Crumb goes Macro

Synopsis

For the ideal performance of Makrokosmos II: Twelve fantasy pieces after the Zodiac, by American composer George Crumb, one should perhaps be outdoors in a remote clearing under a crystalline canopy of stars.

For the record, the premiere performance of Crumb’s suite for amplified piano took place indoors at Alice Tully Hall in New York City on today’s date in 1974, at a recital of new American works given by pianist Robert Miller.

In his program notes, Miller offered these words about Crumb’s Makrokosmos II:

“Each of the 12 pieces is associated with a different sign of the Zodiac, and is written out in a very precise notation, but the music will at times sound … almost improvisatory. The piano has become an orchestra unto itself. There is an enormously wide range of sound, timbre, touch, dynamics, etc.”

One use of quotation by Crumb is beautifully subtle. In the eleventh piece, Litany of the Galactic Bells, the opening music — a shimmering bell effect which recalls the coronation scene from Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov — gradually subsides and moves almost imperceptibly into a short excerpt from Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata. The effect is somewhat like the changing colors of a prism.”

Music Played in Today's Program

George Crumb (1929-2022): Makrokosmos No. 2 (Laurie Hudicek, piano) Furious Artisans 6805