Iannis Xenakis, David Del Tredici, Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage, George Crumb (2014 compi rec. 1965-78)

Great compilation put together by Sony Classical as part of their "Prophets Of The New" reissue series in 2013/14.  Much of the series was also released as a "Masterworks Of The 20th Century" budget box set, a chunk of which has already been posted here - Boulez, Extended Voices, Columbia-Princeton, Crumb, Partch, and Takemitsu.  More to come in due course - I may as well finish the box.

In contrast to the ones above that reissued those landmark LPs in their entireity, this collection picks highlights from three different records.  Firstly we get half of a 1969 album by the Festival Chamber Ensemble under Richard Dufallo, starting with Xenakis' Akrata - I think I prefer this one to the EIDMC Du Paris/Simonovich version, it's got a bit more oomph to it.  Then there's 24 engrossing minutes of David Del Tredici's Syzygy, with soprano and ensemble all over the shop in a setting of James Joyce's Ecce Puer.

Next up is side two of "Electronics & Percussion - Five Realizations By Max Neuhaus" released in 1968.  Stockhausen's Zyklus is scored for a solo percussionist playing multiple instruments, and notated in a spiral so that the player can start anywhere.  The ear-shredding John Cage noisefest Fontana Mix-Feed ("realized 1965") has previously featured here alongside an album's worth of other realizations of it by Neuhaus.  Closing the compilation is a typically bewitching and gorgeous George Crumb piece taken from a 1978 LP.  Lux Aeterna For Five Masked Musicians is scored for soprano, sitar, bass flute/recorder and two percussionists, and as always, makes me want to dig deeper into Crumb.  (More of him at SGTG here and here, plus link in first para above.)

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pw: sgtg

P.S. whilst reading about Max Neuhaus, I discovered his amazing Radio Net project from 1977 - well worth a listen.  Read about it and d/l the two hours of audio (192 kbps, but hey ho, fine for an old radio tape) here.

George Crumb - Ancient Voices Of Children/Music For A Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III) (1987 compi of LPs 1971/5)

Some more beautifully strange music from George Crumb, on a Nonesuch reissue pairing two records from the 1970s.  The first of these is Ancient Voices of Children, taking its texts from Lorca as did several other Crumb works for singers (see links below).  It's a great ear-bending example of Crumb's unusual instrumental settings, featuring  oboe, mandolin, harp, amplified piano, toy piano, and percussion, and sung by boy soprano and a soprano singing into the amplified piano for extra-weird resonance.  As this was originally an LP running only 25 minutes, it really needed to be coupled up with something else on CD, and what follows is a real treat.

Summer Evening LP cover, 1975 (orig Ancient Voices LP used 'butterfly' image at top)

Music For A Summer Evening is probably my favourite Crumb work full stop (admittedly still got a lot of his music still to discover).  It's the third volume in his Makrokosmos series, the title paying homage to Bartók's Mikrokosmos, and features two amplified pianos and two percussionists.  From its initial subtlety, the dynamic range of the work varies greatly, up to the explosive Advent section and back down again, and the variety of sounds Crumb coaxes out of the two pianos and percussion instruments is spellbinding.  There's various bells, claves, metal sheets and even brief appearances by a slide whistle and stone jug.  The most hauntingly beautiful part has to be the 11-minute finale, centred on a becalmed piano sequence around which the initially discordant accompaniment gradually falls away (and the piano notes reduce), leaving only the 'starry night' of its name.  Absolutely gorgeous stuff.

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pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:
Voice Of The Whale/Night Of The Four Moons
Songs, Drones And Refrains Of Death/Quest

George Crumb - Songs, Drones, And Refrains Of Death / Quest (rec. 2004, rel. 2006)

This was originally planned as Monday's post - now it follows Scott Walker quite well.  Wonder if Crumb was an influence on his late career?  The unsettling structure of the main work here, composed from 1962-68, seemingly chaotic but meticulously planned, with both eerie and violent dynamics, definitely makes it an interesting comparison. 

Adopting words from Federico Garcia Lorca, as on 1969's Night Of The Four Moons, each 'song' is indeed preceded by a refrain and then incorporates a 'death drone'.  The instrumentation of electric guitar, amplified bass/piano/harpsichord and percussion is used sparingly, almost minimalistically, for maximum effect.

The other work on this fine recording from 2004 is a rendition of Quest (1994) for percussion, harp, bass, saxophone and guitar.  Again, Crumb writes with disquieting restraint, as the various instruments and melodic fragments (including bits of 'Amazing Grace') waft in and out of the ghostly silence.  A live recording of Quest was previously posted here.

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pw: sgtg

George Crumb - Voice Of The Whale / Night Of The Four Moons (1974)

Vox Balaenae, better known as Voice Of The Whale, is probably one of the best known works by George Crumb (b. 1929, Charleston WV) - it's pretty accessible in its mostly languid, Debussyian drift, whilst still getting pretty far out there in its odd performance requirements.  Players are directed to sing into the flute, strum the piano strings with chisels, paperclips and glass rods... oh, and play under blue light whilst wearing black masks.  As the title suggests, the piece was inspired by recordings of actual whale song that Crumb heard in the late 60s, and the mysterious undersea world that it conjures up is beautifully absorbing.  Perfect for listening to whilst watching Blue Planet II with the sound off (which I've been doing for weeks with a wide selection of music).

The other work on this 1974 release was Night Of The Four Moons, which was composed during the Apollo 11 flight to the moon and is set in four sections, each taking a fragment of text by Federico Garcia Lorca (whose words Crumb frequently set to music around this time).  Musically it's as wonderfully strange as Whale, if not more, as the mezzo-soprano intones eerily over a fractured dreamscape of flutes, banjo, percussion and amplified cello.  Totally must get myself Crumbed up to the max, I love his stuff more and more every time I give it a go.

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Psappha ensemble - Crumb / Carter / Reich in concert (2016)

This concert was broadcast as part of BBC Radio 3's 'New Year New Music' programme back in January.  I managed to grab a recording, as these shows disappear quickly from the online player, and I've been returning to it ever since - it's too good not to share.  The "artwork" here is by yours truly, after a hard (five minutes) graft on Photoshop.

Taking their name from a Xenakis percussion work, the Psappha contemporary music ensemble are based in Manchester, and so were performing on home turf here for a fantasic programme taking in three great American composers of the 20th century.  George Crumb's Quest (completed 1994), for percussion, harp, double bass, soprano sax and solo guitar opens the proceedings on an eerie, understated note, sounding like a guitarist trying to practice in a haunted orchestra pit.

The Crumb work is the definite highlight of the concert for me; Eliot Carter's Triple Duo (1982-3) that follows is a bit less accessible, with complex tangles of duo parts interweaving and sometimes clashing with each other, but it's still a fascinating listen and worth perservering with.  Lastly, Psappha turn in an energetic, swinging performance of Steve Reich's Double Sextet (2007) - doubled in this instance by the fact that it's being played live to a recording of itself. I don't always get as much out of latter-day Reich as I do from his 70s-80s work, but this is an enjoyable listen and closes the evening perfectly.

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Bonus Public Service Announcement
I always intended to keep this blog strictly apolitical...
I am proud to be Scottish today (and half Northern Irish by parentage).
Music still transcends all boundaries - any English or Welsh visitors to this blog, I bear you no ill will, and don't intend to enact any petty boycotts, either in the music I buy or music I post here.
I think we all know deep down though that the flag that united our four countries for so long will, within most of our lifetimes, only be seen in museums.  I say that with neither glee nor sorrow, just a simple statement of inevitability.
That is all - thanks
A