Christian Wolff.
Recently, a lot of French-American composer Christian Wolff’s works have been released on CD. Wolff, alongside John Cage, Morton Feldman and Earle Brown, is part of the New York School. Composers who loosened the reins and preached a new creative freedom. Musical experimenting, silence, coincidences and a playful approach to tradition, anything was possible. 87 year old Christian Wolff is the only surviving member of the group. He often incorporates political statements in his music. At other times, his music is much more abstract and he seeks out silence, or plays around with classical tradition. On this Theme episode we focus on lucid, inventive music by Christian Wolff, by means of recent and older orchestra works and string quartets.
Playlist:
Christian Wolff
1. ‘Solo 1 from Merce’ (1993), for percussion, op Christian Wolff: Percussionist Songs. Robyn Schulkowsky (percussion) Matchless Recordings MRCD59 CD
2. ‘Vergnügungen’ (2000), for percussion and voice, op Christian Wolff: Percussionist Songs. Robyn Schulkowsky (percussion, voice) Matchless Recordings MRCD59 CD
3. ‘Peace March’ (1988-1998), for percussion and melodica, op Christian Wolff: Percussionist Songs. Robyn Schulkowsky (percussion) + Christian Wolff (melodica) Matchless Recordings MRCD59 CD
4. ‘John, David’ (1998) for orchestra and solo percussion, op Christian Wolff: 2 Orchestra Pieces. SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg conducter by Lothar Zagrosek + Robyn Schulkowsky (percussion). New World Records 80796-2 CD
5-13. ‘Out of Kilter (String Quartet 5)’ (2019), for string quartet, op Christian Wolff: 3 String Quartets. Quatuor Bozzini. New World Records 80830-2 CD
14. ‘Rhapsody’ (2009) for three orchestras, op Christian Wolff: 2 Orchestra Pieces. Ostravska Banda conducted by Petr Kotik, Roland Kluttig en Peter Rundel. New World Records 80796-2 CD
15. ‘For 2 violinists, violist, and cellist’ (2008), for string quartet, op Christian Wolff: 3 String Quartets. Quatuor Bozzini. New World Records 80830-2 CD
