George Crumb - Vox Balaenae and other works (2006)
George Crumb - Vox Balaenae and other works
XLD Rip | FLAC+CUE+LOG | Covers | 59:42 | 212 MB
20th Century Classical - Contemporary | 2006 | Naxos
XLD Rip | FLAC+CUE+LOG | Covers | 59:42 | 212 MB
20th Century Classical - Contemporary | 2006 | Naxos
New Music Concerts Ensemble - Robert Aitken, conductor:
Robert Aitken, flute - David Hetherington, amplified cello - David Swan, amplified piano
Teri Dunn, soprano - Erica Goodman, harp
Trevor Tureski, Rick Sacks, Ryan Scott, percussion
Fujiko Imajishi, violin - Joaquin Valdepenas, clarinet
TRACKS
01. Vox balaenae (1971), for three masked players [18:50]
Federico's Little Songs for Children (1986)
02. I. La Senorita del abanico (Senorita of the Fan) [02:13]
03. II. La tarde (Afternoon) [01:49]
04. III. Cancion cantada (A Song Sung) [01:19]
05. IV. Caracola (Snail) [02:36]
06. V. El lagarto esta llorando! (The Lizard is Crying) [02:06]
07. VI. Cancioncilla sevillana (A Little Song from Seville) [01:51]
08. VII. Cancion tonta (Silly Song) [01:31]
09. An Idyll for the Misbegotten (Images III) (1986) [09:51]
10. 11 Echoes of Autumn (Echoes I) (1966) [17:36]
Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale) for three masked players (1971):
Each of the three players should wear a black half-mask (vizor-mask) throughout the performance of the work. The masks, by effacing a sense of human projection, will symbolize the powerful impersonal forces of nature (nature dehumanized). Vox Balaenae can be performed under a deep-blue stage lighting, if desired, in which case the theatrical effect would be further enhanced.
Voice of the Whale, composed in 1971, is scored for flute, cello and piano which are amplified in concert performance. The work was inspired by the singing of the humpback whale, a tape recording of which I had heard two or three years previously. The masks, by effacing the sense of human projection, are intended to represent, symbolically, the powerful impersonal forces of nature (i.e. nature dehumanized). The form of Voice of the Whale is a simple three-part design, consisting of a prologue, a set of variations named after geological eras, and an epilogue.
Federico's Little Songs for Children (1986):
In 1970, after the composition of Ancient Voices of Children (the eighth work of a Lorca cycle initiated in 1963 with Night Music I), I felt that I had exhausted the potential of Lorca's poetry as a catalytic agent for my own music. I therefore turned my attention towards traditional Latin texts; and then followed settings of Walt Whitman and Edgar Allan Poe. However, there remained a number of Lorca's poems which I eventually hoped to treat musically, should inspiration return. Among these, the Canciones para Niños (Songs for Children) especially intrigued me, perhaps because the light-hearted and whimsical character of these little poems contrasted so sharply with the more somber poetry I had chosen for my earlier settings. And thus, after a hiatus of sixteen years, I found myself once again immersed in Lorca's magical imagery.
The seven little poems constituting the Canciones para Niños reflect many different aspects of a child's fantasy world. The mood can be reflective, playful, mock-serious, gently ironic, or simply joyous. At an early stage in the sketching process I decided to include all four instruments of the flute family so that I might associate an appropriate timbre with the innate character of each poem. Of course the varied treatment of voice and harp, together with purely compositional choices likewise help delineate the desired mood.
An Idyll for the Misbegotten (Images III) (1986):
I feel that "misbegotten" well describes the fateful and melancholy predicament of the species homo sapiens at the present moment in time. Mankind has become ever more "illegitimate" in the natural world of the plants and animals. The ancient sense of brotherhood with all life-forms (so poignantly expressed in the poetry of St Francis of Assisi) has gradually and relentlessly eroded, and consequently we find ourselves monarchs of a dying world. We share the fervent hope that mankind will embrace anew nature's "moral imperative".
My little Idyll was inspired by these thoughts. Flute and drum are, to me (perhaps by association with ancient ethnic musics), those instruments which most powerfully evoke the voice of nature. I have suggested that ideally (even if impractically) the music should be "heard from afar, over a lake, on a moonlit evening in August".
The work is dedicated to Robert Aitken, who gave the première performance for New Music Concerts on 16 November 1986.
Eleven Echoes of Autumn (Echoes I) (1966):
The eleven pieces constituting the work are performed without interruption. Each of the echi exploits certain timbral possibilities of the instruments. For example, eco 1 (for piano alone) is based entirely on the fifth partial harmonic, eco 2 on violin harmonics in combination with seventh partial harmonics produced on the piano (by drawing a piece of hard rubber along the strings). A delicate aura of sympathetic vibrations emerges in echi 3 and 4, produced in the latter case by alto flute and clarinet playing into the piano (close to the strings). At the conclusion of the work the violinist achieves a mournful, fragile timbre by playing with the bow hair completely slack.
The most important generative element of Eleven Echoes is the "bell motif", a quintuplet figure based on the whole-tone interval, which is heard at the beginning of the work. This diatonic figure appears in a variety of rhythmic guises, and frequently in a highly chromatic context.
Each of the eleven pieces has its own expressive character, at times overlaid by quasi-obbligato music of contrasting character.
Although Eleven Echoes has certain programmatic implications for the composer, it is enough for the listener to infer the significance of the motto-quote from Federico García Lorca: "… y los arcos rotos donde sufre el tiempo" ("… and the broken arches where time suffers"). These words are softly intoned as a preface to each of the three cadenzas (echi 5-7) and the image "broken arches" is represented visually in the notation of the music which underlies the cadenzas.
X Lossless Decoder version 20110212 (127.0)
XLD extraction logfile from 2011-03-02 23:25:13 +0100
George Crumb / Vox Baleenae & other works (Robert Aitken, New Music Concerts Ensemble)
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