Perle’s music has been widely performed in this country and abroad. Major commissions have resulted in significant works, among them Serenade III (1983) for solo piano and chamber orchestra, choreographed by American Ballet Theater and nominated in a Nonesuch recording, for a Grammy Award (1986); Woodwind Quintet No.4 (Pulitzer Prize, 1986); Piano Concerto No.1 (1990), commissioned for Richard Goode during Perle’s residency with the San Francisco Symphony; Piano Concerto No.2 (1992), commissioned by Michael Boriskin; Transcendental Modulations for Orchestra, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for its 150th anniversary; and Thirteen Dickinson Songs (1978) commissioned by Bethany Beardslee. Recent works include Brief Encounters(fourteen movements for string quartet), Nine Bagatelles for piano, Critical Moments and Critical Moments 2 for six players, and Triptych for solo violin and piano. A particularly notable portion of Perle’s catalog consists of pieces for solo piano, many of which have been recorded by Michael Boriskin on New World Records.

Perle’s compositions have figured on the programs of Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, BBC, and other major orchestras in this country and abroad. Perle’s works are recorded on Nonesuch, Harmonia Mundi, New World, Albany, CRI and other labels. He has been a frequent Visiting Composer at the Tanglewood Music Festival and Composer-in-Residence with the San Francisco Symphony.

Though Perle is above all a composer, the breadth of his musical interests has led to significant contributions in theory and musicology as well. He has published numerous articles in scholarly journals and seven books, including the award-winning Operas of Alban Berg. He has been a guest professor at major universities and a much sought after lecturer and commentator on TV, here and abroad. He is Professor Emeritus at the City University of New York.

Reflections on George Perle

It's surely a sign that a composer has added something to our lives when merely the mention of his name will conjure up musical images in our mind's ear. It is only necessary to say Chopin, for example, in order to recall the rich legacy of his music in our aural memories. We even go so far as to form adjectives, such as Mozartian, or Schoenbergian, to describe musical features in meaningful ways.

For many people today the name George Perle has this magic. Just its mention rings with the sound of his music: it recalls artful phases, overlapping, colliding, dovetailing, dancing with wonderful elegance one moment, coming to a sudden halt the next, rich harmonies which seem to have an internal logic and consistency all their own, unlike that of any other music; clear, brilliant, and inventive orchestration which masterfully captures the colors and subtleties of instruments and allows them to sound free and natural; a high minded and deeply serious concern with making music all that it can be; a rich and humorous texture full of musical equivalents of puns, jokes, and riddles; and most of all a music which is clear, understandable, and inviting.

For those fortunate enough to know the composer personally, his name also conjures an image of tirelessness and passion for music; he sleeps little and is totally absorbed by his work— how else could he have written seven important books and numerous articles, dozens of extraordinary pieces, been a devoted and effective teacher for more than forty years, and become known as an important theorist of contemporary music as well as the world's leading Berg scholar.

Conversation with George invariably revolves about music—he always has an infectious enthusiasm about something musical. Whether he is enthralling you with the mysteries of Berg, his own compositional theories, or any of the musical discoveries he makes daily, you always feel enlightened and uplifted. For him music is simply the most wonderful thing there is, and after having talked with George you feel this way too.

Despite the depth and breadth of his activities, he is basically and deeply a composer, and his music is his finest and most eloquent accomplishment. The sound and surface of his music is marked by a relative simplicity which is actually the underpinning of a rich and complex language based on principles he has developed and which owe much to the thinking of Bartók, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and Berg. He has eschewed serialism, however, and his compositional approach is one which differs fundamentally from most post–Schoenbergian practice.

Moreover, Perle's music does not present itself in radical disjunction with tonal music and music of the past. In fact, his way of composing owes as much to tonality as it does to post–chromatic dodecaphonic thinking. Concepts of harmony, counterpoint, formal consequence, and coherence are as vivid and lively in Perle's music as they are in tonal music. His music is a special language, and while each piece sings uniquely and individually, his language is consistent, convincing, and all his own. The quality and character of his body of pieces is remarkable and unforgettable; there is nothing else remotely like it. It reveals no sense of arbitrary abstraction, formalism, or the whims of fashion. The notes are alive with a life, breath, and purpose which only a superbly gifted musician can create.

George Perle often talks enthusiastically about dance: Balanchine and Stravinsky hold a special place in his heart. It is therefore not surprising that one of the most palpable features of his music is its compelling and persuasive rhythmic profile. His music moves with the subtlety and sureness of good ballet—it has a real physical, rhythmic presence. Some might say it "swings," but I prefer to sky that George's music really dances!

—Paul Lansky, Princeton University

Further Reading

Library of Congress

Academy of Arts and Letters

Encyclopedia Brittanica

Schott Music

Wikipedia