Wuorinen's Whirlygig

[karlhenning]

Anyone have news of the Cowboy opera?

Only old news:

Wuorinen is at work on an opera based on Annie Proulx's short story BROKBACK MOUNTAIN.

Libretto written by Annie Proulx. Premiere in 2013. More details forthcoming.

[CD]

I have the Tzadik disc with Time's Encomium and New York Notes on the way to me, will be sure to post a review once I've listened.

[karlhenning]

Spinning off from discussion of Ross in The Carter Corner . . . here are the two appearances of Wuorinen's name in The Rest Is Noise . . . of course, one of the two, he's just an item in a list:

Carter and Babbitt set the pace for a small army of American atonal and twelve-tone composers: Ralph Shapey, Charles Wuorinen, George Perle, Arthur Berger, Harvey Sollberger, Andrew Imbrie, Leon Kirchner, and Donald Martino, among others. Their ranks were augmented by émigré followers of Schoenberg, notably Stefan Wolpe, transplanted from Berlin to New York, and Ernst Krenek, transplanted from Vienna to Los Angeles. At one time or another the above-named taught at such leading universities as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, the University of Chicago, and the University of California, Berkeley.

These composers thrived on campus because of the undeniable intellectual solidity of their project: behind the modernity of the language was a traditional emphasis on the arts of variation and counterpoint.  Commentators tended to lump them into the uninviting category "academic atonal" or "academic twelve-tone," although each had a strong personality: Shapey, with his way of arranging jagged sonorities in a ritualistic procession; Wuorinen, with his flair for instrumental drama and his tonal surprises; Berger and Perle, with their love of clean melodic lines and euphonious chords. The average listener could, however, be pardoned for confusing them. Eschewing the audience-friendly gestures of the Copland era, they seemed concerned above all with self-preservation, with building a safe nest in a hostile world. Their theoretical essays could be interpreted as so much barbed wire to keep untrustworthy strangers at bay.

In 1958, Babbitt enlivened the pages of High Fidelity magazine with an essay notoriously headlined "Who Cares If You Listen?" . . . .

[karlhenning]

I have the Tzadik disc with Time's Encomium and New York Notes on the way to me, will be sure to post a review once I've listened.

Must have arrived, yes? : )

[Josquin des Prez]

If he values his integrity as a composer, he should not got through with this abomination.

[Joe Barron]

In 1958, Babbitt enlivened the pages of High Fidelity magazine with an essay notoriously headlined "Who Cares If You Listen?" . . . .

What pisses me off about this is that everyone remembers the title, and no one bothers to discuss what Babbitt actually wrote. (And he disavowed the title, which was apparently the work of an editor.) I would expect a critic like Ross to dig a little deeper. And if people can be forgiven for confusing Babbitt and Carter, I would guess they could also be forgiven for confusing Haydn and Mozart.

[CD]

Must have arrived, yes? : )

Haha, oh yes, marvelous disc. I may give New York Notes another spin today.

[karlhenning]

[cross-post]

Perhaps ten years ago (could it have been that long?) I fetched in (via BRO) a Wuorinen disc with Five and Archeaopteryx.  I am not quite certain, now, of the circumstances, but I let that disc go.  May not have grabbed my ear at first; and where normally I should have let the disc sit, and try it again later . . . .

Anyway, I found a new cut-out copy on amazon. Sold, it seems, by Wuorinen's agent, Howard Stokar.  Just waiting for it to land, now.

[karlhenning]

Anyone have news of the Cowboy opera?

The inaugural production has been pushed out a year:

Wuorinen is at work on an opera based on Annie Proulx's short story BROKBACK MOUNTAIN.

Libretto written by Annie Proulx. Premiere in Spring 2014. More details forthcoming.

[karlhenning]

A Tanglewood première next summer.

[snyprrr]

If he values his integrity as a composer, he should not got through with this abomination.

It's a post-911 world.

[karlhenning]

As a result of posting a (partial) YouTube of Five on Philo's Only the New thread here, I realized the keen necessity of fetching in a recording of the whole work.  Listening to it today, I then went on to an earlier work composed for Fred Sherry, the Chamber Concerto for vc & ten players. On the way, I revisited the Grand Bamboula, which opens the disc with the Chamber Cto on it.

I really hadn't set out deliberately on an all-Wuorinen listening day, but it's all so deliciously cool . . . can't stop.

[karlhenning]

Too much fun . . . guess which Wuorinen piece to which these remarks refer:

The [ insert name of piece here ] is utterly serious in its development of sparse and dense textures, and seems theoretical and abstract; yet the [ insert name of performing ensemble here ]'s impassioned and sensitive playing lends an emotional dimension that softens the work's harder edges.

[Josquin des Prez]

What's your relation to Wuorinen Karl? He's one of the few modern composers i've actually been able to listen to in a consistent manner. He's a bit similar to Rihm, not necessarily in style, but in how his music is complex, without necessarily being inaccessible.

[karlhenning]

I studied with him when I was in Buffalo; he was a visiting professor (actually on the faculty of Rutgers at the time, I believe).  I've been in infrequent contact with him since.  Met him backstage at Symphony Hall on the occasion of the premières of the Fourth Piano Concerto and the Eighth Symphony.

[snyprrr]

What's your relation to Wuorinen Karl? He's one of the few modern composers i've actually been able to listen to in a consistent manner. He's a bit similar to Rihm, not necessarily in style, but in how his music is complex, without necessarily being inaccessible.

I agree. I've been collecting that Koch series, and it's addicting:

Trios
New York Notes, Sextet, A Winter's Tale
Piano Qnt, Percussion Qrt, etc,...

I suppose the "Five" cd is next,... and the violin/cello disc.

[bhodges]

I recall some people were interested in this new Wuorinen recording on Naxos, so here's my review:

http://www.juilliard.edu/journal/2010-2011/1105/articles/discoveries.php

--Bruce

[karlhenning]

Whatever happened to Wuorinen's opera "Brokeback Mountain"? The MET cancelled their production, then it sank out of sight.

Did they?  Charles's site announces a January 2014 première.

He's got a new piece on at Tanglewood this summer.  Busy fellow!

[snyprrr]

Did they?  Charles's site announces a January 2014 première.

He's got a new piece on at Tanglewood this summer.  Busy fellow!

C'mon apocalypse,... come on... come on,... just a little quicker...

[Amfortas]

Did they?  Charles's site announces a January 2014 première.

He's got a new piece on at Tanglewood this summer.  Busy fellow!

So it was postponed, not canceled. Thanks for the info.