Țăranu's main compositions focus on orchestral work; he wrote two operas, vocal music for soloists and choirs, and critically acclaimed film scores.

[6] Fifty years later, Țăranu noted that Toduță, as the son in law of the political prisoner Ioan Suciu, was especially fragile and cautious, for being easily blackmailed by the communist authorities.

Lacking a "balance between sincerity and diplomacy", he publicly spoke of his teacher as the Romanian Brahms, unaware that such praise of the classics would make Toduță even more exposed to persecution.

[6] His and Toduță's works of the period, like Labiș's poems, were also indebted to Socialist Realism, as "songs for the masses"—including a "programmatic and descriptive" piece that Țăranu wrote for Liberation Day 1959.

It was performed by the Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra just days before Blaga was officially blacklisted by communist censors as a "mystical" poet, with Țăranu himself being kept under close watch, for alleged political deviation, until 1959.

[11] In 2023, Alex Vasiliu, himself a music journalist, looked back on Țăranu's contribution as a critic under communism: "Even when ideological avatars have more or less altered the objectivity of many a chronicler, the value of commentary from these past decades endures as almost unblemished, or even intact, when these have been written by musicologists and composers with immaculate training, educated and committed to the truth.

Comarnescu's credentials allowed him to visit with some leading Romanian exiles, including scholar Ionel Jianu, who took him on an impromptu tour of French artists' studios.

[15] He still identified Blaga, alongside the modernist doyen Tristan Tzara (whose love poetry was adapted by Țăranu into five pieces of music) and 1960s poet Nichita Stănescu, as his most treasured mentor.

He credited Stănescu, Ana Blandiana, Marin Sorescu and Cezar Baltag as his dear friends, who provided him with a sense that "something was moving" in Romanian art.

[18] On 20 June 1968, taking his inspiration from France's Domaine musical,[19] Țăranu founded the Ars Nova chamber orchestra, that he directed and conducted—including during their first appearance at Toamna Muzicală Clujeană (TMC) festival in October of that year.

[20] In a 1969 conversation with Iosif Sava, he mentioned "the widespread echos that the youthful ensemble has stirred among the composers in both Cluj and Bucharest, who have stated their wish to provide a permanent stream of new works for [its] repertoire.

"[17] As Vasiliu writes, the new institution carried significance for "the entirety of Romania's musical realm, given that Cluj's instrumentalists were frequently featured on the country's stages, recorded albums, distributed works of national provenance by means of international tours.

[19] Advocating a permanent dialogue between the modernists and the traditionalists, by 1973 Țăranu had built up a unique repertoire, which moved between Johann Sebastian Bach (as orchestrated by Anton Webern), Vasile Herman, Mihai Moldovan, and Peter Maxwell Davies.

[25] Țăranu's musicological research was focused on contemporary Romanian music including Enescu, Moldovan, Liviu Glodeanu, and Toduță, and on works by Messiaen, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Iannis Xenakis.

[12] Music journalist Luminița Vartolomei commented on this project being "controversial, because it goes against a wish that Enescu himself has adamantly expressed", namely: "I never published works that I didn't view as relatively completed" (N-am publicat niciodată ceva ce nu consideram ca relativ terminat).

[30] In a 1975 piece, done from Eminescu's "Ode in Ancient Meter" and recorded with baritone Ion Budoiu, Țăranu closely adhered to Enescu's standards—as argued by critic Radu Stancu, he was in succession to Œdipe.

[31] Also in 1975, Ars Nova recorded his Tombeau de Verlaine, to a text by Stéphane Mallarmé, during a series of "debate-concerts" hosted by the Romanian Television; it was done for piano, percussion, and two female voices—Kriza and Edita Simion.

[34] Musicologist Zoltán Farkas sees Țăranu and Baltag as having created a new narrative genre (the "Gypsy opera"), but also notes that Cîntece nomade is at core a belated contribution to expressionist music.

It won him the Koussevitzky Prize for 1982; jury president Alfred Hoffman offered praise to Țăranu's "vigorous style" of "firm conviction, expressed in a lapidary, contemporary and yet specific manner".

[36] In 1984, art critic Oliv Mircea noted that Țăranu had moved away from the classical line with its "strong inserts from folk songs", and was one of the composers embracing "serialism, post-serialism, and aleatoricism", veering into electroacoustic music.

[38] In a 1985 retrospective for Scînteia, Doru Popovici assessed that, like Olah, Vieru, Remus Georgescu and others, Țăranu had introduced "new means of expression" to the "songs for the masses"; these were positive examples, fitting the ideological mold of "Socialist Romania": "We require that songs for the masses have a lyrical content, that highlights the country's beauties, the spiritual bliss one gets from harmony with all of Earth's lovely creatures, the generosity of decent men, namely those who do not live merely for their personal satisfaction, but, first and foremost, for the advancement of society".

His contribution earned praise from film critics at Cinema, who spoke of Țăranu's music as being in "perfect unity" with Mărgineanu's direction,[42] as well as a top prize from the Romanian Filmmakers' Association.

This made him the son-in-law of psychologist and former political prisoner Nicolae Mărgineanu (1905–1980);[44] his mother-in-law, Eufrosina, was the daughter of Konstantinos Arvanitis, a merchant and published diarist of Graeco-Bulgarian descent.

[48] During the TMC's 1989 edition, Țăranu premiered several new works, all of which garnered praise from critics such as Casiu Barbu: a toccata for saxophone, percussion and piano; a vocal symphony based on texts by Paul Celan; and the especially successful Testament, using Byzantine music and Teodora Cantacuzino's last will as its two sources of inspiration.

[49] This formed part of a series of historicist works, which focused on prosaic texts with poetic nuances—also including pieces based on the Supplex Libellus Valachorum, an 1872 Latinate obituary to the national hero Avram Iancu, and an inscription from Roman Dacia.

[51] He wrote the music to another Mărgineanu film, Somewhere in the East, which premiered in 1991; based on a novel by Augustin Buzura, it told the story of communist crimes during the collectivization of agriculture.

[52] His wife Dana became involved with the effort to recover information about the communist imprisonment of civilians such as her father, joining the Cluj branch of Memoria Cultural Institute.

This concert was described as "fascinating" by composer Sorin Vulcu, who was impressed by the "consummate refinement" of Țăranu and his pupils in performing complex works by Herman and Octavian Nemescu.

[55] Scholar Ion Pop reviews Oreste-Oedipe as a postmodern work with a "difficult score", noting that it borrowed motifs from Enescu and from Greek musical folklore.

[18] In early October, Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra celebrated Țăranu by premiering Lăutarul; actor Cristian Hodrea appeared as Cezar Bolliac.