George Crumb 70th Birthday Album

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Bridge celebrates George Crumb's 70th birthday with a cross-section of his music, including youthful songs and a delightfully humorous depiction of the dogs in his life for David Starobin's expressive guitar and Crumb's percussion accompaniment. The centerpiece though, is the large-scale Star-Child, a 1977 commission from Pierre Boulez and the New York Philharmonic. Massive in ambition and in its expansive aural vistas, Crumb says it traces a "progression from darkness (despair) to light (or joy and spiritual realization)." Have no fears of New Age doodling; Crumb's music is tough, beginning with a quiet, dark slow movement that becomes an expressive duet for soprano, and a trombone that comments on the "Libera me" text with stentorian eruptions, muted sighs, and spoken parody of the soprano line. The central movement depicts the Apocalypse; the closing movement brings peace via luminous strings surrounded by a halo of handbells and a male chorus's hushed prayer of deliverance. An important work; an important disc. --Dan Davis

ClassicsToday.com
"This miraculous disc represents a dream for music lovers who are captivated by Crumb's haunting, evocative, and passionate musical soundscapes."

Album Description
Three works by George Crumb, the American master composer.

Star-Child, the 2001 Grammy Winner for Best Contemporary Composition. This work was considered "unrecordable" by Boulez as it calls for multiple orchestras to perform simultaneously with different conductors. Through digital technology, Bridge has provided the first studio recording of this work ever. Thomas Conlin leads the Warsaw Philharmonic to extraordinary heights in Crumb's apocalyptic masterpiece.

Mundus Canis (A Dog's World)is a series of short works for guitar and percussion. David Starobin and George Crumb play these 5 works, based on the Crumb family dogs. Crumb and Starobin have since taken this piece on the road for a series of performances both across the USA and around the world.

George Crumb calls his Three Early Songs "the sins of his youth. These songs are certainly far from sinful, though stylistically far different from his later work. Crumb performs them on the piano, while his daughter, Ann Crumb, sings the vocal parts.

George Crumb 70th Birthday Album

Tracks:

Star-Child: Intro: Desolato - Susan Narucki/Joseph Alessi
Star-Child: Vox Clamans In Deserto - Susan Narucki/Joseph Alessi
Star-Child: Ascensus Potestatum Tenebrarum - Susan Narucki/Joseph Alessi
Star-Child: Musica Apocalyptica - Susan Narucki/Joseph Alessi
Star-Child: Seven Tpts Of The Apocalypse - Susan Narucki/Joseph Alessi
Star-Child: Adventus Pueroreum Luminis - Susan Narucki/Joseph Alessi
Star-Child: Hymnus Pro Novo Tempore - Susan Narucki/Joseph Alessi
Mundis Canis ('A Dog's World'): Tammy, Elegantly, Somewhat Freely - David Starobin/George Crumb
Mundis Canis ('A Dog's World'): Fritzi, Furioso - David Starobin/George Crumb
Mundis Canis ('A Dog's World'): Heidel, Languido, Un Poco Misterioso - David Starobin/George Crumb
Mundis Canis ('A Dog's World'): Emma-Jean, Coquettish, Poco Animato, Grazioso - David Starobin/George Crumb
Mundis Canis ('A Dog's World'): Yoda, Prestissimo Possibile - David Starobin/George Crumb
Three Early Songs: Night - Ann Crumb/George Crumb
Three Early Songs: Let It Be Forgotten - Ann Crumb/George Crumb
Three Early Songs: Wind Elegy - Ann Crumb/George Crumb

Amazon.com

Bridge celebrates George Crumb's 70th birthday with a cross-section of his music, including youthful songs and a delightfully humorous depiction of the dogs in his life for David Starobin's expressive guitar and Crumb's percussion accompaniment. The centerpiece though, is the large-scale Star-Child, a 1977 commission from Pierre Boulez and the New York Philharmonic. Massive in ambition and in its expansive aural vistas, Crumb says it traces a "progression from darkness (despair) to light (or joy and spiritual realization)." Have no fears of New Age doodling; Crumb's music is tough, beginning with a quiet, dark slow movement that becomes an expressive duet for soprano, and a trombone that comments on the "Libera me" text with stentorian eruptions, muted sighs, and spoken parody of the soprano line. The central movement depicts the Apocalypse; the closing movement brings peace via luminous strings surrounded by a halo of handbells and a male chorus's hushed prayer of deliverance. An important work; an important disc. --Dan Davis

Album Description

Three works by George Crumb, the American master composer.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful music from an American master.......2002-08-09

I purchased this CD after it received the 2001 Grammy for best contemporary composition. I have not been disappointed in the slightest. Crumb's music creates timbres in an amazing way, using new sounds to illuminate his music. Crumb's apocalyptic vision in Star-Child is both terrifying and beautiful at the same time. The Warsaw Philharmonic gives an excellent reading of a work that Berlioz had called "unrecordable."

His shorter works, Mundus Canis and Early Songs are intimate and humorous, without sacrificing their musical value. David Starobin and the composer play together on Mundus Canis, a tribute to Crumb's five dogs. This piece came from a commission for a dance by Starobin. The Early Songs are performed by George Crumb and his daughter Anne Crumb.

This is truly a definitive Crumb album and one that no lover of new music should be without.

A major work finally gets it's recording debut........2000-02-05

Ever since I read a review of the concert where George Crumb's Star Child was premiered I've been hoping that a recording would be forthcoming. In a sense, this is your typical Crumb work, with it's wild vocalise, it's unusual instrumental effects, it's mixture of tonal and atonal elements, and, most of all, it's aura of ritual and mystery. It also breaks new ground in it's scope (a large orchestra used sparingly) and layering of different musics. I particularly love the duet between the soprano and trombone ("Voices Crying in the Wilderness" indeed!) and the quietly estatic closing, with the strings soaring into their highest range. The guitar work shows a lighter and humorous side of Crumb's art and are a delight, as are the early songs (although there is only a hint of the composer's later style buried in them). Anyone interested in comtemporary music that is both innovative and deeply expressive should check into this disk.

Impressive orchestral work from George Crumb.......1999-12-12

What a perfect way to celebrate the 70th birthday of one of the twentieth century's great composers than with the release of "Star Child".The work starts with quiet string sounds similar to Charles Ives's "the Unanswered Question" and builds to an intense climax as in Crumb's own "Black Angels".The four conductors required for performing the piece make this an unlikely work to appear on standard orchestral programs.This CD is therefore an important documentation of a moving musical experience. Crumb's recent "Mundus Canis" is also heard and shows that the composer is still going strong after a brief creative slowing down in the '80s. This work features the composer performing on percussion with guitarist David Starobin. In addition to being an amusing musical portrait of Crumb's past family pets, the work features new explorations of guitar sounds similar to some of the earlier piano compositions of the '70s. This is a valuable addition to American classical recordings that for the most part contain Minimalist or serial related compositions

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