This Week in Classical Music: June 8, 2020.Charles Wuorinen. Robert Schumann’s 210th anniversary is today: he was born on June 8th of 1810 in Zwickau, Germany.He is without a doubt one of the greatest composers of all time, and we’ve written about him many times.Many musicologists and regular listeners believe that Schumann’s best work was composed early in his life, and he was suffering greatly by the end of it (he died at just 46 years old in a mental institution).Despite all the depressions and hallucinations, Schumann continued to compose till almost the very end of his life.His last piano composition, called Geistervariationen (Ghost Variations) was written in 1854.At that time Schumann thought that he was surrounded by spirits who played him music, “both "wonderful" and "hideous".” Soon after he was admitted to the mental hospital in Endenich, a suburb of Bonn.He died there two years later.Here is a wonderful young pianist Igor Levit playing Geistervariationen.
Erwin Schulhoff was also bon on this day, in 1894.We’ve never had a chance to write about him; he was one of many European composers who perished during the Holocaust.Schulhoff was born in Prague into a German-Jewish family.Politically, a highly complicated figure but a very talented composer, he died in a German concentration camp in 1942.Here’s his Quartet no. 1, performed by the Kocian Quartet.We owe Schulhoff a separate entry; it will be coming soon.
Today is a special day, as yet another composer, an Italian from the Baroque era, Tomaso Albinoni was also born on this day in 1671.He was famous in his day as a composer of many operas.Now, unfortunately, he’s mostly known for the Adagio in G minor, which he actually didn’t write: it was composed by his biographer, Remo Giazotto, probably based on excerpts from Albinoni’s works.
The composer we’d like to commemorate today is Charles Wuorinen, who died less than three months ago, on March 11th of 2020 at the age of 81.Wuorinen (pronounce WOrinen) was born on June 9th of 1938 in Manhattan; his father was a prominent Finnish-American historian.Charles wrote his first compositions at the age of five.In 1962 Wuorinen formed an ensemble, The Group for Contemporary Music, which performed the music of modernist American composers of the day such as Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter and Stefan Wolpe, as well as the music of Wuorinen himself.In 1970s he taught at the Manhattan School of Music.As many composers of his age, he experimented with electronic music, at some point in the 1970s even getting a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to conduct sonic experiments at AT&T’s Bell Labs.In 2000s James Levine became a champion of Wuorinen’s music and commissioned a piano concerto (his fourth).Overall, Wuorinen composed about 270 pieces, including an opera, Brokeback Mountain (2015).Wuorinen had many supporter (the pianist Peter Serkin for one) and almost as many detractors, the renowned musicologist Richard Taruskin being one of them.Here’s Wuorinen’s very interesting Piano Concerto no. 3, performed by one his champions, the pianist Garrick Ohlsson and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra conducted by Herbert Blomsted.
Charles Wuorinene, 2020
This Week in Classical Music: June 8, 2020. Charles Wuorinen. Robert Schumann’s 210th anniversary is today: he was born on June 8th of 1810 in Zwickau, Germany. He is without a
doubt one of the greatest composers of all time, and we’ve written about him many times. Many musicologists and regular listeners believe that Schumann’s best work was composed early in his life, and he was suffering greatly by the end of it (he died at just 46 years old in a mental institution). Despite all the depressions and hallucinations, Schumann continued to compose till almost the very end of his life. His last piano composition, called Geistervariationen (Ghost Variations) was written in 1854. At that time Schumann thought that he was surrounded by spirits who played him music, “both "wonderful" and "hideous".” Soon after he was admitted to the mental hospital in Endenich, a suburb of Bonn. He died there two years later. Here is a wonderful young pianist Igor Levit playing Geistervariationen.
Erwin Schulhoff was also bon on this day, in 1894. We’ve never had a chance to write about him; he was one of many European composers who perished during the Holocaust. Schulhoff was born in Prague into a German-Jewish family. Politically, a highly complicated figure but a very talented composer, he died in a German concentration camp in 1942. Here’s his Quartet no. 1, performed by the Kocian Quartet. We owe Schulhoff a separate entry; it will be coming soon.
Today is a special day, as yet another composer, an Italian from the Baroque era, Tomaso Albinoni was also born on this day in 1671. He was famous in his day as a composer of many operas. Now, unfortunately, he’s mostly known for the Adagio in G minor, which he actually didn’t write: it was composed by his biographer, Remo Giazotto, probably based on excerpts from Albinoni’s works.
The composer we’d like to commemorate today is Charles Wuorinen, who died less than three
months ago, on March 11th of 2020 at the age of 81. Wuorinen (pronounce WOrinen) was born on June 9th of 1938 in Manhattan; his father was a prominent Finnish-American historian. Charles wrote his first compositions at the age of five. In 1962 Wuorinen formed an ensemble, The Group for Contemporary Music, which performed the music of modernist American composers of the day such as Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter and Stefan Wolpe, as well as the music of Wuorinen himself. In 1970s he taught at the Manhattan School of Music. As many composers of his age, he experimented with electronic music, at some point in the 1970s even getting a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to conduct sonic experiments at AT&T’s Bell Labs. In 2000s James Levine became a champion of Wuorinen’s music and commissioned a piano concerto (his fourth). Overall, Wuorinen composed about 270 pieces, including an opera, Brokeback Mountain (2015). Wuorinen had many supporter (the pianist Peter Serkin for one) and almost as many detractors, the renowned musicologist Richard Taruskin being one of them. Here’s Wuorinen’s very interesting Piano Concerto no. 3, performed by one his champions, the pianist Garrick Ohlsson and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra conducted by Herbert Blomsted.