Charles Wuorinen (photo: Nina Roberts)

Throughout his career, Wuorinen has been a composer in the modernist tradition, most often associated with the 12-tone method of composition. Describing himself as a "maximalist", he employs a plethora of musical material to create rigorous yet richly detailed works. His book Simple Composition demonstrates the great number of ways in which the 12-tone method can be applied not just to pitch, but to other musical domains such as rhythm, dynamics and even large-scale formal design. As such, his compositional idiom represents an extension of the 12-tone principles formulated by Schoenberg and later developed by Babbitt and Stravinsky. Rather than carrying on a decades-old manner of composing, Wuorinen has contributed his own singular approach to writing post-tonal music, one that emphasizes organic self-similarity -- relating the largest aspects of a musical composition to its smallest gestures.

During the course of his career, Wuorinen has pursued a variety of activities. In addition to composing, he is active as a pianist and as a conductor. While frequently called upon to lead performances of his own music, he has also been a dedicated advocated of the music of other composers -- Stefan Wolpe and Milton Babbitt among them (notably, he conducted the recording of Milton Babbitt's First Piano Concerto). During the sixties, he was one of the founding members of the Group for Contemporary Music, an ensemble that was to be the model for countless other new music groups formed in and around academe up to the present day. Wuorinen is a much sought after teacher of composition; he is Professor of Music at Rutgers University and has also taught at Columbia, Princeton, Yale, SUNY Buffalo and the Manhattan School of Music.

Among the many honors that Wuorinen has received are the MacArthur Foundation Award and the Pulitzer Prize in Music. The latter was awarded to the composer in 1970 for an electronic work, Times Encomium; he still holds the distinction of being the youngest composer to win the Pulitzer. He has written over two hundred compositions for a wide assortment of forces. His works include seven symphonies, concerti, operas, choral music, songs, works for band, percussion ensemble, electronics and various chamber ensembles.

While there are a number of performances of Wuorinen's music planned in the upcoming concert season, some are notable highlights. Wuorinen's Fourth Piano Concerto will be premiered at Symphony Hall in Boston on March 24-26, 2005 by soloist Peter Serkin and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by its new music director James Levine; it will also be performed on March 28, 2005 at New York City's Carnegie Hall. Levine has said that an important aspect of his tenure at the BSO will involve championing the works of living American composers. The Fourth Concerto is one of several works commissioned by the BSO for Levine's first full season as music director. The orchestra's programming is already considerably more interesting and ambitious than it has been at any time in recent memory. Levine will be involved with two other performances of Wuorinen's work at Carnegie Hall this coming year. On December 19, 2004, he will lead the Metropolitan Opera Chamber Players in New York Notes, while on January 30, 2005, he will conduct the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in a performance of Grand Bamboula.

Houston ensemble Da Camera has commissioned Ashberyana, vocal settings of the poetry of John Ashbery. The work will be premiered on April 5, 2005 in Houston by baritone Leon William, the Brentano String Quartet, trombonist James Pugh and pianist (and Da Camera director) Sarah Rothenberg. Ashberyana will receive subsequent performances April 17-18, 2005 at the Guggenheim in New York City as part of the Works and Process series.

Perhaps the most eagerly awaited Wuorinen event is the premiere of Haroun and the Sea of Stories, his latest opera. Based on a Salman Rushdie novel, adapted into a libretto by poet James Fenton, the work will be performed at the New York City Opera on October 31 and November 3, 6, 9 and 11, 2004. Rushdie wrote the story while he was under a fatwa, or death warrant, due to controversy over his 1989 novel The Satanic Verses. While it is ostensibly a children's story, Haroun is also a subtle parable that addresses the importance of free speech and sharply critiques political repression.

For those who can't wait to see the new staging, Albany Records has released The Haroun Songbook, the first recording in the label's Charles Wuorinen Series. Soprano Elizabeth Farnum, mezzo-soprano Emily Golden, tenor James Schaffner and bass-baritone Michael Chioldi join pianist Philip Bush (who is charged with performing a most virtuosic and demanding piano part) in a song cycle that provides a taste of the musical riches contained in the opera. Fenton's libretto is filled with wit and word games. Correspondingly, Wuorinen's setting is sensitive and lithe, enabling the words to be understood with crystal clarity while often employing fleet and florid vocal lines.

There are a number of attractive solos; I am particularly fond of Rashid the Storyteller's "Oh I am the Ocean of Notions" and Haroun's "I wish, What will I wish". In addition, the Songbook contains many passages of ensemble singing of considerable beauty. While there will be much more music in the opera proper, if the Albany recording is any indication, Haroun and the Sea of Stories will be that rare stage work that is as memorable for its arias as it is for its choruses.

One of the most dedicated interpreters of Wuorinen's music is cellist Fred Sherry. Collaborators for more than three decades, the two have often performed together in the Group for Contemporary Music and other settings. Sherry is a cellist of tremendous ability, a wonderful performer of both standard literature and the most densely complicated new scores, a superlative soloist as well as a sensitive chamber musician. Wuorinen has written a number of works for Sherry: concerti, solo pieces and several works for chamber ensembles.

Fast Fantasy is the second volume of Albany Records' Charles Wuorinen Series; it collects several solos and duos written by Wuorinen for Sherry spanning the years 1970-2001. This wide-ranging collection not only chronicles an enduring and fertile musical relationship, but also serves as a portrait of the ongoing development of Wuorinen's compositional language over thirty-some years. The three sets of Variations for solo cello are virtual compendia of virtuosity, but their formidable challenges are never exhibited for the sake of flashiness, Rather, they are employed to create multifaceted and contrapuntal dialogues simultaneously strenuous and supple. Sherry is able to elicit countless colors and myriad gestural characters, changing techniques and playing styles with impressive speed and facility. Wuorinen exploits this to its fullest potential in the Variations.

The title composition is a piano-cello duo, written in 1977, recorded by Sherry and Wuorinen. The almost constant dovetailing of piano and cello lines creates a seamlessness and an almost relentless quality. Rhythmically speaking, Wuorinen's music is anything but "four-square"; it is filled with syncopations, frequent changes of meter and simultaneous strands of music in different meters. While the phrasing often defies simple divisions and accentuation, there is a sense of rhythmic drive that distinguishes his music -- energetic and highly gestural in character. Fast Fantasy is a propulsive and vivacious piece that covers considerable ground, often at an excitingly breakneck pace, over the course of its sixteen minute duration.

Grand Union (1973), for cello and drums, is similarly interesting. Here, Sherry is joined by percussionist Tom Kolor. Andante Espressivo (2001), performed by Sherry and Wuorinen, is more contemplative in its demeanor. Gentle lyricism coexists with passages of pensive outbursts in an uneasy but affecting juxtaposition. An Orbicle of Jasp is an evocative title for an evocative work: misterioso passages are set against a sumptuous and varied harmonic palette.

Several more recordings are slated for release in the near future. At the end of this month, Albany releases the third volume of the Charles Wuorinen Series, Genesis, a remastered CD of choral and vocal music. Later in the fall the series will get a fourth volume, The Golden Dance, an orchestral recording featuring concerti. Col Legno Records and Tzadik Records will also release Wuorinen CDs in the fall. The Tzadik disc features the Third Piano Concerto and two premiere recordings: Natural Fantasy for organ and the chamber piece On Alligators. All things considered, there has never been a better time to get to know the work of this important composer.

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-- Christian Carey