Charles
Wuorinen continues the tradition of twelve-tone and other
modernist composing techniques. Yet the cover photo for
this release presents an approachable, Santa-like figure
cradling a cat in his arms. Yes, it’s true that the works
on this disc are comparatively user-friendly among the
artistic progeny of Schoenberg. However, if you look closely,
the composer appears to have a smirk. He’s going to make
us work for our musical experience, and relishes the thought
of our struggle. Look closer. Lepton, the composer’s cat,
just may be smirking too.
Tashi forms the bulk of this
recording. It takes its name from the contemporary music
ensemble for which it (and
Fortune) was written,
and whose cellist Fred Sherry is part of the Group for
Contemporary Music line-up. The structure of the piece
is three “movements,” with the center movement being separated
from the outer ones by two “interludes.” Throughout the
work, the composer’s skill in expressing rhythmic immediacy,
as well as the passionate intensity with which the composer
seems to have something vitally interesting and important
to say, even if it’s unclear just what that is, keep the
listener’s ear attentive. I must note Wuorinen’s skill
in writing for clarinet so as to integrate it into the
overall sound-world of the piece, which other composers
don’t always find easy to accomplish.
The
notes say that Wuorinen “seems especially in his element
when writing for percussion instruments,” and the
Percussion
Quartet bears this out. Here we see the composer’s
affinity to the sound-world of percussion groupings found
in traditional Asian music, as well as the American minimalists
who found inspiration from them. In narrative development
of the music, in the timbral distinctness of each of the
instruments, and in their integration into a musical whole,
Wuorinen seems to have written a chamber symphony for percussion
orchestra, which the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble clearly
love playing.
Fortune draws on the same timbres
as
Tashi, but begins in a slow, pensive, attempt
to keep the lid on a sonic pot that threatens to bubble
over. Energy accumulates into stuttering forward motion
towards the end of the first section “Before”. “After” seems
to be working its way toward a cry that is never fully
expressed. The work was commissioned for the Bonn Beethovenfest
of 1980. The notes attempts to draw parallels between bits
of various works by Beethoven and effects in
Fortune,
but it’s too far of a stretch for me to see the connection.
Considering
that the Group for Contemporary Music was founded by Wuorinen,
it is fitting that they are performing two of the three
works here. Hayes Biggs’s notes for this release provide
helpful overviews of the works, but don’t do quite enough
to situate the newcomer to the broader story of Wuorinen’s
life and work.
Naxos
appears to be devoting considerable attention to Wuorinen’s
music, having already released two other volumes of his
chamber music (8.559264 and 8.559288 - see
review).
I look forward to getting them, even as I admit they are
not likely
to
constitute
everyday listening for me.
Brian Burtt
see also review by Glyn Pursglove
The Group
for Contemporary Music (Tashi, Fortune) 
