uch has been written over the past year about But Wuorinen’s compositional approach couldn’t be more the so-called “Generation of ’38,” the large, distant from the polystylism that characterizes many of his con- eclectic group of successful American com- temporaries. He has long been identified with , posers—including , Paul , and the late —the principal Chihara, , , John architects of post-World War II American . And while MHarbison, , and Joan serialism is a term Wuorinen no longer embraces, strict orga- Tower—who happen to have been born in 1938. This year, of nizational procedures, chromaticism, and rhythmic complexity course, they all are turning 70, prompting celebrations remain hallmarks of his vast compositional output. all over the country. But one important member of this illus- Continuing to create this kind of —especially in the face trious group—, whose birthday was June 9— of today’s constant polemics against it—can be seen as an act of doesn’t quite align with the rest, either in aesthetic inclination defiance. , in his massive six-volume Oxford or career trajectory. History of Western Music dismisses the serialists as “just an enor- A wunderkind who began composing at the age of five, mous flowering of Augenmusik.” Alex Ross, in his bestselling Wuorinen received more BMI Student Awards than The Rest Is Noise, grants that Wuorinen “has a flair for instru- any other composer (four, between 1959 and 1963). He was mental drama” but contends that “the average listener could be awarded the Pulitzer Prize at the age of 32 (younger than anyone pardoned” for thinking that like Wuorinen, who have before or since); and later that same year, 1970, he was signed “eschewed audience-friendly gestures,” all sound the same. by the prestigious publisher C.F. Peters. Like many others in the Wuorinen, for his part, has been equally disparaging of other ’38 generation, he is a phenomenal performer whose compo- contemporary movements, from Cagean experimentalism, minimal- sitions require extraordinary instrumental virtuosity. ism, and neo-Romanticism to rock and hip-hop. His less-than-

THE EXCEPTIONAL MUSIC OF

A co-founder of the legendary Group for Contemporary Music, Charles Wuorinen is one of those rare “triple threats”—a consummate , conductor, and composer. Rejecting the CHARLES WUORINEN polystylism that emerged in the work of his contemporaries, he has written rewarding chamber works for just about every instrumental combination one can think of. By Frank Oteri

28 july/august 2008 MUSIC OF CHARLES WUORINEN

29 prophetic assessment of the contemporary compositional land- important ensemble genres and composed for such contemporary scape, stated in the opening paragraph of his 1979 book, Simple combinations as the and the percussion Composition, still sums up his basic position: ensemble. He has explored electronically generated sound (his Pulitzer was the only one ever awarded for an all-electronic work), [W]hile the tonal system, in an atrophied or vestigial form, is composed for such unprecedented groupings as celesta/harp/ still used today in popular and commercial music, and even and mezzo-/English , and scored for “outsider” occasionally in the works of backward-looking serious composers, instruments like the accordion and congas. it is no longer employed by serious composers of the mainstream. For Wuorinen, it is all one sound world. The titles of his works It has been replaced or succeeded by the 12-tone system. . . . follow no particular pattern, distributing themselves among for- mal genre appellations (e.g., No. 3), abstraction Given this kind of pronouncement, not to mention Wuorinen’s (Composition for and Piano), apparent structural clues ascendancy during the anti-authoritarian 1960s, it might come (Adapting to the Times, Dodecadactyl) and pure whimsy (On as a surprise to those unfamiliar with his music that Wuorinen Alligators or Lepton, named for Wuorinen’s cat). In that spirit, I could also be called a traditionalist. He has famously described have organized the following descriptions of Wuorinen’s chamber seeking a compositional path that is evolutionary rather than oeuvre by size of forces rather than instrumentation. There revolutionary, and the Western canon still profoundly inspires and should be something for anyone reading these pages to pursue. informs much of his music. His musical vocabulary is extremely broad, spanning from Dufay and Josquin to Haydn and Brahms DUOS: TWO DISTINCT VOICES Wuorinen is a and on to Wolpe, Varèse, and Carter. A motif from Tchaikovsky’s prolific producer of duos—41 to date. Each of his four piano-and- First is actually audible in his 1980 piano solo, The works has clear associations with the so-called common Blue Bamboula; and some of his works—wholesale re-castings of practice period, with the 1966 Duo perhaps coming closest to an Early Music literature—revel in what he has called “pre-revolu- accompanied solo piece (but Wuorinen the pianist is of course tionary traditions.” incapable of creating mere ). The 1974 Fantasia But to describe Wuorinen’s music as reactionary or conserva- begins as a bona fide accompanied solo and gradually trans- tive would also be a misrepresentation. Rather, it presents an forms into something else, as the notions of playing together alternate reality. It has developed beyond its original theoretical and playing separately are cleverly contrasted. The title of the underpinnings, embracing intuition and incorporating ideas aphoristic Six Pieces (1977) hints at Webern, as does the from fractal geometry, as well as what Wuorinen (who is increas- brevity of several movements—which run an emotional gamut, ingly reluctant to engage in analytical discussions of this sort) from the sudden tempest of the opening to an extraordinarily calls “pitch centricity.” Admittedly erudite, his music has moments tender finale. The title of Wuorinen’s 1988 Sonata suggests a of lightness and even humor. nod to the classics, but its five contrasting sections offer a clearly The composer’s output—nearly a hundred discernible symmetry within a tightly woven single movement pieces—traces his compositional path perhaps more clearly than that bristles with intensity. The work, which critic Tim Page has his work in other arenas. He has contributed to nearly all of the continued on pg. 100

With Group for New Music With Scott St. John, Carmit Zori, , , co-founder , and Curtis Macomber at BargeMusic, near Brooklyn Bridge 1986

30 july/august 2008 BRINGING TOGETHER POETRY AND MUSIC: Charles Wuorinen’s Ashberyana BY SARAH ROTHENBERG

harles Wuorinen is a formidable rewarding. The demands for precision presence. Musicians who con- are great, but they are balanced with a quer his music may still be supreme economy. In reaction to the intimidated by the man. Upon popular minimalist movement led by fellow WIT PERMEATES meeting him, one is immediately septuagenarians and Philip struck by his piercing intelli- Glass, Wuorinen has been described as a WUORINEN’S Cgence and unwavering confidence in his “maximalist”; but I find the term mislead- aesthetic values. He expresses himself ing. The thought process and creative MUSIC. BUT with remarkable clarity and brings to the activity may be maximal, but the resultant SENSUOSITY— banal exercises of daily life a thoughtfully music has been honed down to the conceived, critical world view. This idio- absolutely essential. PURE DELIGHT syncratic vision is not without surprises. Wuorinen’s acerbic humor permeates The first time that I worked with Charles his music, yet a sensuousness—a pure IN SOUND—IS was for a performance of A Winter’s Tale, pleasure in sound—is also evident in his his setting of ’s poem for brilliant instrumentation. His music may ALSO EVIDENT. soprano and chamber ensemble. (An be associated with what one might call accomplished conductor, he often leads his high modernism, but he looks to the past own works.) After a , following a as well. His roots go back not just to the two exists. Note, for instance, the expressive few of the preferred Tanqueray dry martinis, seminal modernists of the last century, intimacy of Fenton Songs I, dedicated to I found myself lost in a heated debate Schoenberg and Stravinsky, but beyond, Wuorinen’s partner of many years, between Charles and cellist Fred Sherry. as exemplified by his reworkings of such Howard Stokar. Their dispute was filled with esoteric early masters as Josquin Desprez and Wuorinen celebrates his 70th birthday references to a subject of which I was . Wuorinen takes the long as a singular, uncompromising voice in totally ignorant: Arnold Schwarzenegger’s view. Trends may come and go, but he modern music. Composing with remarkable Terminator movies. So beware of cultural holds to his convictions. speed and assurance, he has produced an stereotypes. In today’s “heart on the sleeve” con- array of major works in different genres. The element of surprise in Charles’s fessional culture, Wuorinen’s emotional Although he has received his share of personality extends to his music. Playing reserve may be misunderstood; but where rave reviews, Wuorinen does not owe his it is intensely engaging, challenging and sentimentality is absent, feeling still success to the critics. The force behind

Conducting in , At home ca 1998. in .

31 Music America, and additional support with the poet , who never IN ASHBERYANA, from Works & Process made Da Camera’s ceases to be amazed by language. In commissioning of Ashberyana possible. Ashberyana, music and poetry each retain THE SOLITARY Scored for , , string their identity, and there is a sense of space TROMBONE ACTS quartet and piano, Wuorinen pairs the around the words that is surprising for a baritone and trombone as unexpected setting of so many of them. But “set” is AS MEDIATOR partners in . The songful trombone exactly what Wuorinen does, as a jeweler solo, which forms a brief introduction, with a gem. The poetry seems to be sculpt- BETWEEN wordlessly forecasts the baritone’s first ed, raised in relief, etched in sound, but entrance. Once the singer is present, the never weighed down by interpretation. POETRY AND trombone continues to perform his Through the rhythmic tension of the vocalise, sometimes functioning as double, silences, the subtle underscoring of shifts MUSIC. joining the voice in punctuated unisons, in syntax and mood, the occasional playful or offering commentary. The two are mirroring of the poetic line (“jumping up and the increasing number of performances intertwined in a virtuosic, interdependent down on tiptoe”), the musical repetition and steady stream of commissions is game of counterpoint that is supported of the Proustian phrase, “...so far back in the one that ultimately determines the by the pointillistic writing for piano and the mothering past,” Wuorinen creates survival of repertoire: deeply committed strings. The solitary trombone acts as a dramatic musical structure to support musicians. Also—and here the continuity mediator between poetry and music, its Ashbery’s poems. The work builds with with models of the past holds as well—he haunting shadow forming the necessary assurance and inevitability to the powerful is blessed with devoted patrons. bond between loquacious texts and a climax of “The Laughter of Dead Men.” With Ashberyana, a vocal chamber work world without words. The final two lines, “so fearful of the first- commissioned by Da Camera of Houston One sees from the start that Wuorinen person singular/and all the singular to celebrate my tenth anniversary as enjoys language and revels in the sump- adventures it implies,” are a telling state- artistic director in 2004, Wuorinen brings tuousness of Ashbery’s vocabulary. The ment expressed with the casual humility his compositional wit and sharp intelli- poet bounces effortlessly from the typical of this poet. A less attentive reader gence to John Ashbery’s audacious poetry. banalities of everyday life—including might miss the depth of meaning, but I had first met John Ashbery in a chance clichés and quotations from vintage tele- here Wuorinen pulls out all the stops. encounter in the summer of 1989, when vision shows—to the arcane and the sub- Allowing himself the liberty of setting “so I was living in upstate New York and lime. Ashbery makes us notice words as fearful” three times, each with increasing involved in planning the first Bard Music though they were unknown artifacts from intensity, he then creates a stunning Festival. John and I quickly became another planet, rather than tools that we melisma on the word “all,” until the friends. Several years later, Howard use simply to get through the day. The instruments, with trombone in the lead, Stokar invited me to moderate a program bizarre disconnects and surprising juxta- emerge with resounding force. The for the Guggenheim’s Works and Process positions resonate as fragments from thrilling close of Ashberyana reveals a series, in which five composers would our own post-modern lives. This shim- master of musical architecture—and a write musical settings for John Ashbery’s mering poetry describes a surreal world; reader of rare acuity—at the height of his poetry. The concert premiered Wuorinen’s but unlike the nocturnal surrealists of the powers. “Stanzas Before Time” for and past, Ashbery basks in sunlight. There is harp, a poem that Charles ingeniously a bright aura of wakefulness, and only in set three times in the one song, high- finding that word do I realize that it is the lighting the multiple meanings (and com- title of the collection from which these Sarah Rothenberg is a pianist and artistic ing up with an extensive melisma on the four poems are drawn. director of Da Camera of Houston. word “panties.”) Charles Wuorinen’s music moves us Recently released on the Naxos label At dinner following the concert, Charles into a universe that can never be simply is Da Camera’s recording of Charles told me that he had an idea for a much categorized; he does not paint moods or Wuorinen’s Ashberyana, Josquiniana, larger chamber work based on Ashbery’s illustrate. He is fascinated by what music F enton Songs I and II, and two piano poems. I was immediately enthusiastic, can do, and this fascination pulls the listen- works, featuring artists Leon Williams, and suggested the participation of the er into an unusually concentrated state baritone; Lucy Shelton, soprano; the Brentano Quartet, already champions of of listening; one must pay attention. The ; James Pugh, Charles’s music. Subsequently, a generous focus of Wuorinen’s investigations in trombone; , piano; Sarah gift from a mutual friend who is a great music is music itself. Rothenberg, piano; Charles Wuorinen, patron of the arts, a grant from Chamber This is where there is a deep affinity conductor.

32 july/august 2008

Wuorinen continued from pg. 32 described as “as flashy and exciting as anything Paganini ever last also exists in an orchestral version.) In 1996, Wuorinen created wrote,” is dedicated to two of Wuorinen’s virtuosic contempo- the extremely idiomatic two-piano Transcription of Arnold raries, violinist Benjamin Hudson and pianist . Schoenberg’s Variations for , Op. 31. He has also Wuorinen has often remarked that his compositional choices written miniatures for two (Dodecadactyl, 2003), two have been influenced by great interpreters—players who can (Epithalamium, 1997), and two (, 1966). transform a gesture that in the score appears sublimely difficult Perhaps the most miniature of his miniatures are the Eleven into a musical moment that is, simply, sublime. His chamber music Short Pieces (2006) for violin and , with a duration highlighting the has been triggered by his long association of two and a half minutes and a total of only 101 notes. with two of America’s finest cellists, and Fred Wuorinen frequently tackles the irrefutably unequal relationship Sherry. The most challenging of these works, Adapting to the of solo voice and single instrument. Often, his solution is to offer Times (1969), is dedicated to Krosnick and has few precedents equally attention-grabbing lines to the non-singing partner. in the degree to which it integrates cello and piano. The two Some of these works are a particular challenge to performers and parts combine to create a dense texture of irregular tuplets in to listeners. The vocal lines support the text, but Wuorinen’s constantly shifting polyrhythms. Wuorinen has described Fast brand of text-setting can be opaque if you are not paying careful Fantasy (1977) as being based on “a big lump of notes, intu- attention at all times. New York Times critic Edward Rothstein itively rhythmed, with some qualities of recitative.” It is dedi- described the music for Wuorinen’s massive Dylan Thomas- cated to Sherry, who premiered it with the composer at the texted A Winter’s Tale (1991) for soprano and piano as “almost piano and recorded it twice with him. Fast Fantasy has more a simultaneous translation of the words.” (The work also exists in lyrical gestures than does Adapting to the Times, but pulling it off an ensemble version.) requires similarly prodigious instrumental prowess. An Orbicle Exceptions in which the vocal line is unassailably foregrounded of Jasp (1999), also premiered by Wuorinen and Sherry and are Three Songs for Tenor and Piano (1979) based on texts by written to mark the latter’s 50th birthday, is similarly witty; Coburn Britton; the lovely Seamus Heaney-based Lightenings whereas the Andante Espressivo (2001), composed for their VIII (1994) for soprano; and A Song to the Lute in Musicke duo only months after September 11, is somber throughout. (1970), also for soprano and based on a 16th-century text. Unlikely pairings include the whimsical Grand Union (1973), Perhaps the most readily comprehensible example of Wuorinen’s a duet for cello and drums composed for Sherry’s 25th birthday, treatment of the solo singer as simply another instrumentalist is and Buttons and Bows (2001), for cello and accordion. The in one of his Early Music re-imaginings, Christes Crosse for brief Album Leaf for violin and cello (1976), written for Sherry soprano and piano (1994). In this work, composed primarily for and violinist , manages to convey orchestral gestures pianist Alan Feinberg, a repeated vocal line, derived from a with only two instruments. singing exercise found in a Thomas Morley manuscript, serves Wuorinen’s remaining duos with keyboard are quite varied. as a kind of accompaniment to a series of piano variations that Divertimento for Saxophone and Piano (1982) is a grow more and more virtuosic. brisk, single-movement work that the composer has also cast for In Two Machine Portraits (2001) for tenor and set to poems string quartet (to completely different effect). The Percussion by Les Murray, and in Twang (1989), a stanza from Wallace Duo (1979) is a signature piece for piano and single percussionist, Stevens’s “The Man with the Blue ” for mezzo-soprano, a combination that has become a contemporary music standard. voice and piano, are engaged in an unending duel for center The three-movement Sonata for Guitar and Piano (1995) is stage, as are baritone and guitar in the elaborate Psalm 39 something of a compositional miracle: a normally impossible (1979). September 11, 2001 (2001), which originally took combination achieves equal partnership in a work that traverses W.H. Auden’s Anthem for St. Cecilia’s Day as a starting point, a broad emotional landscape. The recent Duo Sonata for became radically transformed when the World Trade Center was and piano (2004), a hefty contribution to the literature, should attacked. The piece begins with a bravura solo from the piano, and inspire an enterprising flutist to record it along with the com- the instrument continues to dominate even after the tenor finally poser’s very early Sonata for Flute and Piano and Eight enters. Wuorinen also subverts the standard soloist/accompanist Variations for Flute and (both 1960). Com- relationship in two works for tenor and harp—Stanzas Before position for Oboe and Piano (1965), equally formidable, and Time (2001) from John Ashbery and Pentecost (2002), based recorded many years ago, has yet to appear on CD. Nature’s on a Derek Walcott poem. For me, Wuorinen’s vocal settings are Concord, for and piano (1969) has yet to be recorded most effective when the singer is matched with an unlikely partner, in any format. such as the English horn in his Stanley Kunitz-derived The Wuorinen has created three original works for two : the Long Boat (2003), for soprano; with violin, as in the Paul Auster- early Making Ends Meet (1966); F ifty Fifty (2002) for Oliver based Visible (2004), for mezzo-soprano; or—my current Knussen’s 50th birthday; and the extremely energetic ballet The favorite—Never Again the Same (2006), a setting for Mission of Virgil (1993), the first part of a Dante-based trilogy voice and of a poem by . created for and the Ballet. (The

100 july/august 2008 FROM THREE TO SIX Wuorinen’s trios, , , and range from standard combinations to charming, MUST-HEAR one-of-a-kind curiosities. To stay briefly with vocal works, he has created two cycles of Fenton Songs (1997 and 2002) for WUORINEN soprano and , the first also existing in a version for soprano, violin, cello, and two guitars. In these works, shifting CHAMBER MUSIC introverted and extroverted textures express the private and public CDS realms of human experience traversed by ’s poems. 5 In 2002 Wuorinen also reworked much of the material from the CHARLES WUORINEN: STRING -inspired Haroun and the Sea of Stories AND OTHER WORKS The Haroun Songbook, (with libretto by Fenton) as portably (NAXOS AMERICAN CLASSICS 8.559288) scored for four voices and a virtuosic piano accompaniment. A great introduction to Wuorinen’s string writing, head- Wuorinen’s redoubtable string quartets include four numbered lined by a powerful performance of the 1989 Sextet works that have, strangely, remained unexplored as a complete performed by members of the Chamber Music Society cycle. String Quartet No. 1, written for the of and including the Second String in 1971, is divided somewhat conventionally into three move- Quartet, Divertimento, and Piano . ments, but the middle movement is as long as the first and third combined. Wuorinen has written that in this work he was try- CHARLES WUORINEN: FAST FANTASY ing find non-tonal analogues for the directionally developed (ALBANY TROY 658) structures employed by earlier, tonal composers. Quartet No. 2 Longtime Wuorinen collaborator Fred Sherry is the (1979) takes the experiment further—the four movements are featured performer and star of this disc collecting all closely related structurally, and each contains fast and slow three solo Cello Variations and four duos, three fea- sections. We also get more of an ensemble approach (in the first turing the composer at the piano (Andante Espressivo, quartet, the instrumental lines move more independently). An Orbicle of Jasp, and Fast Fantasy) and Grand Union, Greater unification also characterizes Quartet No. 3 (1987), a with Tom Kolor on drums. single-movement work spun from a fragment of Gregorian CHARLES WUORINEN: CHAMBER WORKS chant and developed via traditional contrapuntal techniques, (NEW WORLD 80385) yielding thoroughly chromatic results. Quartet No. 4 (2000), also The Sonata for Violin and Piano, masterfully performed a single movement, gradually builds from slow to fast and from by Benjamin Hudson and Garrick Ohlsson, keeps com- spare to dense. Written for and premiered by the Brentano pany with the Third String Quartet and an earlier Quartet, it has led to an ongoing association with the group. recording by Sherry and Wuorinen of Fast Fantasy. Wuorinen’s Divertimento for string quartet (1982), features significantly lighter textures than the numbered quartets. Two CHARLES WUORINEN: TRIOS recent, smaller-scale works written for the Brentanos are Alap, (NAXOS AMERICAN CLASSICS 8.559264) a Prelude to Contrapunctus IX of the Art of Fugue (2001) A collection of standard combinations (piano trio and and Josquiniana (2002), a delightful recasting of six secular three works for horn, violin and piano) accompanied motets by Josquin. by some oddball scorings—the Trio for Bass Instruments The (1989) is a remarkably taut, single-move- for bass trombone, tuba and contrabass and the ment work in which the extra strings create broad, yet clear, “Trombone Piano,” for trombone, piano, and mallet gestures. But Wuorinen’s landmark composition for strings is the percussion—this disc offers quite a range of music, 1968 , a fascinating amalgam of serial procedures considering that all six works are for three players and and tonal references. In his notes for its first recorded release, composed within a four-year period (1981–85). Wuorinen boasts that the work applies Babbitt’s sys- CHARLES WUORINEN: LEPTON tem and that the whole composition derives from a (TZADIK 7077) whose pitches are audible in the opening measures. Though far Another oddly scored trio—this time for celesta, harp removed from the realm of diatonic harmony, the trio does and piano—is the title piece on a wide-ranging begin on—and periodically return to—a drone-like repeated collection (on ’s label) that also features note that produces an unabashedly tonal effect. the miniature Epithalamium for two trumpets, the Similar tonal allusions haunt the composer’s two large-scale mind-boggling New York Notes for “ plus per- compositions for and piano trio—the expansive Tashi cussion” plus electronics, and the all-electronic Time’s (1975) and the diptych Fortune (1979), whose “Before” and Encomium, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. “After” movements further hint at his compositional agenda. In 2007, Wuorinen also arranged Josquin’s Ave Maria for the clar-

101 inet/piano trio combination. The single-movement Horn Trio soloists, and a very early Movement for (1981) and Horn Trio Continued (1985) at times sound almost (1958)—a Sonatina for (1956); and a Brahmsian, as does the monumental four-movement first Piano Consort for Four (1960). (All await commercial Quintet (1994), with its unusually wide mood swings. A third recording.) The thrilling (1992), scored for horn trio, also from 1985, and titled Double Solo, suggests an ensemble that is gradually coming to be recognized as the Schumann’s showpieces; and the Piano Trio (1983) offers some- winds’ answer to the string quartet, has already been praised by thing of an atonal response to Rachmaninoff. Allusions to even saxophonist/composer Jeff Sackmann in this magazine (“Curse older techniques, such as the isometric rhythmic entanglements of the Saxophone Quartet,” June 2006). It remains a pinnacle of of late medieval motets, turn up in works like the Trio for Bass the genre. Instruments (1981), in which bass trombone, tuba, and contra- bass create some positively otherworldly effects, as do the PERCUSSION Wuorinen’s music for percussion ensemble Trombone Trio (1985) for trombone, piano and mallet percus- is some of the most remarkable in the idiom. His interest in this sion and Lepton (1998) for celesta, harp, and piano. area dates back to his teens, when he composed a Prelude and Writing specifically to the rarified abilities of new-music vir- Fugue for 4 Percussionists in 1955. Mature works include tuosi is a practice that was spearheaded by Wuorinen and the the Invention for Percussion Quintet (1962), Ringing Changes Group for Contemporary Music, which he co-founded with for 12 percussionists (1970) and a massive Percussion flutist/composer Harvey Sollberger in 1962. Turetsky Pieces, (1976), involving some 24 players. His Percussion a 1960 work for flute, clarinet and contrabass, was created for Quartet (1994) is relatively compact in comparison, but its Bertram Turetsky. Speculum Speculi (1972), a sextet meticulous interweaving of pitched and non-pitched instruments for flute, oboe, , contrabass, piano, and percussion, within each part creates a whole that is more than the sum of its was written to showcase the members of the . parts and that rivals any of the works for larger forces. Works that could be construed as textbook examples of “uptown music” in terms of surface intricacy are Arabia Felix (1973), for PIERROT ENSEMBLES Wuorinen opts for a wide range the incongruous consort of flute, , violin, vibraphone, of sonorities by writing for the (after Schoenberg’s piano, and amplified guitar; the Harp Variations (1972) for 1912 P ierrot Lunaire, scored for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and harp and string trio; and the three Trios for Flute, Cello and piano—and these days often encountered with the addition of a Piano (1961, 1962 and 1973). Although arguably equally com- percussionist.) The brief quintet Joan’s (1979) written for the plex, works like the Bassoon Variations (1972), for bassoon, Da Capo Chamber Players (then featuring as harp, and timpani; Archangel (1977), for bass trombone and pianist) is Wuorinen’s sole work for percussionless Pierrot. string quartet, and especially Spinoff (1983), for violin, double- Bearbeitungen über das Glogauer Liederbuch is an bass, and congas, can come across as quirky and almost comical extremely appealing set of 15th-century three-part materials because of their unlikely scorings. Humor is undeniably a key recast for flute, clarinet, violin, and cello—essentially a piano- ingredient in A Doleful Dompe on Deborah’s Departure as less Pierrot. A chamber version of The Great Procession well as Borda’s Bawdy Badinage (1986) for English horn, (1995), the second part of the aforementioned Dante Trilogy, violin and cello. Written to honor Borda when she became pres- uses the full Pierrot plus percussion with surprisingly orchestral ident of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, it is permeated by results. The exhilarating New York Notes (1982) ups the ante quasi-Ivesian references to “Hail to the Chief.” further, including optional pre-recorded electronic sound inter- For more traditional ensembles, Wuorinen created a substan- ludes that elaborate on the various live instrument parts. tial in 1999; a miniature sextet, the 1986 F anfare (for Rutgers University); two works for Wind SINGULARITIES Wuorinen has created numerous one-off Quintet—a 1977 composition that treats the group as five chamber works. While his 1962 Octet (for oboe, clarinet, horn, trombone, violin, cello, double-bass and piano) and the 1972 On Alligators WHERE TO FIND THE MUSIC (combining wind and string quartets) undoubtedly have precedents, the Six Songs for Two Voices (1977) based on Coburn Britton poems, has to be the only work ever scored Most of Charles Wuorinen's compositions are published by for countertenor, tenor, oboe, two horns, violin, and cello. C.F. Peters Corp., although the Movement for Wind Quintet Unusual combinations for vocal works can bring out unexpected and Sonatina for are published by Theodore aspects of texts, as Wuorinen’s chamber version of A Winter’s Presser. Several other early chamber works (such as the Flute Tale demonstrates. The composer’s characteristic interplay of Sonata, the Eight Variations for Flute and Harpsichord and vocal and instrumental lines is further refined in Ashberyana the first Trio for Flute, Cello, and Piano) are available (2004), a cycle of John Ashbery poems in which a baritone voice through the American Composers Alliance. For full details, and solo trombone are equal partners against an accompani- visit www.charleswuorinen.com. ment of string quartet and piano.

102 july/august 2008 GRAY AREAS It’s difficult to precisely mark where Though the advocacy for new music of all stylistic proclivities Wuorinen’s chamber music leaves off and his symphonic works is growing, most of Wuorinen’s music poses daunting challenges begin. The chamber version of The (1996), the to the uninitiated—its level of rhythmic sophistication, its care- culminating installment of the Dante Trilogy, is scored for only fully crafted and necessary-to-maintain balances, and on and on. 13 instruments but sounds much fuller. Other large ensemble But therein are its rewards. As Fred Sherry recently exclaimed: works, arguably orchestral in dimension, are chamber in con- “His music passes every test: it stays fresh in the practice room, it ception and realization, typically eschewing massed sonorities for provides endless delight in rehearsal, and it inspires the audience.” the precision of one-on-a-part music-making. Ultimately the major difference between a work like Iridule, a 2006 chamber New York City-based composer Frank Oteri is the composer advocate concerto for oboe and six players, and the Chamber Concerto of the American Music Center and founding editor of its web mag- for Flute and Ten Players (1964) is in the number of people azine, NewMusicBox (www..org). required to bring it to life. Although the Chamber Concertos Cello Tuba Archaeopteryx for (1963) and (1970) and (1978)— Cover to Cover, continued from pg. 90 a de facto chamber concerto for bass trombone—may sound like music for full orchestra, they demand greater accuracy than being that scholarship has revealed important interpretive facts the typical symphony can provide. Perhaps the closest analogy that require serious thought and application. It seems to me that to the twelve-player, one-to-a-part orchestra required by of the Golden Age approached music as a vehicle for self- Hyperion Wuorinen’s (1975) is a Baroque period-instrument expression, innocent of the stylistic requirements that serious ensemble. Wuorinen is demonstrably better served by this type musicians today are expected to adhere to. Our task now is to of ensemble, which is capable of conveying subtleties lost in the fuse spontaneity with those indisputable facts concerning the broad gestures of effective orchestral writing. (On the other hand, interpretation of different styles of music. This synthesis of feel- given ’s recent advocacy of Wuorinen’s music at ing and thinking can easily create barriers to self-expression, the Boston Symphony, this might be a premature conclusion.) something that pianists from the past did not have to cope with. Such an abundance of ensemble material is both a blessing And this may account for the fact that so many young virtuosos and a curse for musicians eager to plunge in. As with the reper- today may sound correct, but uninspiring. toires of Martinu, Milhaud, Villa-Lobos, or — the only composers of the past century who come to mind who’ve Seymour Bernstein—a pianist, composer, and educator—is the author written this much chamber music, it can be hard to know of several books, most recently Monsters and Angels: Surviving a where to begin. Legions of ensembles could take up the cause Career in Music (2004). He maintains a private studio in New of particular Wuorinen works and never replicate one another’s York City and is on the piano faculty of New York University’s programming. Steinhardt School. How ironic it is then, that to this day, Wuorinen’s music has been championed mostly by a small group of devoted practi- Photo Credits tioners. Luckily these musicians—Fred Sherry, Joel Krosnick, Garrick Ohlsson, and Benjamin Hudson, as well as violinist Cover: Marlon Simon by Susan Bulkin; Edward Simon by John Rolf Schulte; hornist William Purvis; pianists James Avery, Alan Abbott (johnabbottphoto.com). Photomontage by Red Herring Design Feinberg, James Winn, and Ursula Oppens; the Brentano String CMA Note: Margaret M. Lioi by Melissa Richard Quartet; the Rascher Saxophone Quartet and the New Jersey CMA News: Susan Muscarella by Pat Mazzera; Maury Okun by Percussion Ensemble—have committed their performances to William Pugliano; Julie Himmelstrup by Bill Kelley photography commercially released recordings. ([email protected]) And thanks to the tireless efforts of Howard Stokar, who has produced most of these recordings and annotated many as well, American Ensemble: Portland String Quartet: recent portrait by all are readily available despite the vagaries of the recording Scott Davis; Gwen Laster by Damon Banks industry. And they keep coming out—a new disc (the 23rd American Composer: Alvin Singleton by Shelley Kusnetz all-Wuorinen CD thus far, not counting re-packagings) and The Brothers Simon: Family photos courtesy of Hadsy, Marlon, featuring Da Camera of Houston (see “Bringing Together and Edward Simon. Portrait of Edward Simon by Andrew Lepley Poetry and Music,” pages 31-32) has just been issued on Naxos. Meanwhile, Wuorinen continues to write for his adherents, who The Exceptional Music of Charles Wuorinen: CW seated keep the music in front of the public in live performance. Peter at home, by Nina Roberts; with Harvey Sollberger by Scott J. Sherman; Serkin and the Brentano Quartet, who recently premiered conducting in Germany by Klaus Rudolph; seated at desk by Wuorinen’s 24-minute Second at the Rockport Howard Stokar. Chamber Music Festival, will tour with it to ten cities across the After the Injury: All images from Shutterstock: Piano keys, during the 2008-09 concert season. J. Helgason; hand, Troy Kellogg; violin embrace, silver-john.

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