In the Deep Heart’s Core is inspired by four poems joined together by a common theme of contemplation upon human existence and its reflection in nature. For all four poets, the images of nature were not merely an idyll, but a refuge from political oppression, which changed the course of their lives dramatically. Nature reflects their inner thoughts, hidden “in the deep heart’s core” and provides a consolation, expressed through the prism of lyricism, inherited by Pasternak and Akhmatova from the Russian “Silver Age” style, through the elements of psychoanalysis in Hesse’s poem, influenced by Jung’s method, and through the Romantic nationalism of early Yeats.

The cycle can be performed in any order, completely or partially. The composer’s suggested order, listed on the title page, would be to start with The Echo (after Anna Akhmatova’s poem of the same name) and continue with In the Fog, based on the haunting poem Im Nebel by Hermann Hesse. After that, Wind is a fast movement and includes a loose musical quotation from Johannes Brahms’ “Lullaby” ("Wiegenlied," op. 49, No.4), which refers to Boris Pasternak’s imagery of a lullaby, fashioned by the wind. The cycle may conclude with The Lake Isle of Innisfree (after W. B. Yeats’s poem), incorporating in its form the phrasing of an archetypal epic folk-song.

In the Deep Heart’s Core is inspired by four poems joined together by a common theme of contemplation upon human existence and its reflection in nature. For all four poets, the images of nature were