Charles Wuorinen

Charles Wuorinen (born June 9, 1938 in New York City) is an American composer. Co-founder of the Group for Contemporary Music, Wuorinen writes serial instrumental music. Some of his pieces are influenced by fractal geometry and Benoit Mandelbrot, while his later works feature some tonal relationships.

In 1970, Wuorinen was the youngest composer ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music for Time's Encomium. He is also the author of Simple Composition, ISBN 0938856065, which he says is, "written by a composer and is addressed to other composers - intending or actual, amateur or professional. Thus it is similar in intent to certain older books on the subject like Thomas Morley's "A Plain and Easie Introduction to Practical Musicke" (1597), for instance...It outlines present practice, and while it can be used for purely didactic purposes, it can also be employed in composing "real" music."

According to The New York Times, "Charles Wuorinen has taken the decrees of 12-tone music and made them sing."

Recordings of his pieces include the album Lepton.

Works

• Duo Sonata for Flute and Piano- 2004
• Visible - text by Paul Auster - 2004
• Ashberyana - text by John Ashbery - 2004
• The Long Boat - text by Stanley Kunitz - 2003
• Dodecadactyl- 2003
• The Haroun Piano Book - 2003
• Fourth Piano Concerto - 2003
• The Haroun Songbook - 2002
• Hexadactyl - 2002
• Josquiniana - 2002
• Fifty Fifty - 2002
• Pentecost: text by Derek Walcott - 2002
• Fenton Songs II - text by James Fenton
• September 11, 2001 - text by W. H. Auden. 2001
• Two Machine Portraits - text by Les Murray
• Haroun and the Sea of Stories - libretto by James Fenton, based on novel by Salman Rushdie - 2001)
• Andante Espressivo - 2001
• Alap, a Prelude to Contrapunctus IX of the Art of Fugue - 2001
• Stanzas Before Time text by John Ashbery - 2001
• Buttons and Bows (or, Superparticular Variations) - 2001
• Haroun and the Sea of Stories - an Opera in Two Acts based on the novel of Salman Rushdie with libretto by James Fenton- 2001
• Cyclops (2000) - 2001
• Fourth String Quartet - 2000
• Brass Quintet - 1999
• An Orbicle of Jasp - 1999
• Lepton - 1999
• Symphony Seven - 1997
• Cello Variations III - 1997
• Big Epithalamium - 1997
• Epithalamium - 1997
• Fenton Songs (Version 1) - 1997
• Fenton Songs (Version 2) - 1997
• Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31 of Arnold Schoenberg: recast for two pianos by Charles Wuorinen - 1996
• The River of Light - the third part of the Dante trilogy - 1996
• Katz Fugue - 1996
• The Great Procession - the second part of the Dante trilogy - 1995
• Sonata for Guitar and Piano -1995
• Lightenings VIII - text by Seamus Heaney - 1994
• Piano Quintet - 1994
• Christes Crosse (after Thomas Morley) - 1994
• Percussion Quartet - 1994
• Guitar Variations - 1994
• Windfall - 1994
• The Mission of Virgil - the first part of the Dante trilogy - 1993
• Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra - 1993
• Missa Renovata - 1992
• Saxophone Quartet - 1992
• Microsymphony - 1992
• A Winter's Tale - text by Dylan Thomas - 1991
• Delight of the Muses - 1991
• Missa Brevis - 1991
• Astra - 1990
• Twang - text of Wallace Stevens - 1989
• String Sextet - 1989
• A solis ortu - 1989
• Genesis - 1989
• Agnus Dei (from the Mass for the Restoration of St. Luke in the Fields) - 1989
• Sonata for Violin and Piano - 1988
• Machault Mon Chou - 1988
• Josquin: Ave Christe (Josquin motet recast for solo piano) - 1988
• Bagatelle - 1988
• Another Happy Birthday - 1988
• Five: Concerto for Amplified Cello and Orchestra - 1987
• Third String Quartet - 1987
• Galliard - 1987
• Third Piano Sonata - 1986
• A Doleful Dompe on Deborah's Departure as well as Borda's Bawdy Badinage - 1986
• Fanfare (for Rutgers University) - 1986
• The Golden Dance - 1986
• Bamboula Beach - 1986
• Horn Trio Continued - 1985
• Double Solo for Horn Trio - 1985
• Natural Fantasy - 1985
• Trombone Trio - 1985
• Prelude to Kullervo - 1985
• Movers and Shakers - 1984
• Bamboula Squared - 1984
• Concertino (for 15 Solo Instruments) - 1984
• Crossfire - 1984
• Album Leaf (for Howard Klein) - 1984
• Concertino - 1984
• Third Piano Concerto - 1983
• Spinoff - 1983
• Piano Trio - 1983
• Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra - 1983
• Divertimento for String Quartet - 1982
• New York Notes - 1982
• Divertimento for Alto Saxophone and Piano - 1982
• Mass for the Restoration of St. Luke in the Fields - 1982
• Horn Trio - 1981
• Capriccio - 1981
• Short Suite - 1981
• Trio for Bass Instruments - 1981
• The Blue Bamboula - 1980
• The Celestial Sphere (An Oratorio for Mixed Chorus and Orchestra) - 1980
• Ecclesiastical Symphonies (4 Movements from "The Celestial Sphere") - 1980
• Beast 708 - 1980
• Percussion Duo - 1979
• Second String Quartet - 1979
• The Magic Art: An Instrumental Masque drawn from the works of Henry Purcell - 1979
• Fortune - 1979
• Psalm 39 - 1979
• Joan's Instrumentation - 1979
• Three Songs for Tenor and Piano - text by Coburn Britton- 1979
• Archeopteryx - 1978
• Two-Part Symphony - 1978
• Ancestors - 1978
• Fast Fantasy - 1977
• The Winds - 1977
• Self-Similar Waltz - 1977
• Six Pieces for Violin and Piano - 1977
• Archangel - 1977
• Wind Quintet - 1977
• Album Leaf for Ayda and Fred - 1977
• Six Songs For Two Voices - Text by Coburn Britton - 1977
• Percussion Symphony - 1976
• Second Piano Sonata - 1976
• Tashi - 1975/6
• Cello Variations II - 1975
• Hyperion - 1975
• A Reliquary for Igor Stravinsky - 1975
• The W. of Babylon, (or The Triumph of Love over Moral Depravity) - 1975
• Fantasia - 1974
• Second Piano Concerto (for Amplified Piano and Orchestra) - 1974
• Anthem for Epiphany - 1974
• Third Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano - 1973
• Twelve Short Pieces - 1973
• Grand Union - 1973
• Mannheim 87.87.87 - 1973
• Arabia Felix - 1973
• Bassoon Variations - 1972
• Concerto for Amplified Violin and Orchestra - 1972
• Speculum Speculi - 1972
• Violin Variations - 1972
• Harp Variations - 1972
• On Alligators - 1972
• First String Quartet -1971
• Grand Bamboula - 1971
• Canzona - 1971
• Tiento Sobre Cabezon - 1971
• Chamber Concerto for Tuba with 12 Winds and 12 Drums - 1970
• Message to Denmark Hill - text of Richard Howard - 1970
• Ringing Changes - 1970
• A Song to the Lute in Musicke - 1970
• Cello Variations - 1970
• Nature's Concord - 1969
• Time's Encomium - 1969
• Adapting to the Times - 1969
• First Piano Sonata - 1969
• The Long and the Short - 1969
• Contrafactum - 1969
• Flute Variations II - 1968
• String Trio - 1968
• The Politics of Harmony (A Masque) - 1967
• Duo - 1967
• Janissary Music - 1966
• The Bells - 1966
• Bicinium - 1966
• Making Ends Meet - 1966
• Harpsichord Divisions - 1966
• First Piano Concerto - 1966
• Salve Regina: John Bull - 1966
• Composition for Oboe and Piano - 1965
• Orchestral and Electronic Exchanges - 1965
• Chamber Concerto for Oboe and 10 Players - 1965
• Chamber Concerto for Flute and 10 Players - 1964
• Composition for Violin and 10 Instruments - 1964
• Super Salutem - 1964
• Chamber Concerto for Cello and 10 Players - 1963
• Piano Variations - 1963
• Flute Variations I - 1963
• Second Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano - 1962
• Bearbeitungen ueber das Glogauer Liederbuch - 1962
• Octet - 1962
• The Prayer of Jonah - 1962
• Duuiensela - 1962
• Invention for Percussion Quintet - 1962
• Symphonia Sacra - 1961
• Description: voices and instruments - 1961
• Evolutio: Organ - 1961
• Concert for Double Bass Alone - 1961
• Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano - 1961
• Evolutio Transcripta - 1961
• Madrigale Spirituale sopra salmo secondo - 1960
• Consort of Four Trombones - 1960
• Concertone for Brass Quintet & Orchestra - 1960
• The Door In The Wall - 1960
• On The Raft - 1960
• Eight Variations for Flute and Harpsichord - 1960
• Sonata for Flute and Piano - 1960
• Turetzky Pieces - 1960
• Symphony No. 3 - 1959
• Movement for Wind Quintet -1958
• Be Mery All That Be Present - 1957
• Music for Orchestra - 1956
• Sonatina for Woodwind Quartet - 1956
• Two Lute Songs of Thomas Campion - 1956
• Prelude and Fugue for Four Percussionists - 1955
• Fanfare (for the Houston Symphony)
• In Heated Sylvan Glades & With Elegiac Sackbuts
• Simple Composition (book)
• Three Cadenzas for the Mozart Concerto in C Major

External links

• Charles Wuorinen's Homepage (http://www.charleswuorinen.com/)
• Rutgers Fac-Bio: Wuorinen (http://musicweb.rutgers.edu/info/fac-bio/wuorinen.htm)
• Edition Peters: Charles Wuorinen (http://www.edition-peters.com/wuorinen/)da:Charles Wuorinen

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