Complete Crumb Edition, Vol. 8; Makrokosmos Books I & II, Otherwordly Resonances

George Crumb (Performer), Robert Shannon (Performer), Quattro Mani (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: George Crumb, Robert Shannon, Quattro Mani
• Audio CD (September 28, 2004)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Bridge
• ASIN: B0002W18OI
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #170,892 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

The latest volume in BRIDGE'S award-winning survey of George Crumb complete works presents a new recording of a major Crumb cycle and the premiere of a new composition for two pianos. Makrokosmos I and II have come to be regarded as landmark compositions in the piano repertoire, requiring the pianist to display a virtuoso's control of both the keyboard and the inside of the piano. In addition, the performer is asked to whistle, speak, and sing, while simultaneously playing some of the most dramatic and fantasy-filled piano music of the late twentieth century. Robert Shannon, a leading exponent of Crumb's music, gives the 67 minute cycle of 24 "zodiac" pieces a spectacular reading. The duo piano team, Quattro Mani, has also had a long association with Crumb's music, and can be heard playing Crumb's music on BRIDGE 9105, a disc that received ‘Best of Year' honors from Fanfare, and highest ratings from France's Repertoire, and the USA's ClassicsToday.com. ! In 2002, Crumb composed "Otherworldy Resonances", a 10 minute quasi-passacaglia for Quattro Mani. Based on a hypnotic four-note motif, this 10 minute composition marks Crumb's return to writing piano music after a hiatus of nearly 15 years. Both of these recordings, as with the rest of this series, were supervised by the composer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Close to perfect, May 28, 2007

By 

Michael Suh - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Complete Crumb Edition, Vol. 8; Makrokosmos Books I & II, Otherwordly Resonances (Audio CD)

The first book of Makrokosmos was my introduction to Crumb's music and despite hearing about half of his entire output now, it still remains my favorite. The title is closely related and pratcially ripped off from Bartok's Mikrokosmos, but they're nothing alike. Mikrokosmos is a set of progressive studies for children to learn piano. These are most certainly not exercises. They're much more like Debussy's Preludes -- 2 books of 12 brutally hard pieces that have short descriptions by the composer.

I once read a comment by Michael Walsh (music critic for Time Magazine) claiming that Makrokosmos is better if performed by a man. In general, I think he's right -- the shouting and speaking from the pianist in the various pieces just carry more gravitas with a deeper voice. I would also add the caveat that it should be an English-speaking pianist, too -- the recording of Bojan Gorisek on Audiophile Classics (if it's out there anymore) has its distractions thanks to Gorisek's heavy Slavic accent.

Since the recording here has an American man playing, and it's superb. It's not good because he's a man and he's American, but because the whole package is here. The recording quality and phrasing is excellent -- Mr. Shannon paces things perfectly so that you can hear and savor the resoanance that comes from inside the piano. The nutty piano techniques show their edge amazingly well -- for example, in the Phantom Gondolier movement, you can just imagine how hard Mr. Shannon scrapes his thimble-capped fingers on the strings inside the piano to produce the hair-raising sounds. Book 2, which I like less, also comes up a winner. It feels a little recycled after going through the 35 minutes of Book 1, but how often can one hear a coherent piece that demonstrates the effect of placing paper on strings of the piano?

My one gripe is that Mr. Shannon is not a strong vocalist. In some parts of both books, the score asks for "shouting" from the pianist, and he comes up quite short. In the Crucifixus movement of Book 1, his shout of "Christe!" is hardly the jolting climax from the depths of a deathly silence it's supposed to be. And this happens on several occasions. His whistling isn't bad, though.

Otherwordly Resonances seems quaint after getting through the string-plucking and knocking in Makrokosmos. It's pleasant enough, but it definitely takes second fiddle to the headliner on this CD. Which is a shame, because the performers of this work, Quattro Mani, do amazing things with the Makrokosmos III and IV on other Crumb CDs.

I wish Mr. Crumb would have made more comments about what techniques he actually used in his works. Without a score to look at (and they're HUGE, awkward, and expensive), how on earth is anyone supposed to know what we're listening to? The sounds generated from a prepared piano are just as interesting as learning how to prepare the piano in the first place.

I still think this CD is fabulous. It shows Elliott Carter's garbled messes from the same period have some worthy competition.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you consider this "nonsense", you obviously aren't even paying attention, May 1, 2011

By 

Just a student - See all my reviews

This review is from: Complete Crumb Edition, Vol. 8; Makrokosmos Books I & II, Otherwordly Resonances (Audio CD)

There is this deadly stereotype about patrons of "new music" that suggests that they are more left brained than right brained. I hear people claim that the music is nothing but math, new music patrons don't get emotional responses from their music, etc. That is absolute bull. When listening to Makrokosmos, I feel the same emotion that I would while listening to Chopin, Bach, Tchaikovsky, or anyone else that I like. It is music with incredibly identifiable elements to tie it all together. There are people who think that, because some of these elements aren't obvious and at the foreground, the music is bad. It is not. It is among the most emotionally engaging music that there is. If you don't like it, okay. I cannot tell you how to feel about music. However, to say that the music is "bad" is, more or less, completely ignorant.

On the recording in question, Robert Shannon does an absolutely top notch job. One of my favorite albums. My only complaint comes from the vocal passages (like in the Phantom Gondolier). The execution sounds a little cheesy, but I guess you can't help how your voice sounds. Otherwise, this is one of my favorite albums.

1 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Nonsense of the highest artistic calibre, March 23, 2010

By 

Jeff P - See all my reviews

This review is from: Complete Crumb Edition, Vol. 8; Makrokosmos Books I & II, Otherwordly Resonances (Audio CD)

Makrokosmos is not music, it is academic dribble that disguises itself under a artistic pseudo-rationale. Anyone who has ever sat at the piano and just thumped out random clusters of notes is in effect doing what George Crumb has done with this so-called "composition." There are no themes, no movement, no development, and most notably of all there is no structure of any kind. Exploring novel timbres by using the instrument in new and provocative ways is, I think, a noble pursuit, but to just indiscriminately bombard the listener with irrelevant sound and try justify it with some type of spurious justification like the presentation of emotional textures that explore the "possibilities of piano idiom" is ridiculous. If Crumb had any real ability as a composer he would take these new timbres and utilize them into the formation of proper melodies or at least present them in a way that illustrated a well developed structure and progression of ideas. Let me say this, if you truly want to hear/understand (on a more intuitive level) why Crumb is a bad composer, do the following: Listen to Makrokosmos and then listen to any late work of Arnold Schoenberg (Schoenberg: Piano Works). Both composers ignore the typical harmonic conventions of western music, but the latter one employs a actual compositional intellect. If, however, you do like Crumb's music then perhaps you might also like the Thai Elephant Orchestra.