Blog Layout
How do you assess the historical importance of a "contemporary composer"?
Feb 28, 2013
"I believe that music surpasses even language in its power to reflect the innermost recesses of the human soul." George Crumb
"In a broader sense, the rhythms of nature, large and small - the sounds of wind and water, the sounds of birds and insects - must inevitably find their analogues in music." George Crumb
"In a broader sense, the rhythms of nature, large and small - the sounds of wind and water, the sounds of birds and insects - must inevitably find their analogues in music." George Crumb
This month (February), I have been working on my piece for March. I will be posting this very soon and because of this, I wanted to continue first and separately with my reflections on certain influences and interests, which seem to be taking an alphabetical swing.
So, no new piece from me this post, although in casting my mind over “c”, I thought back on my piece for February last year.
I hope you will enjoy these pieces again... and, that you will also enjoy some music of the composer to whom I refer below and with whom the “time spent” I consider important and formative in my musical development (even though I do not consider my musical style to be specifically, you might say even remotely, influenced by him).
In 1989, I completed a dissertation assessment of the music of the American composer George Crumb (born 24th October 1929). I found it a fascinating exercise, not only because it unleashed to me a veritable treasure trove of highly exciting and innovative music and performance, but also it raised something of a challenge in the sense of attempting to assess the compositional style and historical importance of a “contemporary” composer. How do you assess the value of innovation if it has not stood the test of time? The fact that relatively few years separated me from many of the achievements in question, gave an odd perspective and degree of dilemma to understanding their musicological impact. Indeed, introducing my essay, I acknowledged that a definitive evaluation of the subject would not be possible, but that nonetheless judgments of worth could be made by investigating the constituents of the composer’s musical style, thus discerning whether or not his compositions display originality, quality and integrity, which would lend understanding to the composer’s position in the immediate contemporary cultural milieu and further on into history. And with importance and relevance to the progression of my blog this year, I realise that - as well as simply enjoying the superb musical output - listening to, learning about and attempting to understand and evaluate the works of the great wealth of developing contemporary composers today continues to interest me.
With best wishes
Anna Ferro - February 2013
At the time of my research on George Crumb, no absolutely comprehensive full scale study (with the exception of modest number of academic papers) had been published, but Crumb’s music had by then stimulated widespread journalistic attention from which, interestingly, it seemed that Crumb’s music had evoked disparate, contradictory and inconsistent responses, some whimsical, some coolly analytical, some arguably deprecating. It appeared to me, however, that all commentators recognised something unique in Crumb’s music, which I too appreciated. In a similar vein to my encounters around this time with the music of composers such as Debussy, Boulez and Takemitsu, I felt that in the works of George Crumb I was identifying a “new music” voice which merited and would continue to develop report in the establishment of music history. And now, there is no doubting George Crumb’s place in music history.
So what really grabbed me about this man and his music. Well for one, Crumb’s interest in foreign languages - apparently acquiring eventually some ability in Spanish, German, French and Italian (same here!) but remaining frustrated with his inability to speak any of these with fluency, explaining that the “musical ear” differs from the “language ear” - was an instant ice-breaker! If you are not already familiar with the music of George Crumb, then I recommend that you take a listen and a look .. and I do not say “look” lightly! Crumb’s scores are visually very interesting. A few, such as Spiral Galaxy (from Makrokosmos Vol I) and Twin Suns (from Makrokosmos Vol II) and Star Child are familiar to some in their art-form even if the viewer has never heard the work performed.
But there is much, more more. I made my assessment, in addition to considering the more fundamentally musical aspects of Crumb’s style, in eight “Elements” (Chapters): the Element of Sound, of Drama, of Meaning, of Text, of Allusion, of Time, of Visual Beauty, of Structure. I was excited by Crumb’s ingenious handling of a rich vocabulary of imaginative and often unconventional sonorities, and his apparent and unwavering interest in using different vocal and instrumental techniques (including dental tremolo, over-blowing, multiphonics) to create a unique sound world, delighting in his use of unusual percussion instruction (Tibetan prayer stones, alto African thumb piano “mbira”, Japanese kabuki blocks, Cagean “water gong” in Night of the Four Moons). I was struck by the immense theatricality of live performance of Crumb’s larger works - Lux aeterna score details the wearing of “black masks (half masks of the visor or domino type) and if possible, black robes. A single burning candle should be positioned at stage center. The stage should be as dark or as dim as possible.. the Flutist and sitarist should sit in the lotus position. A solo dancer (also masked) can be used..the lighted candle might serve as a focal point for the dancer, like a moth attracted to a flame”. It became clear to me however that Crumb’s expanded timbral resources and ritualistic theatricals were not aimed at sensationalism, but form part an essential part of Crumb’s compositional objective: for him, the primary purpose of music is to act as a medium through which one can investigate the transcendental meaning of life. I saw that Crumb’s arrival at a unique form of musical expression suitable to support a philosophical framework was for a period stimulated by texts drawn from the haunting, elemental poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca, themes which Crumb came to call his “ur-concepts”, and subsequently by allusion to structures or constructs in thought systems (numerology, religion, archaeology, astronomy, evolution, metaphysics), in titles, in performance instructions, in musical quotations.. and in “time”.. Crumb in certain works seeks to objectify time, to give time dimension within his music, suspending, progressing, freezing time, allowing it to move on, even bending time backwards through musical quotation amongst free atonality. And all this achieved through “eye-music” scores of breathtaking visual beauty, imbued with context and intended meaning.
My appraisal led me to understand that for George Crumb the compositional process is not purely involvement in the symbols and sounds of music but also a personal spiritual quest by which he seeks not to astonish his listeners but to enrich them through an aesthetic process which he controls completely. Crumb’s confidence in process, purpose and individuality are qualities which I consider have placed Crumb as a significant figure in recent music history. I side-step here the coin “post avant-garde” deployed in relation to Crumb’s music by Cope in his New Direction in Music, 1976: I am hesitant about the use of such labels which often seem irrelevant in the ever-evolving language of modern “contemporary” music. But, musicological labels aside, it is the qualities which I have identified in the music of George Crumb which I am excited and privileged to have encountered in the current contemporary music scene: I believe that these qualities coupled with persistence, energy, and integrity are as important as the musical content of each score for a young composer to succeed in their musical assignment and to achieve the concentration and quality of oeuvre which will place them in our history books for future generations to discover and enjoy.
A few Crumb tasters (with all acknowledgements and credits due courtesy of YouTube):-
Five pieces for piano http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rEB2TGx0zU and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqYJsZbJDB4
Madrigals I and II http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr8o-bcOAQ0 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FDkNeAjErM
Black Angels for electric string quartet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV6BeeoX474 (Night of the Electric insects)
Ancient Voices of Chidlren http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiVil5-CVLA (1)
Vox Balanae http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uU_5cg9dG8
Famous for his works as sculptor, painter, architect, and engineer and not least for painting the Sistine Chapel and his sculpture Pieta and of David, the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, commonly known as Michelangelo (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564) was also a prolific poet, in his lifetime penning more than 300 sonnets and madrigals. Within his collection of 78 beautiful Petrarchan Sonnets lies an eloquent and always magnificent glimpse of man's struggle within himself with love, pain, guilt, and God, a sense of struggling to break out, perhaps like his sculptures, where art is not created but freed, and a sense too of always getting close, but never quite attaining what is desired. The “Four sketches after the Sonnets of Michaelangelo” draw upon four of Michaelangelo’s sonnets in lyrical response to the imagery and sentiment of the great artist’s poetry, from passionate love to intense remorse, in grief and faith, and upon art and beauty. Each sketch takes its title from a theme or reference in the sonnet itself. The images on the video for the “Four sketches” treat four of Michaelangelo’s drawings which chart an unceasing quest to find poses that would most eloquently express the emotional and spiritual state of his subjects for his artwork. Most of Michelangelo's drawings were never intended to be exhibited and he apparently destroyed a large number before he died, probably to prevent them from falling into other hands. However, the drawings offer a unique insight into how the artist worked and thought and are beautiful artworks in their own right. (AF June 2015) “Four sketches after the Sonnets of Michaelangelo” for solo piano - composed and performed by Anna Ferro Sketch I - “As from fire” - after Sonnet XXVIII Sketch II - “The moon’s illumination” after Sonnett XXX Sketch III - “The love-knot” - after Sonnet XXXII Sketch IV - “Make of my sunset” - after Sonnet XLVIII (mp3s and pdfs can be downloaded on my main music page) Sketch I - “As from fire” - after Sonnet XXVIII The living portion of my love is not My heart; the love which I love has not Heart, for in human hearts things means and low Always exist, in impulse or in thought. Love which came, like the soul, from God’s own hands Made me without eyes, made you full of light; That light cannot be seen in what death ends - The mortal part which hurts me with delight Just as from fire the heat cannot be parted, Neither can I be separated from That Beauty in who lifeness she is made. Ardent, I run to joys which cannot fade, That paradise where your own beauty started, Eternal loveliness from which you come. Sketch II - “The moon’s illumination” after Sonnett XXX This glorious light I see with your own eyes Since mine are blind and will not let me see. Your feet lend me their own security To carry burdens far beyond my size. Supported by your wings I now am sped, And by your spirit to heaven I am borne. According to your will, I’m pale or red - Hot in the harshest winter, cold in the sun. All my own longings wait upon your will, Within your heart my thoughts find formulation, Upon your breath alone my words find speech. Just as the moon owes its illumination To the sun’s light, so I am blind until To every part of heaven your rays will reach. Sketch III - “The love-knot” - after Sonnet XXXII If love is chaste, if pity comes from heaven, If fortune, good or ill, is shared between Two equal loves, and if one wish can govern Two hearts, and nothing evil intervene: If one soul joins two bodies fast for ever, And if, on the same wings, thee two can fly, And if one dart of love can pierce and sever The vital organs of both equally: If both love one another with the same Passion, and if each other’s good is sought By both, if taste and pleasure and desire Bind such a faithful love-knot, who can claim, Either with envy, scorn, contempt or ire, The power to untie so fast a knot? Sketch IV - “Make of my sunset” - after Sonnet XLVIII Though long delay breeds greater tenderness Than our desires in youth can ever know, Still I regret my love’s belatedness - That passion has so short a time to go. Heaven is perverse indeed if in its care For us it still can set old hearts on fire. This is the fate which I must accept and bear - To love a woman with a sad desire. Yet maybe when the sun sinks in the west And the end of the day is reached, I can at least Be in the greater dark a single shade. If love has come to me when life must fade, If I desire, though death must touch me soon, Of, of my sunset, Lady make my noon! (as translated by E Jennings)
“ St Agnes Eve” is a four-movement piece for solo piano inspired by and drawing upon the well-known poem “The Eve of St Agnes” by English Romantic poet John Keats (31 October 1795 - 23 February 1821). The poem (link below) was written in 1819 and published in 1820 and is in 42 Spenserian stanzas (the fixed verse form invented by Edmund Spenser for his epic poem The Faerie Queene). It is abundant in its description and imagery. Some commentators view the poem as Keats' celebration of his first and only experience of romance. It was written not long after Keats and Fanny Brawne had fallen in love. Keats based his poem on the superstition that a girl could see her future husband in a dream if she performed certain rituals on the eve of St. Agnes (20th January) being the evening before the feast of St Agnes (21st January). By the rituals, a girl would go to bed without any supper, undress herself and lie on her bed, naked, with her hands under the pillow, looking up to the heavens and not to look behind. Then her proposed husband would appear in her dream, kiss her, and feast with her. The movements of the Sonata follow the course of the poem:- Movement I - "St Agnes Eve" shares its title with the piece itself and evokes the scene at the medieval castle on the Eve of the Feast day, as young, beautiful Madeline retires to bed, to perform the rituals of which she has been told, hoping for sweet and enchanted dreams of love from the knight Porphyro for whom she pines, "On love, and wing'd St. Agnes' saintly care,/ As she had heard old dames full many times declare" and Porphyro, who is in love with Madeline himself, braves entry to the castle. The pulsing chords towards the final section of the movement allude to those which form the basis of the third movement. Movement II - "The Morphean Amulet" evokes Madeline undressing and her ritual preparation for her descent to sleep, unware that Porphyro has managed to gain entry to her room and is concealed and watching her from inside the closet. The music moves carefully and deliberately from upper to lower register. "In sort of wakeful swoon, perplex'd she lay/Until the poppied warmth of sleep oppress'd/ Her soothed limbs, and soul fatigued away". The title of the movement draws on Porphyro's subsequent call for a ‘Morphean amulet’, a sleep inducing charm, to prevent Madeline from awakening... Movement III - "I dream of Porphyro" evokes the moment when, after beholding Madeline asleep, Porphyro has crept forth from the closet to prepare Madeline a feast of rare delicacies and has entered her bed, received by Madeline seeing Porphyro as in her dream. "The blisses of her dream so pure and deep", Madeline's sleep becomes the sleep of enchantment and Porphyro fills her dreams. Movement IV - "Lovers' Flight": evokes the lovers' rapid departure from the castle when Madeline awakens fully, realizes what has occurred and Porphyro declares his love for her ... "Awake! arise! my love, and fearless be, / For o'er the southern moors I have a home for thee." The images in the video are the composer's graphic response to the poem. Here is a link to the full text of Keats' "The Eve of St. Agnes" http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173735
The sonata alludes to the tragic story of the lovers, Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Rimini who were slain by Francesca's outraged husband, as recounted in Canto V of Dante's Inferno which describes how their passion grew as they read together the story of Lancelot and Guinevere, and how they were condemned to the second circle of hell. The story was a popular subject with artists and sculptors from the late 18th century onwards. In 1854, the English artist and sculptor G.F. Watts exhibited his moving first version of Paolo and Francesca at the British Institution, thought to have inspired Rossetti in his three section portrayal of the lovers. Watts revisited the subject 4 times over a period of around 30 years. Rodin's beautiful sculpture "The Kiss" depicts the couple in sweet embrace. William Blake too immortalizes the couple in his engravings. Here, the Sonata for solo violin and piano in 3 movements takes specific inspiration from the 4th and final depiction by Watts which was described by one Art Journal critic as "one of the master’s crowning achievements" (1882). Each movement is headed by an excerpt from Dante's Inferno. The video accompanying the piece shows three graphic variations based on the painting entitled "Paolo and Francesca: after G.F.Watts" (by Anna Ferro). Mvt I : Love, which can quickly seize the gentle heart Mvt II : Love, which exempts no beloved from loving Mvt III : Love led the two of us unto one death "Amor, ch’al cor gentil ratto s’apprende, prese costui de la bella persona che mi fu tolta; e ’l modo ancor m’offende. "Amor, ch’a nullo amato amar perdona, mi prese del costui piacer sì forte, che, come vedi, ancor non m’abbandona. "Amor condusse noi ad una morte. Caina attende chi a vita ci spense». "Love, which can quickly seize the gentle heart Seized this man for the beautiful person Snatched from me: how it happened still appalls me! "Love, which exempts no beloved from loving Seized me so strongly with my pleasure in him That, as you see, it still does not leave me. " Love led the two of us unto one death. Caina awaits him who extinguished our lives."
