This collection of mostly vocal works by Charles Wuorinen is notable in several respects and has gained appropriate publicity. It is a product of the growing contemporary music scene in Houston, TX, which has apparently begun to find ways to build on the substantial presence of modern art in that city for which rising oil prices are good news. And, more importantly, it gives general listeners a chance to start coming to grips with the atonal and often difficult music of New Yorker Charles Wuorinen, a Pulitzer Prize winner ...
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This collection of mostly vocal works by Charles Wuorinen is notable in several respects and has gained appropriate publicity. It is a product of the growing contemporary music scene in Houston, TX, which has apparently begun to find ways to build on the substantial presence of modern art in that city for which rising oil prices are good news. And, more importantly, it gives general listeners a chance to start coming to grips with the atonal and often difficult music of New Yorker Charles Wuorinen, a Pulitzer Prize winner of the sort who has never commanded public affection or even attention. The key here is the opening Ashberyana, a set of four songs commissioned by Da Camera of Houston. The densely wordy poetry of John Ashbery, Romantic in its lushness despite its complexity, proves to be the perfect foil for Wuorinen's abstract but sensuous style. As director Sarah Rothenberg in her excellent booklet puts it, "The focus of Wuorinen's investigations in music is music itself. Herein lies a deep...
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