Boone, Charles

Boone, Charles, American composer and writer on music; b. Cleveland, June 21, 1939. He studied with Schiske at the Vienna Academy of Music (1960–61), took private lessons with Krenek and Weiss in Los Angeles (1961–62), and attended the Univ. of Southern Calif. in Los Angeles (B.M., 1963) and San Francisco State Coll. (M.A., 1968). He served as chairman of the San Francisco Composers’ Forum and coordinator of the Mills Coll. Performing Group and Tape Music Center. From 1975 to 1977 he was composer-in- residence in Berlin under the sponsorship of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst. In addition to composing, Boone has been active as a writer on contemporary music. His music creates a sonic environment on purely structural principles, employing serial matrices, coloristic contrasts, and spatial parameters of performing instruments, with resulting styles ranging from lyrical point-illism to static sonorism. Electronic resources make up part of his musical equipment.

Works

3 Motets for Chorus (1962–65); Oblique Formation for Flute and Piano (1965); Starfish for Flute, Clarinet, 2 Percussion, 2 Violins, and Piano (1966); A Cool Glow of Radiation for Flute and Tape (1966); The Edge of the Land for Orch. (1968); Not Now for Clarinet (1969); Zephyrus for Oboe and Piano (1970); Vermilion for Oboe (1970); Quartet for Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano (1970); Chinese Texts for Soprano and Orch. (1971); First Landscape for Orch. (1971); Vocalise for Soprano (1972); Second Landscape for Chamber Orch. (1973; also for Orch., 1979); Raspberries for 3 Percussion (1974); Linea Meridiana for 10 Instruments (1975); San Zeno/Verona for Chamber Ensemble (1976); Fields/Singing for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble (1976); Shunt for 3 Percussion (1978); String Piece for String Orch. (1978); Streaming for Flute (1979); Little Flute Pieces (1979); Springtime for Oboe (1980); Winter’s End for Soprano, Countertenor, Viola da Gamba, and Harpsichord (1980); Slant for Percussion (1980); The Watts Tower for Percussion (1981); Trace for Flute and 10 Instruments (1981–83); Weft for 6 Percussion (1982); Drum Bug for Mechanical Woodblocks (1983); The Khaju Bridge for Soprano, Trumpet, Double Bass, Electric Organ, Percussion, and Tape (1984); Drift for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Double Bass (1984); Solar One for Flute and Trumpet (1985); The Timberline, and Other Pieces for Carillon (1987–89); Silence and Light for String Quartet (1989–90); Morphosis for Percussion Quartet (1989–90).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire