George Crumb

[7/4]

February 4, 2008

Music Review | Composer Portrait: George Crumb

All the Percussion That's Fit to Pound

By STEVE SMITH, NYTimes

The ensemble

So Percussion

is gradually making its way through the ranks of composers most revered by percussionists. The group has devoted multiple concerts to the music of

Steve Reich

; it has also paid due attention to

John Cage

, seen by many as the father of modern percussion music. On Friday night at Miller Theater, in a Composer Portrait concert, So Percussion played works by

George Crumb,

completing a sort of holy trinity of percussion composers that Jason Treuting, a member of the ensemble, cited during an onstage conversation with Mr. Crumb.

Mr. Treuting was clearly awestruck, tendering his questions with a fan's nervousness. But Mr. Crumb, asked if he had been influenced by the percussion music of Cage and Mr. Reich, instead named Bartok, Debussy and Mahler. Hearing Mahler in the three pieces So Percussion presented was something of a stretch, but connections to the other two were clear.

"An Idyll for the Misbegotten" (1986) conjures the lonely solo flute of Debussy's "Syrinx" and plants it among three rumbling drummers. On a stage illuminated only by the dim blue light of lamps on music stands, the superb flutist Erin Lesser played lines that fluttered, dipped and soared over a bass drum that rolled like distant thunder. When two other percussionists added call-and-response figures from either side of the stage, it was as if storm clouds had suddenly burst open wide.

"Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III)," composed in 1974, uses the instrumentation of Bartok's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion. The pianists Stephen Buck and Cory Smythe manipulated the strings inside their instruments as frequently as they played on the keyboards, while two percussionists negotiated dozens of noise-making implements, including slide whistles and rocks.

During the second section, "Wanderer-Fantasy," all four players concentrated their efforts on the pianos; in the fourth, "Myth," all were effectively percussionists. Each movement is filled with beguiling sounds; in terms of original timbres there may be no more innovative composer than Mr. Crumb. Still, there is more to this work than special effects: it has a satisfying dramatic arc, opening with elemental mystery and culminating in a fantasia based on a Bach fugue.

Between those two pieces was "Unto the Hills," a set of folk-song arrangements Mr. Crumb created in 2001. Daisy Press, a soprano, sang with a winning subtlety and understatement, accompanied by rustling shakers, a wind machine and a piano strummed like an autoharp. Like Messiaen with his bird calls, Mr. Crumb does not merely evoke Appalachia but also seems intent on recreating almost literally each chirping cricket and creaking windowpane.

Edited February 4, 2008 by 7/4

[7/4]

• Wikipedia
  
  

[Late]

Haven't heard Crumb's percussion work, but Makrokosmos is amazing. Extends the vocabulary (somewhat) of Cowell's "open piano" compositions.

[Stefan Wood]

This just released

:

Edited May 5, 2008 by Stefan Wood

[7/4]

Vol.11, eh?

Boy I'd love to own that series or at least check it out.

I think George Crumb is a big deal.

.

[Stefan Wood]

I have the previous ten. This is a great series of cds, having the best performances of all his works.

[JSngry]

  Late said:

Haven't heard Crumb's percussion work, but Makrokosmos is amazing. Extends the vocabulary (somewhat) of Cowell's "open piano" compositions.

Heard Book III (Music for a Summer Evening) performed at a student recital at NT ca. 1978. Crumb was big there & then, and to hear this piece, only a few years old at the time, performed live was quite the event!

[Late]

  7/4 said:

Boy I'd love to own that series or at least check it out.

At least purchase Vol. 8 — you can live with that one for a long time and still find new things to explore.

[7/4]

WKCR's Morning Classical is was conducting a phone interview with Crumb this morning.

I'm listening and I'm always impressed by his use of color/texture and use extended techniques for instruments.

vol 12:

Edited October 22, 2008 by 7/4

[7/4]

October 29, 2008

Music Review

Return to Crumb’s World, With Crumb Along for the Ride

By ALLAN KOZINN

George Crumb and his music are getting a second wind these days. In the 1970s Mr. Crumb’s colorful, idiosyncratic chamber works were all the rage: no self-respecting new-music fan, particularly of college age, was without the Nonesuch recording of his “Ancient Voices of Children” (1970), and his string quartet “Black Angels” (1970) was an unusually elevated and searing Vietnam War protest. Earlier and later scores rode on the coattails of these works, but by the mid-1980s Mr. Crumb seemed to have faded from view.

In recent years new works have become plentiful again, old ones are reappearing on concert programs, and among the increasingly frequent recordings of Mr. Crumb’s music are a dozen discs (so far) on the Bridge label, which plans to complete its comprehensive Crumb survey before the composer’s 80th birthday, in October 2009.

some mo'...

[randyhersom]

eMusic just uploaded several volumes of the Complete Crumb on Bridge. eMusic being what it is, the volumes with fewer tracks are generally better bargains, so Volume 5 and Volume 1 are where I may head next. I think I already have Makrokosmos III.

[Guest youmustbe]

I was at the Xankel concert. When he was being interviewed at the beginning he said how after he had written the flute piece, somebody told him that a 'jazz flautist' had already done the 'vocalese thru the flute'. I was going to yell out 'Roland Kirk' as i was in the 4th row but thought better of it.

Wonderful piece, that. Also i didn't know that his daughter had recorded a Jazz album with Harry Allen.

The second half sucked. Crap! But I forgive him, at 78 (2007 piece) one can't expect him to be 'hip' aymore. 'Dem Bones" done atonaly with 4 percussion players, each with multitude of things to hit every bar was pretty emberrasing.

Nov 20th, I believe another one of his peices is played at the Chamber Society of Lincoln Center is on the bill with Carter's 'Night Fantasies" played by Gilbert Kalish, one of my favorite pieces.

Not quite on the subject, but some years ago i was listening to a Helmut Lachenmann piece, one of those pieces comprised of scratches on vioins etc and it occured to me that 'that type of music' is great 'background' music of today. Like a lot of 12 tone music is perfect for watching tv, drinking wine and letting it drone in the background. Put on Milton babbitt's string quartets and see what i mean. (going to Miller Theater Nov 5 for the complete quartets. Babbitt will be interviewed by James Levine. Milton is funny guy when he discusses music.)

[7/4]

  youmustbe said:

Not quite on the subject, but some years ago i was listening to a Helmut Lachenmann piece, one of those pieces comprised of scratches on vioins etc and it occured to me that 'that type of music' is great 'background' music of today. Like a lot of 12 tone music is perfect for watching tv, drinking wine and letting it drone in the background. Put on Milton babbitt's string quartets and see what i mean.

That's what my Dad started listening to when Easy 93 went off the air. It's all those catchy melodies.

[Guest youmustbe]

Oops! Hit wrong key, sorry for the typos. The Hampton Hawes Trio Vol 2 has me distracted.

Anyway, Zankel Hall. Only in the front orchestra seats can one not hear the subway underneath.

Elliott Carter is up next in the Making Music sereies and then Peter Eotvos is after that. I know who he is but have never heard his music. Anyone here have?

I did hear a terrific piece at the San Francisco Ballet a week ago....Ezio Bosso is the composer. I understand he was a double bass player who devotes his time to composing now.

[Guest youmustbe]

I have the lp of Pollini playing Schoenberg and it sounds like 'cocktail music'. When you think about it, most music is not meant to be listened to intently regardless of what the composer intended.

I mean, can anyone actually pay attention to every note of a Boulez piano sonata? I like them precisely because they are 'white noise'.

But then again one gets into the whole thing of instrumental music versus vocal music. I can sing most of the tenor part, music and words, to tenor's role in 'Tosca' while in the shower but can't hum my idol Bud Powell's solos from 'Scene Cahnges' other than the melody line and even then I can't get every note.

So.....

[7/4]

  youmustbe said:

I mean, can anyone actually pay attention to every note of a Boulez piano sonata? I like them precisely because they are 'white noise'.

I think I could if I smoked a lot of weed.

.

[jlimoges]

My favorite George Crumb is his seminal string quartet Black Angel for electric violins. my favorite 20th century composition. The music was used in the 70s hit movie The Exorcist.

Edited November 6, 2008 by jlimoges

[T.D.]

Not that I don't listen to recordings, but Crumb's music often has a sort of ritualistic quality that seems much more effective live (IMO). Once heard Eleven Echoes of Autumn 1965 at a small obscure concert at a church in NYC, and it was one of my most memorable concert experiences. Got a recording (on the Swiss Jecklin label) years later, and it just wasn't the same. OTOH, the ritualistic thing may not always work: saw/heard Vox Baleanae at Miller Theater in NYC, and and wasn't so impressed either musically or theatrically (players wore masks IIRC). I haven't purchased many of the Bridge CD series, because I find his work a bit uneven.

[T.D.]

  youmustbe said:

Not quite on the subject, but some years ago i was listening to a Helmut Lachenmann piece, one of those pieces comprised of scratches on vioins etc and it occured to me that 'that type of music' is great 'background' music of today. Like a lot of 12 tone music is perfect for watching tv, drinking wine and letting it drone in the background. Put on Milton babbitt's string quartets and see what i mean. (going to Miller Theater Nov 5 for the complete quartets. Babbitt will be interviewed by James Levine. Milton is funny guy when he discusses music.)

I listen to a lot of piano music, and really enjoy a lot of the 12-tone stuff, e.g. Barraqué's Sonata (come to think of it, all of his music is excellent, though sadly the performance of the Sonata on the cpo Complete Barraqué box is horrendous), Schönberg, Babbitt, Stefan Wolpe, B.A. Zimmermann. Never got into Boulez very much, and don't care for the extremely pointillistic serialist style (e.g. a lot of Stockhausen).

[Chuck Nessa]

Have not listened for about 30 years. Then I decided he was a silly mockingbird. I could be wrong but don't want to spend the time/energy to sort it our. YMMV.

[Guest Bill Barton]

I haven't heard much of his music but do have the Kronos Black Angels recording. This strikes me as very intense stuff. "Silly mockingbird?" More like a circling raptor. Perhaps the emotional resonance struck by the piece's extra-musical aspects has something to do with it. I am a Vietnam veteran and was a member of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War/Winter Soldier Organization.

[7/4]

  Bill Barton said:

I haven't heard much of his music but do have the Kronos Black Angels recording. This strikes me as very intense stuff. "

I thought so too.

[7/4]

  Quote

December 8, 2008

Music Review | Kronos Quartet

Modern Works Tell of Timeless Emotions

By STEVE SMITH

Kronos Quartet: In the “God-Music” section of George Crumb’s “Black Angels,”

Jeffrey Zeigler, foreground, was joined by, from left, David Harrington, Hank Dutt and John Sherba bowing goblets at Zankel Hall.

Anyone’s initial reaction to George Crumb’s "Black Angels," a 1970 composition for amplified string quartet meant to echo the dark mood of the Vietnam War era, is likely to be a strong one. When the violinist David Harrington first heard the piece, in 1973, his response was to form the Kronos Quartet, a group that used Mr. Crumb’s work as a springboard for an extraordinary career of boundary-breaking discovery and innovation.

With its explosive use of noise and voices, resonant gongs and evocative borrowings from earlier music, “Black Angels” has always had an air of ritualistic drama. That aspect was made explicit in a new staging conceived by Laurence Neff, with sound design by Brian Mohr, which Kronos presented during a concert at Zankel Hall on Friday night.

Piercing amplification and harsh white lighting underscored the nattering shrieks and buzzes of the “Night of the Electric Insects” section, while subtler effects and choreography lent resonance to other passages — literally during the hushed “Pavana Lachrymae,” heard as if from a distant corner in a vast cathedral.

A collective gasp was heard among audience members during “God-Music,” when Mr. Harrington, John Sherba and Hank Dutt, on raised platforms, bowed crystal goblets lighted from beneath as Jeffrey Zeigler played a haunting cello soliloquy. Recorded music was seamlessly integrated in at least one point to facilitate movement during this vivid, powerfully realized staging.

more

[T.D.]

Damn. I thought for a while that the "Classical Discussion" forum had become reasonable...

If I wanted to read NYT stories, I would visit the paper's website.

[7/4]

  T.D. said:

Damn. I thought for a while that the "Classical Discussion" forum had become reasonable...

If I wanted to read NYT stories, I would visit the paper's website.

I thought the staging looks interesting. That's what the story is about.

The thread's about George Crumb.

edit: it's even relevant to your post 18.

Edited December 9, 2008 by 7/4