Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly

Last Night in LA--Honoring George Crumb

CalArts musicians presented a concert commemorating George Crumb�s 75th birthday at REDCAT, the Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theatre in the corner of Walt Disney Concert Hall.

The concert gave us three of Crumb�s exceptional chamber works, starting with the great �Ancient Voices of Children� (1970). This is still a marvelous work, and it sounds fresh, and new, and alive. Written for soprano, boy soprano (here sung by another soprano), piano, mandolin, harp, oboe, and three percussionists --- with guest appearances by toy piano, musical saw and harmonica--"Voices" comprises settings of fragments of five poems by Federico Garcia Lorca accompanied by two instrumental dances. The Crumb web site provides the Lorca words (and their translations) so you can read the imagery in the words, imagery on which Crumb built a new structure of sound. Perhaps now that our ears have become more accustomed to the range of extended techniques and non-traditional sounds Crumb has his musicians produce we can better hear the sheer beauty and musical quality of the work.

After intermission for the rearrangement of the stage, a new set of musicians presented �An Idyll for the Misbegotten� (1986) for flute and three percussionists, a �duet� between two types of sound. The music includes a short poem from the Chinese: �The moon goes down/there are shivering birds/and withering grasses�, spoken by the flutist. The music does seem to be a song at night.

The concert closed with �Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale)� (1971), another beautiful vision performed by a third set of musicians, this one using flute, cello and piano. Crumb calls for the performers to wear black half-masks, which the performers did, and he suggests that the work be performed under deep blue stage lighting, which wasn�t done. The masks, by themselves, achieved nothing; it�s possible that blue lighting would have made the musical images of the sea even stronger than they were in this hearing.

Crumb describes the first movement as a kind of cadenza for the solo flute; the movement makes extensive use of the technique of singing into the flute while playing it. The second movement is a theme and set of variations, each variation named for a different geological era as the music surveys the passage of time. The work concludes with a nocturne � � for the end of time� in which the sounds of the sea and the world of the sea gradually fade away, the ebbing of waves. The work requires extended techniques for all three performers; in addition to the flute techniques, the pianist must frequently strum the piano strings and the cellist must produce harmonics on his specially-tuned instrument.

Performances like last night�s make you realize, if you didn�t already, that in these works Crumb went far beyond mere sound effects to produce music of real vision and image. A master. Crumb has an excellent web site. In addition to presenting a short bio and listings of his works, his recordings, and his writings, the site includes the program notes of each work. New Music Box also preserves a 2002 wide-ranging interview with Crumb.

By coincidence, the next Monday Evening Concert will also present a recognition of Crumb, performing Books I and II of his �Madrigals�.

posted by Jerry Zinser 3/04/2005