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Tag: Black Angels

George Crumb’s “Black Angels”: Halloween’s Dark Sound
In New York the other night at Old John’s Luncheonette, prior to catching a performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 8 with the New Conductors Orchestra, I was asked by my companion for the evening, the filmmaker H. Paul Moon, off the top of my head, for the quintessential piece of Halloween music. With my back to the wall, I blurted out George Crumb’s “Black Angels.”

This spinetingling piece, for electric string quartet, has lived in my head and fired my imagination for some 40 years. The first time I ever encountered it was on George Diehl’s “Music Through the Centuries,” on Philadelphia’s late, lamented classical music station, WFLN. Diehl, one time program director of the station, who also provided program notes for the Philadelphia Orchestra, engagingly introduced Crumb’s otherworldly, often hair-raising piece by placing it in context, deftly illuminating its structure, and supplementing it with recordings of other works referenced within. This was fascinating radio. I have no hesitation in crediting “Music Through the Centuries” as a principal influence on my own radio show, “The Lost Chord.” So, thank you, George Diehl, wherever you are!

Sure, “Black Angels,” subtitled “Thirteen Images from the Dark Land,” was conceived as a reaction to the Vietnam War, but real-life horrors aside, this is one haunting, magical piece. It’s not for nothing that it was embraced by David Bowie, that it inspired David Harrington to form the Kronos Quartet (after he too encountered it on the radio), and that William Friedkin included a passage in “The Exorcist.”

There are references to Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden,” Tartini’s “The Devil’s Trill,” and the medieval plainchant “Dies Irae” (“Day of Wrath”) – quoted in so many works by Berlioz, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and others, as well as making an appearance under the opening credits of Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining.”

But it was not Crumb’s intention to evoke jeering demons, necessarily. The composer saw it as “a kind of parable on our troubled contemporary world. The numerous quasi-programmatic allusions in the work are therefore symbolic, although the essential polarity – God versus Devil – implied more than a purely metaphysical reality. The image of the ‘black angel’ was a conventional device used by early painters to symbolize the fallen angel.”

Its thirteen movements are divided into three larger groups.

I. Departure
1. Threnody I: Night of the Electric Insects (tutti)
2. Sounds of Bones and Flutes (trio)
3. Lost Bells (duo)
4. Devil-music (solo)
5. Danse Macabre (duo)
II. Absence
1. Pavana Lachrymae (trio)
2. Threnody II: Black Angels! (tutti)
3. Sarabanda de la Muerte Oscura (trio)
4. Lost Bells (Echo) (duo)
III. Return
1. God-music (solo)
2. Ancient Voices (duo)
3. Ancient Voices (Echo) (trio)
4. Threnody III: Night of the Electric Insects (tutti)
Each player is required to play a variety of instruments and to employ extended techniques.

Violin 1

• maraca
• 7 crystal glasses
• 6″ glass rod
• 2 metal thimbles
• metal pick (paper clip)

Violin 2

• 15″ suspended tam-tam and mallet
• contrabass bow (for use on tam-tam)
• 7 crystal glasses
• 6″ glass rod
• 2 metal thimbles
• metal pick (paper clip)

Viola

• 6 crystal glasses
• 6″ glass rod
• 2 metal thimbles
• metal pick

Cello

• maraca
• 24″ suspended tam-tam, soft and hard mallets
• contrabass bow

Of course, Crumb was more than simply a “Halloween” composer, though his music can be creepy as hell. Many of his chamber works, especially those that employ percussion and voice, are models of economy and elegance. I always think of him as a kind of spiritual descendent of Charles Ives, in that many of the curious sonorities he explored, especially in the context of his song settings, seem to suggest truths beyond our workaday concerns.

That said, here’s some sensational Crumb to play when you’re alone with the lights out.

Crumb died last year at the age of 92. Remembering him, blackly, on his birthday.

“Black Angels” in concert

“Black Angels” with score

“A Haunted Landscape”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWa4eXg-Jdo

“Star-Child” (Watch out for that “Musica Apocalyptica,” beginning at 11:47!)

“Ancient Voices of Children” in concert (“Ghost Dance” at 17:55)

George Crumb was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1968, for “Echoes of Time and the River,” and a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Composition in 2001, rather appropriately, for “Star-Child.” All or most of his music is available in the “Complete Crumb Edition,” an ongoing project on Bridge Records, Inc.
October 24, 2023
George Crumb Halloween Haunt

It is fortuitous indeed that George Crumb’s birthday falls so close to Halloween. It’s not for nothing that his work for electric string quartet, “Black Angels,” was used in “The Exorcist” (though it was actually inspired by the Vietnam War).

It’s a piece I first encountered on a Friday night radio show, called “Music Through the Centuries,” broadcast on Philadelphia’s now-defunct classical music station, WFLN. The host, George Diehl, was at one time WFLN’s program director, if you can believe it. He also provided program notes for the Philadelphia Orchestra. I credit his show with having inspired my own radio program, “The Lost Chord,” on WWFM The Classical Network.)

What made this particular episode so indelible (I heard it probably 35 years ago) is that Diehl introduced Crumb’s otherworldly, often hair-raising quartet by placing it in context, deftly illuminating its structure, and supplementing it with recordings of other works referenced within the piece. It was fascinating radio.

Also, having cut my teeth on the station’s usual, more traditional fare, my mind was officially blown. “Black Angels” scared the hell out of me and enthralled me completely. I immediately determined to pick up everything I could find by George Crumb.

A few years later, I heard “A Haunted Landscape” on a Philadelphia Orchestra concert, with William Smith conducting. On the same program was Maurice Ravel’s “Le tombeau de Couperin” and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “A London Symphony!” By then, I already owned the work’s first recording, with Arthur Weisberg conducting the New York Philharmonic.

Crumb didn’t compose that many orchestral works. He was more like a master jeweler, working in miniature, and revealing a surprising number of facets in his unique – and uniquely memorable – creations.

Of course, he was more than just a “horror” composer, though his music could be creepy as hell. Many of his chamber works, especially those that employ percussion and voice, are models of economy and elegance. I always think of him as a kind of spiritual descendent of Charles Ives, in that many of the curious sonorities he explored, especially in the context of his song settings, seem to suggest truths beyond our workaday concerns.

That said, here’s some sensational Crumb to play when you’re alone with the lights out.

Happy birthday, George Crumb!

“Black Angels” in concert

“Black Angels” with score

“A Haunted Landscape”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWa4eXg-Jdo

“Star-Child” (Watch out for that “Musica Apocalyptica,” beginning at 11:47!)

“Ancient Voices of Children” in concert (“Ghost Dance” at 17:55)

October 24, 2022
Remembering George Crumb American Original

I am very sorry to learn of the passing of George Crumb, a composer I have revered for nearly 40 years, since I first encountered his work for electric string quartet, “Black Angels,” on Philadelphia’s now-defunct classical music station, WFLN. The music scared the hell out of me and completely enthralled me.

The context was a Friday night radio show, “Music Through the Centuries,” hosted by George Diehl. Diehl was at one time WFLN’s program director. He also provided program notes for the Philadelphia Orchestra. “Music Through the Centuries” was a big influence on my own Sunday night program (on WWFM The Classical Network), “The Lost Chord.”

What made this particular episode so indelible is that Diehl introduced a recording of Crumb’s otherworldly, often hair-raising quartet – a reaction to the Vietnam War – by deftly placing it in context, illuminating its structure, and supplementing it with recordings of other works referenced within the piece.

Having cut my teeth on the station’s usual, more traditional fare, my mind was officially blown. It’s not for nothing that William Friedkin incorporated “Black Angels” into “The Exorcist.” I immediately determined to pick up everything I could find on LP, and my enthusiasm continued into the CD era.

The first time I met Crumb was at a recital at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He was there attending a student recital in the company of Richard Wernick. It just so happened that I lived about a block away, so I was able to dash home and retrieve a CD on Bridge Records that contained works by both composers. Both were on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania. Both were Pulitzer Prize winners.

I caught them as they were leaving the building, and Crumb, likely nonplussed by this 20 year-old autograph hound, was kind enough to sign. Wernick, who of course was with him, couldn’t very well say no. I was a little sheepish about it, and probably didn’t say much of worth. At best, I may have provided a source of amusement on their walk back to the car.

It was another 20 years, then, I think, before I saw him again (although he may have been present when I heard his orchestral work, “A Haunted Landscape,” played by Philadelphia Orchestra in 1989, part of a knockout program also featuring Ravel’s “Le tombeau de Couperin” and Vaughan Williams’ “A London Symphony”). By that time, he had entered his “Grand Old Man of American Music” phase. Furthermore, he was closely affiliated with Orchestra 2001, a contemporary music ensemble founded at Swarthmore College, practically in Crumb’s back yard. Orchestra 2001 gave first performances of many of his later pieces.

Among these were the seven cycles for voice and percussion that comprise his “American Songbook.” These are highly individual recastings of folk songs and hymns he recollected from his boyhood in West Virginia – especially effective, and affecting, when heard in concert, where the breadth and subtlety of the instrumentation can be fully appreciated.

His daughter, Broadway actress Ann Crumb, was a frequent soloist. During this time, I got to meet them both and to speak with them under more relaxed circumstances, at cocktail hours and receptions. They were lovely people. George was unfailingly approachable, good-humored, soft-spoken, and surprisingly modest. Ann, who died much too young at 69, was warm and genuine and a real animal lover. She was always bringing home strays, so that the Crumb household was full of dogs (the most notorious being “bad dog” Yoda).

It is perhaps an overused description, but George Crumb truly was an American original. He produced works with an economy and elegance that seemed to contradict – and yet, somehow, paradoxically, to reinforce – an Ivesian tendency to suggest greater vistas beyond their seemingly modest means. In the process, he anticipated the widespread proliferation of the percussion ensemble, which is now practically analogous to what the string quartet was to the 18th and 19th centuries.

No matter how “respectable” he’s become, my own reactions will always be colored by that flush of youth, when I first fell under the spell of his eerie and at times horrifying invention.

George Crumb was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1968, for “Echoes of Time and the River,” and a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Composition in 2001, rather appropriately, for “Star-Child.” All or most of his music is available in the “Complete Crumb Edition,” an ongoing project on Bridge Records, Inc.

The composer died at his home earlier today at the age of 92.

Thank you, sir, and R.I.P.

“Black Angels” in concert

“Black Angels” with score

“Ancient Voices of Children” in concert

“Star-Child”

Crumb talks about “Mundus Canis;” performs “Fritzi” with guitarist David Starobin

“Yoda” (from “Mundus Canis”)

From “American Songbook,” sung by Ann Crumb:

“Shall We Gather at the River”

“All the Pretty Horses”

“Poor Wayfaring Stranger”

“One More River to Cross”

“Give Me That Old Time Religion”

Crumb interviewed by Gilbert Kalish

Crumb at his home in 2020 (with yet more pooches)

February 7, 2022
George Crumb American Original at 90

George Crumb is an American original, the reigning Grand Old Man of American Music. Crumb, who makes his home in Swarthmore, PA, produces works with an economy and elegance that seem to contradict – and yet, somehow, paradoxically, to reinforce – an Ivesian tendency to suggest greater vistas beyond their seemingly modest means.

On a more visceral level, sometimes they can be downright scary. Which is especially amusing since, by all accounts – and supported by my own experience, having met him perhaps five or six times – he has been unfailingly approachable, modest and even cheerful.

It’s fortuitous indeed that his birthday falls so close to Hallowe’en. It’s not for nothing that his work for electric string quartet, “Black Angels,” was used in “The Exorcist.”

Crumb has enjoyed a remarkable Indian summer, drawing on the hymns and folk songs of his West Virginia boyhood and lending them a unique resonance through his imaginative and colorful use of percussion. These are collected into seven cycles for voice titled “American Songbook” – remarkably effective and affecting works, especially when heard live in concert, where the breadth and subtlety of the instrumentation can be fully appreciated.

Just because you’ve been pigeonholed as an avant-gardist doesn’t mean your music can’t be fun. “Mundus Canis” (“A Dog’s World”) is a musical portrait gallery for guitar and percussion inspired by the Crumbs’ family pets. Five of them are enshrined in the suite: Tammy, Fritzi, Heidel, Emma-Jean and Yoda. Apparently Yoda, a fluffy white mixed-breed, adopted from a New York City pound, was especially disobedient.

“Mundis Canis”

Many happy returns to George Crumb on his 90th birthday!

“Black Angels” (wait until after breakfast)

From his “American Songbook:”

“All the Pretty Horses”

“Poor Wayfaring Stranger”

“One More River to Cross”

“Give Me That Old Time Religion”

PHOTO: George Crumb with “bad dog” Yoda

October 24, 2019
George Crumb Turns 86 American Original

Today is the 86th birthday of George Crumb. Crumb is another one of our great American originals, perhaps the reigning Grand Old Man of American Music. He produces works with an economy and elegance that seem to contradict and yet, somehow, paradoxically, to reinforce an Ivesian tendency to suggest greater vistas beyond their seemingly modest means.

On a more visceral level, sometimes he can be downright scary. Which is especially amusing, since by all accounts – as well as on the perhaps five or six occasions I have met him – he has been unfailingly approachable, modest and even cheerful.

It’s fortuitous indeed that his birthday falls so close to Hallowe’en. It’s not for nothing that his work for electric string quartet, “Black Angels,” was used in “The Exorcist.”

In the last 15 years or so, Crumb has been enjoying a productive Indian summer, mining the hymns and folk songs of his West Virginia boyhood, lending them a unique resonance through his imaginative and colorful use of percussion.

Happy birthday, George Crumb!

“Black Angels”:

From his “American Songbook,” “All the Pretty Horses”:

And “Poor Wayfaring Stranger”:

PHOTOS: George Crumb (left) with The Exorcist’s Pazuzu

October 24, 2015

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