An active presence-as teacher, pianist, conductor, composer, and advocate--on the New York New Music scene, Charles Wuorinen has had, dating back to the 60s and 70s, a fair amount of his music recorded. Many of these recordings are being reissued on the Music & Arts (see Fanfare 20:4) and CRI labels, with this most recent release covering pieces that date from 1964 (the Chamber Concerto for Flute) to 1977-78 (the Two Part Symphony). Each of the works has its own personality, but they share certain characteristics--a quickness of movement, brief interactive gestures, and an extended sense of tonality among them. In addition, despite its sometimes dazzling complexity, the music is always built upon a firm, principled foundation, which provides (sometimes audible, sometimes intuitive) coherencies that give the music a feeling of completeness.

 In the Two Part Symphony (which Wuorinen, perhaps partly tongue-in-cheek. suggests he'd liked to have called Symphony in C) one can hear traces of one of his acknowledged mentors, Stravinsky, in the rhythmic lilt and agile cross-cutting edits (montage style) that energize and intensify the musical flow and texture. Originating from a twelve-tone chord, the music is not dissonant (since that requires a different harmonic premise), but fluidly melodic on broad, chromatic planes, and in fact wittily slips in and out of "conventional" tonal connections. I find this a colorful, flavorful, and easily likable work. I believe it's true to say that the progress of the Chamber Concerto for Tuba (1970) is somewhat tougher going, however. The wind accompaniment (four flutes. four horns, two each of oboes and bassoons) is developed from the tuba's material, and the main area of interest lies in the resulting timbral combinations-flute and tuba, or bassoon and oboe and horns, for example-that alternately blend or bite. With the percussion (all played by a single instrumentalist) adding punctuation, the music tends to thrust forward with a more serious demeanor.

Surprisingly, for the way in which Wuorinen often likes to test his instrumentalists' mettle, the Piano Concerto (1966) is not an ordinary vehicle for technical virtuosity, but rather integrates the piano into the fabric of the orchestra, which itself is scored with a chamber music intimacy. Written in a single movement, Wuorinen compresses many of his usual structural devices into what he calls a 'multi-layered continuity," so that there is a push/pull of tension created in the poised, calming passages that emerge between flurries of activity-a very dramatic interplay that for me brings to mind a sort of abstract Greek tragedy (if you can imagine such a thing). In many ways, the Chamber Concerto for Flute has an even more abstract feel despite its concentrated construction, with an increasingly involved flute sparring with a brittle ensemble of guitar, harp, acoustic bass, celeste, piano, harpsichord, and four percussionists, causing motives to shatter and disappear.

Not new, these recordings occasionally show their age—brighter, more focused sonics would help clarify many of the dense contrapuntal lines. But in lieu of new performances, this remains a recommended way to experience such vibrant, challenging music. Art Lange, FANFARE July/August 1997. Volume 2O, Number 6

CHARLES WUORINEN (CRI American Masters Series)

Two Part Symphony (1977-78), Chamber Concerto for Tuba with 12 Winds and 12 Drums (1970),
Piano Concerto (1966), Chamber Concerto for Flute and 10 Players (1964)

CRI CD 744

Remastered recordings originally issued on LP.

Two-Part Symphony (live recording) 23:30
Chamber Concerto for Tuba, 19:00
Piano Concerto, 19:47
Chamber Concerto for Flute, 14:48

Total Disc time 77:27

Performers:
American Composers Orchestra/Dennis Russell Davies
The Group for Contemporary Music/Wuorinen conducting (David Braynard tuba and Harvey Sollberger, flute)

Remastered by Howard Stokar and Robert Wolff, engineer at Sony Music Studios, NYC (November 1996)

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