Composers

So as texts for his brief choral scherzo Harbison instead chose from the informal literature of Koussevitzky-isms, casual phrases attributed to him, often quoted by BSO musicians with the original creative syntax passed down through the years. The piece for instance opens with a richly contrapuntal setting of Koussevitzky’s famous pronouncement: “The next Beethoven will from Colorado come.” Later the chorus sings “I will keep playing this music — until you hear it”; “I am an American, but I still love Russia”; and finally, “Let's do it together for our own satisfaction.”