Voice of the Whale/Night of the Four Moons

George Crumb - Voice of the Whale/Night of the Four Moons

LP released in 1974

Voice of the Whale (Vox Balaenae) for three masked players

Vocalise (...for the beginning of time)
Variations on Sea-Time: Sea-theme->Archeozoic (Var. I)->Proterozoic (Var. II)->Paleozoic (Var. III)->Mesozoic (Var. IV)->Cenozoic (Var. V)
Sea-Nocturne (...for the end of time)

Performers:

Aeolian Chamber Players: Erich Graf - flute; Walter Ponce - piano; Jerry Grossman - cello and antique cymbals

Recorded under the supervision of the composer.

Voice of the Whale (Vox Balaenae), composed in 1971 for the New York Camerata, is scored for flute, cello, and piano (all amplified in concert performance). The work was inspired by the singing of the humpback whale, a tape recording of which I had heard two or three years previously. Each of the three performers is required to wear a black half-mask (or visor-mask). The masks, by effacing the sense of human projection, are intended to represent, symbolically, the powerful impersonal forces of nature (i.e. nature dehumanized). I have also suggested that the work be performed under a deep-blue stage lighting.
The form of Voice of the Whale is a simple three-part design, consisting of a prologue, a set of variations named after the geological eras, and an epilogue. (George Crumb)

Night of the Four Moons

(based on fragments from Federico Garcia Lorca)

I - La luna esta muerta, muerta...
(The moon is dead, dead...)
II - Cuando sale la luna...
(When the moon rises...)
III - Otro Adan oscuro esta sonando...
(Another obscure Adam dreams...)
IV - Huje luna, luna, luna!...
(Run away moon, moon, moon!...)

Performers:

Jan DeGaetani - mezzo-soprano
Aeolian Chamber Players: Lewis Kaplan - banjo; Erich Graf - alto flute and piccolo; Paul Tobias - cello
Raymond DesRoches - percussion

Night of the Four Moons, commissioned by the Philadelphia Chamber Players, was composed in 1969 during the Apollo 11 flight (July 16-24). The work is scored for alto (or mezzo-soprano), alto flute (doubling piccolo), banjo, electric cello, and percussion. The percussion includes Tibetan prayer stones, Japanese Kabuki blocks, alto African thumb piano (mbira), and Chinese temple gong in addition to the more usual vibraphone, crotales, tambourine, bongo drums, suspended cymbal and tamtam. The singer is also required to play finger cymbals, castanets, glockenspiel and tamtam.
I suppose that Night of the Four Moons is really an "occasional" work, since its inception was an artistic response to an external event. The texts - extracts drawn from the poems of Federico Garcia Lorca - symbolize my own rather ambivalent feelings vis-a-vis Apollo 11. The texts of the third and fourth songs seemed strikingly prophetic! (George Crumb)

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Voice of the Whale {19:59}
Side 2

1. Night of the Four Moons: I. La luna esta muerta, muerta... {2:34}

2. Night of the Four Moons: II. Cuando sale la luna... {3:28}

3. Night of the Four Moons: III. Otro Adan oscuro esta sonando... {2:48}

4. Night of the Four Moons: IV. Huje luna, luna, luna!... {8:20}

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