Charles Wuorinen was described as a "maximalist", writing music that is luxuriant with events, lyrical and expressive, and strikingly dramatic. His works are characterized by powerful harmonies and elegant craftsmanship, offering at once a link to the music of the past and a vision of a rich musical future.

'Simple Composition', Wuorinen's classic text book, offers a glimpse inside the composer's studio and much practical advice to composer's searching for their own path.

"In writing this book, I intended it primarily as a guide for composers in search of practical advice and models of how one might work compositionally. But since my presentation made extensive use of the twelve-tone system in its simplest and most easily describable form, the book was taken as a primer in that system [...] Perhaps today the book may offer a slightly different contribution than it did originally: to offer a basic outline of a musical system and method that has proved immensely rich since its introduction by Schoenberg, as well as to provide a few practical tips." (Charles Wuorinen