George Crumb – Black Angels- Departure (Kronos quartet)

Despite the severity of the opening passages there is lyricism at the musics core. Its bittersweet, terrifying, surreal and expressionistic…much more agitated and energetic than the rest of the Black Angles pieces.

While listening to music, its always rewarding experience to hear something that sounds fresh and new, some of the music I love the most is that which opens up new possibilities or pushes instruments beyond my expectation or knowledge. That excitement of hearing new effects, sounds that you’ve never heard before, that is what keeps me enthralled with contemporary music. A big thanks again to Mr. Crumb, his work is most definitely appreciated.

George Crumb - Dances of Ancient Earth

I really like George Crumb. Some part of his aesthetics really clicked with me immediately, which is rare for any kind of music. I get it, in a sense, i see it, where its going and i can appreciate it. Dances of Ancient Earth is part of his masterpiece Ancient Voices of Children, a wonderful and rich exploration of the possibilities of sound. Some of the songs in ancient voices are covered in a blanket of quiet (done explicitly to highlight the experience of some isolated pitches)- but this dance is quite energetic, and very audibly structural. Some of the other pieces of ancient voices can be a little too spacious for my tastes, sometimes, but often i find myself in the mood to listen to several of the "spacious" songs. This one is different, along several others (Music of the Starry Night (Makrokosmos III) etc) it will be on the anytime/anywhere playlist.

Despite the sometimes radical language, i still hear Debussy's spiritual influence- maybe thats why i can appreciate his music so easily. George Crumb has done all us music fans a favor by writing up his own descriptions of the piece on his website.