Linda Lukas, SF Symphony
Vox Balaenae at SFSoundBox
January, 2016
Photo by Lisa Hirsch
Composer George Crumb has died at age 92. He composed beautiful and individual music and was beyond a doubt political. Vox Balaenae is inextricably linked to the environmental disasters we face; other works are linked to the Vietnam War and political protest. He was an experimental composer, using extended instrumental and vocal techniques in his works. His scores themselves are extremely beautiful and individual. You can see some examples at The Spectacular Music Scores of George Crumb and elsewhere on the web.
Those who knew him say that he was a gentle and good-humored man, and a fine teacher. Condolences to all who knew and loved him.
4 comments:
Crumb's music is very weird, but it has a distinct style and integrity and can be learned to be appreciated.
Looking at his scores, I'm reminded of a comment John Coolidge Adams once made at an interview, that when looking through scores of young composers he began to notice certain common and limiting traits among those who wrote using computer score-writing programs. He said, it's possible to write more complex and imaginative scores using these programs, but in practice you don't.
I have always liked Crumb, without any learning process. I am not sure of the relevance of JCA's observation. I believe Crumb's wild-looking scores mostly predate the era of computer score-writing programs.
Also curious whether other composers would agree with him.
That was my point: that Crumb's scores mostly predate the era of computer score-writing programs. Adams was pointing out that this kind of score-writing has diminished with the advent of those programs.
I wonder if he's right. One person sees a small percentage of the scores composed in any given time period.
Post a Comment