Thanks Doug. After reconsidering my first revision for about twenty days, I decided to eliminate the tenth line: corrodes the strings. That might have provided a bit more closure by activating the first letter of my subject's last name, but Crumb was referring to old-fashioned arts administrators' objections to his exploration of the insides of the piano. So hardly an appropriate close. Overall I'm satisfied with this work as a decent first take on a (still) vanguard composer I've been aware of for nearly forty years without ever having access to a live concert at which the composer was present. The Library of Congress videotaped the Q & A, so when I can access that I may try again.
Barry
On Thu, 19 May 2011 14:51:26 -0600, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Even without the final lines, it has a sharpness that comes from both of you, barry.
>
>Doug
>On 2011-05-19, at 2:41 PM, Barry Alpert wrote:
>
>> SAY GEORGE CRUMB
>>
>> [Don't chance it down.]
>>
>>
>> Spirituality little abstract. Something you feel
>> absolute. Silence by degrees.
>> You might hear one phrase in E minor.
>>
>> Got part of it down and adapted it himself.
>> Even engraving erases that personality.
>> Originally I notated in the score: "amplified voice".
>> Requirements for special timbres.
>> Grew up with an upright piano;
>> exploration of that.
>>
>> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>>
>>
>> Barry Alpert / Silver Spring MD US / 4-28-11 (6:30 PM) - 5-19-11 (4:39 PM)
>>
>> Originally drafted at the Library of Congress in Washington DC while listening to the
>> composer George Crumb being questioned about the forthcoming performance that
>> same evening of ten selections from his American Songbooks. Since Crumb finished
>> talking before I could complete the form I had in mind, I tried to find another source
>> of language about the same material. That strategy didn't quite work, though today
>> I was able to incorporate as an appropriate inscription a line I thought I heard while
>> witnessing the performance of the songs themselves.
>>
>> Here are links to two videos from youtube which supply useful background, though
>> none of the individual songs from this massive work have yet been made available
>> there:
>>
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9B2WtNtaW8
>>
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeIvWF2thNU
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