections.(Library Journal) Unlike many other composers, Carter has always known exactly how to bring his pieces to an end. David Schiff, in the new edition of his The Music of Elliott Carter, finds the right words for the end of the First String Quartet: 'With the most stunning gesture of all,' he says, 'the first violin completes the motion of the work in solitude, slowing the music to stillness on a celestial high E.'- John Russell (The New York Review of Books)