Idylls is a three-movement cantata representing afternoon, evening, and morning in New England, set to poems of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Theodore Roethke, and Mary Oliver. LeVines clusters complex rhythms and tonal colors -- serene or syncopated, peaceful or riveting -- covering a broad dynamic spectrum. The work concludes in an exuberant climax emerging from a choral tapestry which recalls the three individual movements texturally and musically.
— Nashoba Valley Chorale
Idylls was commissioned by Nashoba Valley Chorale in 2000 in celebration of the millennium.