 |
 |
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