George Crumb (1929–2022)

[Nick Armstrong]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/06/obituaries/george-crumb-dead.html

[Beresford]

Hearing "Black Angels" in a Manchester art galley first alerted me to what post Bartok string quartets can do.
Crumb always seemed to gather less publicity than Adams, Reich, and Glass; I don't know why.

[Braunschlag]

At the very first HCMF in 1978 (I was a student there from 76-79) George was the star attraction. I think it was something of a coup for Richard Steinitz to bring him over to a grimy Yorkshire mill town.
His was probably the first contemporary music I’d heard live and RS roped myself and three other students in to join Dreamtiger in performance at the Town Hall. We were the ethereal chord of Eb sustained throughout a piece who’s title now escapes me (Vox Balanae perhaps).
It was a real privilege to play his music with the likes of Douglas Young and Rohan de Saran, they were unassuming and friendly throughout, we were a little anxious before we actually met.
GC was equally approachable and so pleased we took part. I found his music interesting, atmospheric and full of sounds which had an other-worldly origin.
What hadn’t quite been envisaged was that the precise tuning of the Eb chord gradually became a little sharper as the water evaporated or was lost in between finger-dipping to re-start the note.
And Richard Steinitz apparently didn’t retrieve his set of Crystal d’Arques wine goblets!
Sad to hear this news.

[teamsaint]

I think I have enjoyed everything of his that I have ever heard, though that is much less than it ought to have been.

[cloughie]

May he now be part of the Bread of Heaven.
RIP George

[RichardB]

Crumb always seemed to gather less publicity than Adams, Reich, and Glass; I don't know why.

He was a much more modest and self-effacing individual than them, to be sure. And a composer with a uniquely striking sonic imagination.

[oddoneout]

Petroc acknowledged him this morning with The Fiddler, although I missed the beginning of what he said so I didn't realise it was because Crumb had died. One of those composers about whom I know virtually nothing and whose work I don't seek out, but when I come across it I find it a worthwhile listen.

[CallMePaul]

Just seen this sad news. My only Crumb recordings are on Christine Schäfer's Apparition CD where his songs are coupled with songs by Purcell, but I have heard other works by him and found them enjoyable and fairly accessible.

RIP George

[ardcarp]

Black Angels (George Crumb)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etHtCVeU4-I

[Dave2002]

I missed this earlier. The George Crumb immersion day at the Barbican was a great event in 2009.

http://www.musicweb-international.com/sandh/2009/Jul-Dec09/crumb0512.htm

https://theartsdesk.com/classical-music/total-immersion-george-crumb-barbican

Sad to read of this.

GC RIP