Tim Mahon, after having his head slightly done in by a concert
performance of George Crumb's Makrokosmos IV: Celestial Mechanics:

>I'm extremely glad I went last night, since if I had listened to the Crumb
>on disc I would have dismissed it as an interesting curiosity.  Having seen
>it performed and understanding just a little about the subtelties of sound
>Crumb was aiming for, my appetite for his music has been stimulated.
>Anyone have any suggestions for further listening?

I've collected Crumb recordings pretty obsessively.  He's my favorite
of the non-dead composers.  One of things that makes me love his music
so is the total sincerity of the mystical/magical aspects-- I always get
the feeling that Crumb really and truly believes that a musical composition
is a form of magic spell with desirable or undesirable effects.  I see him
as more "immersed" than Messiaen in that respect, though maybe a little
less so than Scriabin, and definitely healthier man mentally than Scriabin
was.  I think a lot of people who dismiss him because of the percieved
"mumbo-jumbo" aspects of what he does (ie the magical and/or cosmic
programmes and the relentlessly exploratory playing approaches) are
missing the fact that he is not a faddist in any way and that there's no
Satie-esque prankishness to what he does.  Nor does he just discard these
new sounds like a novelty composer-- they become a recurrent and developing
part of his vocabulary.  I think the fact that Black Angels has been many
people's intro to Crumb, due to Kronos' popularity, is unfortunate.  It's
not a very characteristic piece, and is probably the Crumb I listen to
least often.  God knows how many think Crumb is a purveyor of "difficult"
early-Penderecki-style terror music on the basis of Black Angels.  Most
of his work is so much more seductive!  Anyway, I sure am jealous of you
having the chance to hear some Crumb live!  Here are my recommendations
for some further listening:

Celestial Mechanics is available in a very good recording by Duo
Degenhart-Kent on Mode Records, also containing a more recent and quite
substantial Crumb work for two pianos, Zeitgeist.  I think these were
composer-supervised recordings but I could be wrong.  Anyway, great disc.

I swear by Makrokosmos III: Music For A Summer Evening for Two Pianos
and Two Percussionists, readily available on Nonesuch's disc with Ancient
Voices of Children.  If you liked Celestial Mechanics I bet you'll like
Summer Evening as well.  How to describe...  Bartok in Night-Music mode but
at 16 RPM, with eerie hauntings from Schubert and Bach? Sounds nothing like
Bartok's Sonata for the same instrumental forces, though.  Reminds me a
little of "La Roussarolle Effarvette" by Messiaen too.  In any case, my
favorite Crumb piece, and remarkably long for him, in the 45 minute range.

Makrokosmos I and II for solo piano are wonderfully fascinating too, and I
strongly recommend Jo Boatwright's beautiful new recording on Music & Arts,
supervised by Crumb.  This was my third recording of this music and finally
the one that satisfied.  You'll find all the exploratory techniques and
deadly earnest music-alchemy of the later Makro's here, but with a more
eclectic range of subjects.  A couple of the titles will be offputting
perhaps.  Hey, it was the early 70's.  If you can deal with Hendrix'
"1983...  A Merman I Should Turn To Be", then Crumb's "Ghost-Nocturne For
The Druids Of Stonehenge" ought to be palatable, especially as there are no
further words to the piece.  Incidentally, Berkshire Record Outlet, last
time I checked, had a very affordable box set of the complete Makrokosmos
I-IV plus extras, performed by Bojan Gorisek and others.  I have no idea if
the playing and sound are any good though.

Another good Crumb entrypoint is the 15 minute piece included on Dawn
Upshaw's disc White Moon: Night Of The Four Moons for soprano and chamber
ensemble (including electric banjo, cello, and percussion).  It's my
favorite of Crumb's vocal works, though Ancient Voices of Children has
had much more renown.  The ending of Four Moons will have you thoroughly
enchanted and sent, believe you me.  Crumb wrote this as man was about
to first set foot on the moon-- he felt this was very wrong, an act of
violation and irreversible magic-loss.  Surely one of the more interesting
motivations for a piece of protest-music!  Hear this one and Makrokosmos
III and you'll know if Crumb can move you or not.  I think there's a
version of this on budgetprice Vox, but I don't know if it's a good
performance,and a lack of nuance would kill this one.  I'd also like to
put in a good word for Vox Balaenae for piano, cello and flute.  I was
really apprehensive about this before I actually heard it, fearing it
would feature taped whalesong or some such crap.  Nothing of the sort.
Crumb simply does with whalesong here what Messiaen did with birdsong
earlier in his career-- takes it and runs with it.  Uncorny and very
affecting; amazing cello part, and a quote from Strauss' "Also Sprach
Zarathustra" (yes-- the OBVIOUS quote) that somehow totally works and
doesn't even feel silly.

Lastly, for those of us who have tried to collect everything Crumb has
written, there is very good news on the Bridge Records website-- one
of their next releases is the brand new premiere recording of Starchild
(composed 1977), Crumb's biggest orchestral work, requiring two independent
conductors and a percussion section of Varesian proportions.  He wrote it
for Boulez and the NYPO, and I've been wondering for years what the hell
the thing sounds like.  Soon I'll know!  The coupling is Crumb's most
recent work, the humorous Canis Mundi, a series of musical profiles for
guitar and percussion of each of the dogs he's owned.  I'll be preordering
this one, oh yass.  Now all that remains unavailable from his orchestral
output is "Echoes Of Time And The River", though I think someone did that
on a hopelessly obscure LP at some point.

Jon Lewis
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