Active as a composer for many decades,
Charles Wuorinen has never restricted his options to any single technique or style, but has instead changed his methods and expressions often, remarkably so for an artist principally associated with writing twelve-tone music. Adapting to the Times is
Wuorinen's fifth release on Albany, and this 2006 compilation of 10 short chamber works -- mostly for solo piano, but also for voice, violin, cello, organ, and percussion -- reflects his wide range, from the strictly serial to the flexibly tonal. On one level,
Wuorinen's works can seem like clever puzzles that will appeal mostly to intellectuals, yet even in his most rigorously systematic pieces,
Wuorinen is usually transparent in his procedures and careful to make the music intelligible to open-minded lay listeners. On another level, the music seems in most instances to be quite delicate and poetic in mood, so any concerns about it sounding mathematically dry or severe can be allayed. Important selections that should at least be sampled are the exotic Violin Variations (1972), the angular Janissary Music (1966), and the intensely rhapsodic Adapting to the Times (1969), which are comparatively lengthy works of modest difficulty; but the shorter pieces, such as Katz Fugue (1995), Album Leaf for Howard Klein (1984), and Album Leaf for Fred and Ida (1976), are immediately appealing and easy to like for their open emotions and comparative simplicity.
James Winn is the dominant performer on this collection, presenting all the solo piano pieces as well as accompanying soprano
Elizabeth Farnum in the challenging Christes Crosse (1994), though pianist
Marilyn Nonken plays with cellist
Fred Sherry in the final sonata-length track. Also giving memorable performances are
Benjamin Hudson as the soloist in the Violin Variations, percussionist
Steven Schick in Janissary Music, and organist
Kevin Bowyer in the rather cool and cerebral Evolutio (1961). Albany's sound is consistently balanced and well-focused throughout, and the album has none of the variability of recording that is sometimes found in such retrospectives.