![]() ![]() The cello is tuned scordatura, and the piece requires the use of a grand piano as the techniques required would not be possible on an upright model. It is highly suggested that whenever possible the performance be done under blue lighting. In addition to instrumentation techniques, performers are asked to wear half black masks. Movements and instrumentation techniques Although the piece has eight movements, these are grouped into three structurally similar parts: the first two movements "(.for the beginning of time)", five variations named after geologic time periods, and the last movement "(.for the end of time)". In 1971, Crumb drew on these sounds as the inspiration.". "Late in the 1960s, George Crumb heard a tape recording prepared by a marine scientist of the sounds emitted by the humpback whale. ![]() Background Īs the name of the piece indicates, Vox Balaenae was inspired by whale songs. ![]() It was composed for performance by the New York Camerata in 1971. Hovhaness’s work imitates the recorded sounds with low basses and creates a rich orchestral ocean atmosphere, and Cage’s piece breaks up the word “whale” into its phonemes and extends those sounds, in contrast to Crumb’s approach which acoustically imitates aspects of whale sounds and like most of his pieces relates them to a poetic viewpoint.Vox Balaenae ( Voice of the Whale), is a work for electric flute, electric cello and amplified piano by the American avant-garde composer George Crumb. Other works which are based on whale song include Alan Hovhaness’s “And God Created Great Whales” (1970) for orchestra and recorded whale voices, and John Cage’s “Litany For The Whale” (1980) for voices. The concluding “Sea-Nocturne (…for the end of time)” builds an underwater atmosphere texture which gradually fragments. V)” is played “Dramatic, with a sense of imminent destiny” is constructed from piano tremolos and accents, cello trills with simultaneous glissando shifting, and extremely fast triplet patterns on the flute. IV)” has cello and flute melodies in unison underscored with punctuated patterns on the piano. Vox Balaenae (1971) is scored for electric flute, electric cello and amplified piano and is an archetypal Crumb experience. III)” is built from flute harmonics and cycles on cello and piano. II)” are built from cello harmonics with string glissandos and silently depressed clusters on the keys of the electric piano. ![]() The “Variations on Sea-Time … Sea Theme”, “Archeozoic (Var. The various sections of the work are played without pause: The “Vocalise (… for the beginning of time)” features the electric flute with the performer simultaneously playing and singing parallel lines into the flute, and then singing one sustained note into the flute while fingering fast arpeggios. “The masks, by effacing a sense of human projection, will symbolize the powerful impersonal forces of nature (nature dehumanized)” (Crumb). Inspired by the singing of the humpbacked whale, the performance requires that each of the three players wear a black half-mask (vizor-mask). Crumb is one of the most decorated composers of our times he won a Pulitzer. George Crumb’s “Vox balaenae for three masked players” (Voice of the Whale) is scored for electric flute, electric piano, and electric cello and four antique cymbals (crotales). George Crumbs Vox Balaenae or, Voice of the Whale (translated from Latin). ![]()
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