Vol. 17 BRIDGE 9445 Voices from the Morning of the Earth (American Songbook VI) Ann Crumb, soprano • Randall Scarlata, baritone Orchestra 2001 • James Freeman, conductor An Idyll for the Misbegotten Rachel Rudich, flute • David Colson, Paul Herrick, A.J. Matthews, percussion The Sleeper Ann Crumb, soprano • Marcantonio Barone, piano www.BridgeRecords.com George Crumb GEORGE CRUMB EDITION (b. 1929) The Yellow Moon of Andalusia* (2012) (17:52) Spanish Songbook III for Mezzo-Soprano and Amplified Piano 1) I. Pause of the Clock (3:44) Vol. 16 Vol. 15 Vol. 13 Vol. 12 BRIDGE 9413 BRIDGE 9335 BRIDGE 9275A/B BRIDGE 9261 2) II. Ballad of the Little Square (2:41) 3) III. Casida of the Lament (3:11) 4) IV. Cicada! (2:03) 5) V. Song of the Dead Orange Tree (2:40) 6) VI. In the Forest of Clocks (3:33) Vol. 11 Vol. 10 Vol. 9 Vol. 8 BRIDGE 9253 BRIDGE 9218A/B BRIDGE 9170 BRIDGE 9155 Tony Arnold, soprano • Marcantonio Barone, piano Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik (2001) (18:56) A Little Midnight Music Ruminations on ’Round Midnight by Thelonious Monk for Amplified Piano Vol. 7 Vol. 6 Vol. 5 Vol. 4 BRIDGE 9139 BRIDGE 9127 BRIDGE 9113 BRIDGE 9105 7) I. Nocturnal Theme (1:17) 8) II. Charade (1:27) 9) III. Premonition (1:28) 10) IV. Cobweb and Peaseblossom (Scherzo) (1:47) 11) V. Incantation (3:07) Vol. 3 Vol. 2 Vol. 1 12) VI. Golliwog Revisited (2:35) BRIDGE 9095 BRIDGE 9069 BRIDGE 9028 Vol. 14 13) VII. Blues in the Night (2:32) BRIDGE 9312 2 27 This recording was made possible in part by the generous support of the 14) VIII. Cadenza with Tolling Bells (1:55) National Endowment for the Arts sssssssssssss 15) IX. Midnight Transformation (2:48) Classical Recording Foundation US Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc. Marcantonio Barone, piano American Music Research Center sssssssssssssssssssss New Music USA ssssssssl Celestial Mechanics** (1979, revised 2012) (19:57) This recording is a sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts. Cosmic Dances for Amplified Piano, Four Hands 16) I. Alpha Centauri (3:29) Special Thanks: 17) II. Beta Cygni (3:22) Swarthmore College, Department of Music and Dance: 18) III. Gamma Draconis (5:50) Thomas Whitman (Chairman), Jeanette Honig (Concert and Production Manager) 19) IV. Delta Orionis (7:16) Michael Johns, Gil and Mary Stott Chamber Music Master Class Series, Bill Maguire Quattro Mani: Steven Beck • Susan Grace, piano Colorado College Music Department: Stormy Burns (Music Dept. Coordinator) and Michael Grace (Grace Design: www.gracedesign.com) (Bernie Brink: Third Pianist in Two Passages) Thomas Riis (Director of the American Music Research Center), Laughlin Rice, 20) Yesteryear* (2005, revised 2013) (10:59) Paul Sohmer, Kathryna Barone, John O’Connor A Vocalise for Mezzo-Soprano, Amplified Piano and Percussion Steve Weiss Music, Terry Sikora (Jacobs Music Company) Tony Arnold, soprano • Marcantonio Barone, piano For Bridge Records: Barbara Bersito, Doron Schächter, Casey Siu, David Nelson, percussion • William Kerrigan, percussion Robert Belinić, and Robert Starobin Robert Starobin, webmaster | Email: [email protected] * premiere recording ** premiere recording, revised version Bridge Records, Inc. • 200 Clinton Ave • New Rochelle, NY • 10801 p c www.BridgeRecords.com and 2017, Bridge Records, Inc. • All Rights Reserved • Total Time: 67:56 26 3 The Yellow Moon of Andalusia (Spanish Songbook III) After a hiatus of twenty-two years, George Crumb returned in 2008 to Producer: David Starobin the poetry of Federico García Lorca (1898–1936), composing three Engineer: Adam Abeshouse shorter cycles for solo singer with one or two instruments. All three of Assistant Engineer: David Slitzky the cycles require the singer to play percussion instruments in some Editor: Doron Schächter Mastering and Mix Engineer: Adam Abeshouse movements. In the second and third Spanish Songbooks, Crumb sets Recorded at Swarthmore College, Lang Performing Arts Center on Lorca in English for the first time. The Yellow Moon of Andalusia, June 12, 13, 14, 2016 (Yellow Moon of Andalusia, Eine Kleine completed in late 2012, is the third of the songbooks and the twelfth Mitternachtmusik, Yesteryear) vocal work based on Lorca since Night Music I (1963). Recorded at Packard Hall, Colorado College on August 25, 2016 (Celestial Mechanics) At the beginning and end of Pause of the Clock, the mezzo-soprano Marcantonio Barone Photograph: Robert Starobin strikes a large Chinese cymbal in response to seven fateful strokes Tony Arnold Photograph: Becky Starobin on a wood block held against a metal crossbeam inside the piano. Quattro Mani Photograph: Matt Dine Annotation: Steven Bruns The pianist sustains the mysterious atmosphere with softly strummed Cover Photograph of George Crumb: Robert Starobin chords, delicate harmonics, tonally ambiguous sonorities, and resonant Graphic Design: Casey Siu knocks. The vocal line, initially marked “pale, colorless,” is filled with Piano Technician: Robert Parini (Yellow Moon of Andalusia and sighing semitones. At the climax, the piano represents the “twelve Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik) floating black numerals” of the clock face in a series of chords that Keith Sottovia (Yesteryear) Kevin Stock (Celestial Mechanics) uses all twelve tones of the chromatic scale. Executive Producers: Becky & David Starobin 4 25 David Nelson has made a career of freelance percussion and timpani play- Crumb used lines from Ballad of the Little Square in his second book ing in the Philadelphia area. He is a member of the Philly Pops, Orchestra of Madrigals (1965) and the closing movement of Ancient Voices of 2001, and the Lancaster and Reading Symphony Orchestras, and also per- Children (1970). This song presents another passage—Lorca’s fanciful forms regularly with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Delaware Symphony dialogue between an adult Self and The Children—with joyous “child- Orchestra. Mr. Nelson joined the percussion faculty at West Chester Uni- like insouciance.” Bright piano sonorities and exuberant singing versity in the fall of 2009, and he conducts the Percussion Ensemble and reverberate throughout, and the nostalgia of adulthood intrudes only Pep Band at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. Mr. Nelson was briefly (“A rose of blood and a white lily.”) The “clear stream, serene graduated from Temple University with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Percussion Performance. He studied with Alan Abel, Glenn Steele, and Jona- fountain” refrain recalls the solace of the antique songs of childhood. than Haas, and had additional studies with Cloyd Duff. David Nelson is a Performing Artist for Zildjian Cymbals, Innovative Percussion, and Grover Lorca adapts an ancient Arabic poetic genre in Qasida of the Lament, and Pro Percussion. the plaintive words are sung with quiet simplicity. The pianist evokes eerie weeping by sliding a small glass along the strings while the other hand plays trills and single notes on the keys. The whispered middle sec- tion is accompanied by soft strumming of the bass strings and undulating chromatic harmonics. Using only half of Lorca’s 1918 ode to the Cicada, Crumb imitates his favorite musical insect in the shimmering high-treble piano figures and the quiet jingling of metal wind chimes and Indian ankle bells played by the mezzo-soprano. The singer’s “impetuous ardor” alternates with quieter Sprechstimme and whispered passages, just as Lorca’s luminous imagery hides dark undertones. 24 5 In The Song of the Dead Orange Tree, Crumb revisits Lorca’s poem cert stage, the young virtuoso Steven Beck joined forces with Susan Grace about a barren orange tree, whose lament reflects Lorca’s own regret for concerto performances of one of Quattro Mani’s signature pieces, Paul at being childless. In Book IV of his 1969 Madrigals, the composer Lansky’s Shapeshifters, for two pianos and orchestra. Such was the chemis- translated the torment of illusory copies into music replete with mirrors try of that occasion, Quattro Mani was immediately formed again. Quattro of every kind. In the middle of the present song, inverted replicas Mani’s intense involvement with modern repertoire has led to dedications and collaborations with leading composers, including George Crumb, Joan (marked “delicatissimo, cristalino”) are passed between the pianist’s Tower, Paul Lansky, Poul Ruders, and Frederic Rzewski. Both Susan Grace right and left hands, while the singer’s inexact melodic imitations ask and Steven Beck have earned recognition as soloists and chamber musicians “Why was I born among mirrors?” and now come together to form one of the most dynamic piano duos before the concert-going public. In the Forest of Clocks opens with mechanical, metallic figuration in the high register; with each repetition of this “resounding clockwork,” William Kerrigan has Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music from the singer strikes a large tamtam and small triangle. This music is Temple University. He was a student of Charles Owen and Alan Abel. reminiscent of the glittering cosmic clockwork of The Magic Circle He is Principal Percussionist and Assistant Timpanist of the Delaware of Infinity, from Crumb’s Makrokosmos I for solo piano (1972). The Symphony Orchestra, Principal Percussionist with the Philly Pops, Principal solemn closing section returns to the introspective tone of Pause of Percussionist of Opera Delaware, Leader of The Phil-A-Rhythm Percussion the Clock. By framing this cycle with enigmatic songs about clocks, Quartet, and Timpanist at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul Crumb reminds us of his lifelong fascination with time in all its aspects. in Philadelphia. As Principal Percussionist of Orchestra 2001, he has made recordings for Albany, Centaur, and CRI, as well as recording all of George Eine kleine Mitternachtmusik Crumb’s American Songbooks for Bridge Records. Mr. Kerrigan currently teaches at Eastern University, the Community College of Philadelphia, Settlement Music School, and Swarthmore College. George Crumb composed Eine kleine Mitternachtmusik in 2001, and the Mozartian allusion in the title reminds us of his fascination with 6 23 recitalist, Mr.