George Crumb (1929-2022)

Started by snyprrr, March 12, 2009, 08:53:38 PM

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snyprrr

i think he's the closest composer to me in terms of miles.

snyprrr

seriously, i don't know where to begin with him.

i kind of like him some, but he likes to annoy me a lot too.

MDL

Star Child made a big impression on me when I heard the UK premiere on the radio (Proms 1979 or 1980 coupled with Holst's Planets). I was a teenager and it was one of the first pieces of modern music I'd ever heard; it sounded completely out of this world. Well, it did back then. I've got the recording that was released a few years ago, and I enjoy giving it the occasional whirl. But after a few decades of listening to Stockhausen, Penderecki and Ligeti, Star Child doesn't seem that extraordinary. It ain't no Ligeti Requiem, that's for sure.

gomro

Quote from: ' on March 13, 2009, 02:01:06 AM
Do you live in W.Va.?

His music leaves me cold. I like an element of gimmickry -- Haydn, for example, uses it brilliantly as a garnish -- but for Crumb, it seems like the main course.'

Crumb lives in Media, PA, I believe. He was born in Charleston, W.Va, same place I was born. As far as his music goes: there is a lot of it that I like, and it certainly doesn't sound like anyone else. Fave pieces: Black Angels, Voice of the Whale, Dream Sequence (Images II), Quest, Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III).

rockerreds

Quote from: snyprrr on March 12, 2009, 08:53:38 PM
i think he's the closest composer to me in terms of miles.
Me,too.

snyprrr

i'm in the classical music paradise of maryland.

i think more famous composers have come from maryland than any other state in the union,....hrrhmmm...yea, right.

maryland seems to have a musical curse of some kind. even Zappa moved (he went to Glen Burnie HS i believe...ah, Glen Burnie, the PCP capital of the world).

the only composer i know of was at Goucher Coll.- Robert Hall Lewis.

ARE there any composers from the lower east coast?

who IS the most famous Maryland composer?

UB

I am not a big fan of Crumb's music but for those who are or would like to explore some of it, you have two days to listen to in on R3. There is also another program of his music on this week's Hear and Now. Most of his best known works can be heard on these two broadcasts.
I am not in the entertainment business. Harrison Birtwistle 2010

Mirror Image

I'd like to hear his orchestral work A Haunted Landscape as I heard it's eerie and that's the way I like it. :D But seriously, any feedback regarding his orchestral music would be great. Kudos!

greg

Quote from: Mirror Image on October 16, 2010, 05:36:46 PM
I'd like to hear his orchestral work A Haunted Landscape as I heard it's eerie and that's the way I like it. :D But seriously, any feedback regarding his orchestral music would be great. Kudos!
That piece is okay- nothing special.
I haven't heard much of his orchestral music, but Star Child is a pretty good one. It has a little bit more content instead of just atmosphere, anyways.

karlhenning

Quote from: Mirror Image on October 16, 2010, 05:36:46 PM
I'd like to hear his orchestral work A Haunted Landscape as I heard it's eerie and that's the way I like it. :D But seriously, any feedback regarding his orchestral music would be great. Kudos!

I heard it broadcast live on the radio way back. I'm actually not mad about the piece . . . Crumb's atmospheric, spacious sound works very intensely in a chamber context, but to me, it just sounded like he was making insufficient use of the orchestra.

Mirror Image

Thanks Greg and Karl! I heard Black Angels on the radio a year or so ago and I ran away screaming like a little girly boy. Such fragile times for me.  ;D

karlhenning

I love Black Angels when I first heard it (back in the early 80s)! It hasn't aged so well for me.  But . . . I should go back to it, for curiosity's sake . . . .

Brahmsian

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on October 16, 2010, 05:59:05 PM
I love Black Angels when I first heard it (back in the early 80s)! It hasn't aged so well for me.  But . . . I should go back to it, for curiosity's sake . . . .

I'll have to revisit it someday.  I tried listening to Black Angels a few years ago and was turned off by it.  ???  Mind you, I wasn't very accustomed to more modern classical back then and am much more now.  So, I will add it on to my 'revisit' list.  8)

Mirror Image

I, too, ChamberNut, could probably revisit the work and get something out of it now. I remember it being quite disturbing, which, again, I like....lol. :D

karlhenning

Quote from: ChamberNut on October 16, 2010, 06:01:30 PM
I'll have to revisit it someday.  I tried listening to Black Angels a few years ago and was turned off by it.  ???  Mind you, I wasn't very accustomed to more modern classical back then and am much more now.  So, I will add it on to my 'revisit' list.  8)

Found a Used - Like New Copy of the Kronos Quartet's Black Angels album for $3, so I pulled the trigger. I remembered that that was my first taste of the Shostakovich Eighth Quartet, too . . . .

Mirror Image

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on October 16, 2010, 06:07:44 PM
Found a Used - Like New Copy of the Kronos Quartet's Black Angels album for $3, so I pulled the trigger. I remembered that that was my first taste of the Shostakovich Eighth Quartet, too . . . .

That Kronos Quartet recording has a wicked looking cover, which, again I like :D:





Brahmsian

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on October 16, 2010, 06:07:44 PM
Found a Used - Like New Copy of the Kronos Quartet's Black Angels album for $3, so I pulled the trigger. I remembered that that was my first taste of the Shostakovich Eighth Quartet, too . . . .

That is indeed the recording I had listened to, same as you and MI.  Of course, I became a big fan of Shostakovich quartets, at least.  :D

greg

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on October 16, 2010, 05:59:05 PM
I love Black Angels when I first heard it (back in the early 80s)! It hasn't aged so well for me.  But . . . I should go back to it, for curiosity's sake . . . .
I guess you could say the same for me. I loved it at first and listened to it for awhile, but it's probably been several years since I listened.

snyprrr

Same here, all.

Haha, wow, we are ALL marked by the Music Biz!! Whores all, haha!! It's nice to know there are certain equalizing forces, such as Zappa and the Kronos,... the, "even my nephew knows that piece" effect, haha. ;)

Black Angels benefits from the best recording possible, and I hear that the newerrr Bridge Series version is sonically spectacular, the one to have. The Kronos are a bit "produced", and claustrophobic, though, that's not really a bad thing.

Crumb doesn't really have that much orchestral music. A Haunted Landscape (remember that old NewWorld LP???, with Schuman,...ahhhh) is no great shakes, as has been stated. Nice though.

Nice to see someone's trying with Crumb. I do have trouble with requiring performers to,...er,..."perform", because, as seems to be the case, pianists don't have the best dramatic voices (or, the Kronos for that matter, yikes!).

And, exploiting the strings of the piano has never worked for me. Why is that?



Still, Black Angels is the grooviest music ever conceived,... really, come on,... it's pretty well out there,... sure beats the snot out of the Helikopter Quartett. (btw- what are some others???,...hmmm)

Saul

I thought you were talking about a coffee cake.