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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 the electronic piece 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

External links

Listening

1938 births | Living people | 20th century classical composers | 21st century classical composers | Columbia University alumni | Living classical composers | MacArthur Fellows | Pulitzer Prize winners | Members of The American Academy of Arts and Letters | Finnish-Americans | Gay musicians

Charles Wuorinen | Charles Wuorinen

 

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