Crumb goes Macro

Synopsis

For the ideal performance of “Makrokosmos II: Twelve fantasy pieces after the Zodiac,” by the 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, as part of 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 quite free and flexible, almost improvisatory. The piano has become an orchestra unto itself. There is an enormously wide range of sound, timbre, touch, dynamics, etc. Amplification, various vocal effects, the imaginative exploitation of the three pedals, effects produced by the fingers in contact with the strings, and the use of external devices -- contribute to this.

"One use of quotation by Crumb is beautifully subtle. In the eleventh piece, entitled '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 (b. 1929) Makrokosmos No. 2 Laurie Hudicek, piano Furious Artisans 6805

On This Day

Births

• 1833 - Russian composer Alexander Borodin, in St. Petersburg (see Julian date: Oct 31);

Deaths

• 1948 - Italian opera composer Umberto Giordano, age 81, in Milan;

• 1966 - American composer Quincy Porter, age 69, in Bethany, Conn.;

• 1972 - Czech-born American composer Rudolph Friml, age 92, in Los Angeles;

• 1976 - American composer Walter Piston, age 82, in Belmont, Mass.;

• 2013 - British composer Sir John Tavener, age 69, in in Child Okeford, Dorset;

Premieres

• 1724 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 139 ("Wohl dem, der sich auf seinen Gott") performed on the 23rd Sunday after Trinity as part of Bach's second annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1724/25);

• 1866 - Delibes: ballet "La Source,'" at the Paris Opéra;

• 1881 - Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 2, by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Theodore Thomas, with Madeleine Schiller the soloist;

• 1888 - Tchaikovsky: symphonic fantasy overture “Hamlet,” in Moscow (Gregorian date: Nov. 24);

• 1931 - Rachmaninoff: “Oriental Sketch” for solo piano, in New York City, by the composer;

• 1943 - William Schumann: Symphony No. 5 ("Symphony for Strings"), in Boston;

• 1973 - Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 14, in Leningrad, by the Beethoven Quartet;

• 1974 - Crumb: "Makrokosmos II" for amplified piano, in New York;

• 2002 - David Del Tredici: “Grand Trio” in New York City at the 92nd Street Y by the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio;

Others

• 1738 - Handel completes Part II (“Moses’ Song”) of his oratorio “Israel in Egypt” (see Julian date: November 1);