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George Crumb - Makrokosmos IV, Celestial Mechanics [Audio + Score] (1979) [Audio + Score]
George Crumb (b.1929)'s Makrokosmos is recognized as one of the masterpieces of twentieth century piano writing.
Inexplicably, volume four of Makrokosmos, Crumb's only four-hand piano piece, is rarely studied by Crumb scholars. According to Crumb's program notes, his Makrokosmos is meant to be a hybrid of piano and orchestral sound. Crumb devised a list of signs and abbreviated letters to explain his specific instructions to the performers. The pianists who plan to perform Makrokosmos need to study Crumb's notations carefully in order to faithfully realize the composer's intentions.
The American composer George Crumb was born in Charleston, West Virginia on 24 October 1929. This year, he celebrates his eightieth birthday. To mark the occasion, we will be presenting the complete Makrokosmos cycle, a monumental four-part work for piano that rates as one of the most outstanding musical works of the twentieth century.
Ever since his childhood, nature has been a major source of inspiration in the composer’s life. This is reflected in his music. George Crumb transports the listener into transcendental and mythical-magical worlds suffused with symbols and universal ideas, earthly realities and cosmic speculation. He produces “world music” in the medieval tradition of the “musica mundana”. His compositions draw on mythology, religion, the peace movement and green movement, the Vietnam protest movement, natural phenomena, mythical spirits, astronomy and astrology.
Makrokosmos I and II (1972/73), both scored for a solo amplified piano, consist of twelve highly complex fantasy pieces based on the zodiac. In 1974, Crumb composed Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III) for two amplified pianos and an impressive array of percussion instruments from various cultures. It was followed in 1979 by the fourth part Celestial Mechanics (Makrokosmos IV). With this suite of majestic “cosmic” dances, Crumb returns once more to the medium of a solo amplified piano, but this time scored for four hands.
BIOGRAPHY
George Crumb (1929-2022) is one of the most frequently performed composers in today's musical world. Crumb was the winner of Grammy and Pulitzer Prizes. Crumb's music often juxtaposes contrasting musical styles, ranging from music of the western art-music tradition, to hymns and folk music, to non-Western musics. Many of Crumb's works include programmatic, symbolic, mystical and theatrical elements, which are often reflected in his beautiful and meticulously notated scores.
A shy, yet warmly eloquent personality, Crumb retired from his teaching position at the University of Pennsylvania after more than 30 years of service. Honored by numerous institutions with honorary Doctorates, and the recipient of dozens of awards and prizes, Crumb made his home in Pennsylvania, in the same house where he and his wife of more than 60 years raised their three children. George Crumb's music is published by C.F. Peters and an ongoing series of "Complete Crumb" recordings, supervised by the composer, is being issued on Bridge Records.