Celebrating an American composer.Byline: Fred Crafts The Register-Guard "Echoes of Time and the River" won the 1968 Pulitzer Prize Pulitzer Prize Any of a series of annual prizes awarded by Columbia University for outstanding public service and achievement in American journalism, letters, and music. Fellowships are also awarded. for celebrated American composer George Crumb
The work is the centerpiece of a three-concert commemorative series during the Composers' Symposium section (Tuesday through July 9) of the Oregon Bach Festival The Oregon Bach Festival is an annual celebration of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, held in Eugene, Oregon in late June and early July. It was co-founded by German conductor Helmuth Rilling and the former president of the American Choral Directors Association, Royce Saltzman, . "Black Angels" was commissioned in 1970 by the University of Michigan (body, education) University of Michigan - A large cosmopolitan university in the Midwest USA. Over 50000 students are enrolled at the University of Michigan's three campuses. The students come from 50 states and over 100 foreign countries. , where Crumb had done his doctoral work. Faced with writing for the school's quartet-in-residence, Crumb admits by phone from his home in Media, Penn., that he "didn't know how to approach that." But he obviously figured it out in producing a masterpiece. "I ended up with one of the strangest string quartets in the world. It sounded like no other string quartet ever," he says with a laugh. "It was, as far as I know, the first amplified string quartet. It includes extra-instrumental things. In addition to the sounds of the string instruments This is a list of string instruments categorized according to the technique used to produce sound, followed by a list of string instruments grouped by country or region of origin. , they have to play crystal goblets. They vocalize in various ways. They shout and speak numbers." The work, which will be performed Friday at Beall Concert Hall during a series of concerts in commemoration of Crumb's 75th birthday, has come to be known as the "Vietnam String Quartet." That moniker (1) A name, title or alias. See alias. (2) A COM object that is used to create instances of other objects. Monikers save programmers time when coding various types of COM-based functions such as linking one document to another (OLE). See COM and OLE. , says Crumb, was an accident. "When I was about to finish the piece I noticed that it had pulled in some of the hysteria of that time, which was the Vietnam years," he says. `I superinscribed in there the phrase `In Time of War,' borrowed from Josef Haydn's `In Time of War.' It was just a belated admission that the work was tied to wartime, although that wasn't the original intention.' Long a distinguished composer, Crumb has balanced his composing with teaching - he has taught at the University of Colorado University of Colorado may refer to:
http://upenn.edu/. Address: Philadelphia, PA, USA. , from which he retired in 1997. He has received numerous honors, including a Cannes Classical Award in 1998 for best CD of a living composer (for ``Echoes of Times and the River'').. "For me, George Crumb is one of America's greatest composers," says Robert Kyr Robert Kyr (b. 1952) is an American composer and music educator. Robert Kyr is one of America's prominent living composers, and is probably the most prolific composer of his generation (12 symphonies, 3 chamber symphonies, 3 violin concerti, numerous large works for , composers symposium director and University of Oregon The University of Oregon is a public university located in Eugene, Oregon. The university was founded in 1876, graduating its first class two years later. The University of Oregon is one of 60 members of the Association of American Universities. music professor. "He is a visionary whose music is always alive with color, poetry and boundless imagination." To celebrate Crumb's life and work, Kyr commissioned 13 composers to create music for his 75th birthday. The composers whose works will be performed during the Friday and Saturday concerts along with Crumb (and his son David Crumb, a member of the UO faculty) are Carol Barnett, Greg Bartholomew, Benedikt Brydern, Anne Guzzo, Kyle Kindred, Mei-ling Lee (of the UO), Paul Lombard, John McKinnon, Seung-Ah Oh, Rebecca Oswald (of the UO), Suzanne Sorkin, Stefan Weisman and Wang Xi. As a gauge of Crumb's importance, Kyr offers this assessment: ``During the 1970s, when contemporary music was often criticized by audiences as being inaccessible, George Crumb gave listeners some new music to cheer about.'' But Crumb simply says he composes because he cannot help himself. ``Some people express it as you have to have a little fire in your belly that makes you want to write music. Maybe it amounts to dyspepsia dyspepsia: see indigestion. .'' CONCERT PREVIEW Composers' Symposium What: American composer George Crumb will be celebrated at concerts by the Third Angle New Music Ensemble When: 2 p.m. Friday, and 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday Where: Beall Concert Hall, 961 E. 18th Ave., at the UO School of Music How much: $8 and $12, at the Hult Center box office (682-5000) CAPTION(S): Composer George Crumb is the focus of festival concerts. |
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