Randall Woolf - Collaborators

Where The Wild Things Are

In 1997, along with renowned illustrator and author Maurice Sendak and choreographer Septime Webre, he created a new ballet of the Sendak's children's classic Where The Wild Things Are. Recently released on CD by cri/emergency music, the ballet has been performed over 70 times on a nationwide tour, and taken up by the Washington, New Orleans and Georgia ballet companies. it will be performed this February by the Louisville Ballet.

The music received its first concert performance this summer by the Northern Kentucky Symphony, led by conductor J. R. Cassidy. It is score for a unique combination of acoustic and electric instruments: flute doubling picc., clarinet doubling bass clarinet, trumpet, trombone, drumset, marimba, electric guitar, 5-string electric vln, (acoustic) vln, Kurzweil PC88, sampler, contrabass/electric bass.

A review from the AMG website:

This is the music composed by Randall Woolf for a production by the American Repertory Ballet based on Maurice Sendak's classic children's book "Where the Wild Things Are". So technically speaking, this is theater music for a children's play. But it's so much more. Randall Woolf, one of the most promising young composers of the late '90s, wrote music that stands on its own and owes very little to the language of standard children music. The heavy guitar (electric), complex forms, sometimes very atonal modes and inventive arrangements turn Where the Wild Things Are into a delightful contemporary composition. The child universe is present through a highly imaginative world of sounds, the occasional use of danceable beats, simple melodies and heavily-treated voices appearing here and there. Although very serious writing can be seen throughout this suite, there is a refreshing lighthearted quality to it that will keep the children's attention while entertaining adults. Thanks to a perfect meeting between classical, rock and avant-garde music, this album is full of surprises. — Francois Couture