Among the most remarkable milestones of Perle’s compositional journey are a dozen works for solo instruments, “tone-centered” compositions – to adopt Richard Swift’s terminology – that occupy a middle ground between essays in orthodox twelve-tone practice and his own 12-tone modal system. It was easier, Perle recalled, “to approach this problem of harmony if you’re writing for an instrument which naturally plays only one note at a time.” Moreover, working with such radically reduced means honed his ability to use motive, contour, rhythm, and register to articulate form through a single line. The first of these was composed in 1942, with another eleven written across a distinguished career. This two-album set includes many of the solo works in their first recordings, as well as duo works from throughout the great American composer's career. Noted soloists on this release include pianists Leon Fleisher, Richard Goode, and Horacio Gutiérrez, clarinetist Charles Neidich, and cellist Jay Campbell.
