# Lesser known Wuorinen works?



## Opisthokont (Dec 16, 2021)

I really love Wuorinen, he's one of my favorite composers, up there next to Babbitt and Bach! Everything I've listened to from him has been incredible and fascinating - but I've actually listened to a lot less of his work than I want to. Of course like all composers he has a few very popular pieces like Time's Encomium or Microsymphony. However, he's composed so much and the more I look into him the more surprised I get by his incredible diversity of work!

I'd be curious to see - what are some lesser known wuorinen works that you would recommend people listen to?
I can start:

Natural Fantasy - A piece based on the work of Mandelbrot - absolutely enthralling, and sounds like nothing I've ever listened to. It's an insanely energetic work brought ever along forward by a fractal engine.

Percussion Symphony - An incredible work, it reminds me quite a lot of time's encomium with the way it plays with rhythm, but it has a substantially different feel from the color and various other elements of orchestration.

Two Machine Portraits - I usually find Wuorinen's use of voice one of the weaker aspects of his music, but this piece is an exception. It's an incredible tone poem that sounds unlike any other tone poem I've ever heard.

What are some other great works from wuorinen that we may not have listened to before?


----------



## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

I really like his "The Golden Dance". It actually inspired me to compose a work based on the same biblical story of King David's Ark Arrival dancing.


----------



## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Lesser known? I thought everything he wrote was lesser known. As a teenager I found Times Enconium interesting, if musically empty. Nowadays, his 8th symphony is fascinating if not exactly toe tapping.


----------



## allaroundmusicenthusiast (Jun 3, 2020)

Haroun and the Sea of Stories is a very nice opera. I'm not an expert on Wuorinen (tho I really like most of what I've listened to of his), but usually operas constitute the "lesser" known works for all composers after, probably, Berg.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Naxos recorded Tashi, which is a relatively inexpensive introduction to his works.


----------



## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Umm ... they're all lesser known. 

I like his piano quintets, really any work for piano - and the trio for bass instruments, just to name a few.


----------



## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

He is one of my favorite composers. But even among fans of modernism, it seems he is not well known.

One of his most famous, Time's Enconium, is probably my least favorite. But then, I am not a fan of electronics in classical music.

I don't know how well known, or lesser known the following are, but they are among my favorite:

All his Piano Concertos
Microsymphony
All his symphonies
Hyperion
I also like all of his works that feature percussion


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I have this piece on a CD.


----------



## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

> What are some other great works from wuorinen that we may not have listened to before?
> Quick reply to this messageReply


I never knew this composer till I saw you thread , going to explore it, thanks.


----------



## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

Genesis and Mass for Restoration of St Luke in the Fields are two great choral works that take off from late Stravinsky


----------

