A conversation with George Crumb

musicalidea Says:

Nov 30, 2009 - Crumb seems 2 link his idea of a "mystical" convergence point of all musical styles & epochs w his notion of a "natural resonance" of th landscape - both material & cultural - in which a composer is reared. Th broadness of th former is 'revealed' through th specificity of th latter. This is certainly a Romanticist notion not dissimilar 2 Coleridge's idylls or Caspar David Friedrich's paintings, wherein universal artistic truth emerges through an intense engagement w immediate natural environs.

sptfgpn Says:

Dec 3, 2009 - He's not an advocate of the punk ethic by the sound of it.

MovieMaestro36 Says:

Dec 4, 2009 - To my limited understanding, Neo-Romantic is more of an Anti-Modernist movement. There are several Modernist tendencies in his music such as the "Spiral Galaxy" score shaped as a spiral or his exploitation of extended techniques that would not be used by anti-modernists.I believe Crumb is postmodern because postmodernism is more of a continuation of modernism with an commonly a stylistically eclectic nature but that's just my opinion. Postmodernism is very subjective.

MovieMaestro36 Says:

Dec 4, 2009 - Dadaism is present in different strands of both modernism and postmodernism so that isn't the best deciding factor. For example, many modernists wanted "art for art's sake" or in this case music which really has no sense of meaning. As far as the DNA thing yes, I would agree that it is a modernist notion but postmodernism did not begin with a manifesto against its previous art movement like many other movements so it often continues traits from modernism.

musicalidea Says:

Dec 4, 2009 - No one is saying that Musical Dada is the "deciding factor," in distinguishing him as a post-modern composer. Crumb would by no means count as a Dadaist in any sense, Modern or Post-modern. The "pure form" anti-program, anti-allusion aspects of the 2nd Viennese School & Darmstadt are not Dadaist. I would place Kurtag, later Berio or later Ligeti in the Dada camp. Musical Dada, if indeed it exists, is not correspondent to the Dada (teens - 30s) and Neo-Dada (50s - early 70s) fine art movements.

musicalidea Says:

Dec 4, 2009 - As I also stated above, "many could argue that the Neo-Romantic trend is a subgenre within the larger Postmodern movement." In fact most would, as you have said, consider NR to be an "anti-modern" and therefore PM dev. Because PM is defined in so many ways - see my comments abt musical PM & the 3 common usages - & is a very contentious idea which, at least philosophically, denies its own possibility (as it claims the end of historicity), it is difficult, as u concur, to use in a hard & fast way.

musicalidea Says:

Dec 4, 2009 - I wld def not claim tht extended techniques r the provenance of Mod composition & not of supposed PM works. I can c why u wld contrast NR, itself a PM genre which again permits "plesantness" and tonality, w the highly "abrasive" use of extended technique in the Varese sense. But most of the really intense explorations of extended technique have occurred in the PM era - think Crumb, Xenaxis, Berio, Lachenmann, Cage, Tippet. Ur right to say that the PM/Mod distinction is murky & oft contradictory

danieleflauto Says:

Mar 9, 2010 - ho bisogno della traduzione in italiano, c'è qualcuno che mi può aiutare?

danieleflauto Says:

Mar 9, 2010 - Is there anyone of good will that I can write the text of the interview?

human20freedom Says:

Apr 22, 2010 - pink floyd too.....:P

atc977 Says:

May 8, 2010 - I'm glad to see a giant of contemporary music being genuine, keeping it real...Most composers nowadays are arse-holes, or at least, there's a culture of that (in UK/Ireland)

composerpoet Says:

Aug 28, 2010 - Glad to see an interview done on TV of a Serious American Composer. This is the first TV interview of any Classical Composer I've ever heard of or seen. I've been looking for this to occur for over 40 years. Interviews with Serious American Composers on TV is more than rare, it's pretty much non existent. Glad it was George Crumb.

SidewalkFrequencies Says:

Sep 19, 2010 - She is soooo deep.

Skutieos7 Says:

Oct 8, 2010 - whats the name of the 2nd song that plays after black angels?

winstontheband Says:

Oct 10, 2010 - Yeah - nature is definitely not real life...

trunks2861 Says:

Oct 15, 2010 - beautiful but dense....

BachaBachaNinja Says:

Nov 1, 2010 - Our graduate percussion quartet is playing "Winds of Destiny: American Songbook IV" (2004) by Mr. Crumb. Sample it on itunes. It's so much fun and it's a great work!

SSOzzy Says:

Nov 30, 2010 - She's cute though

coelhoigor Says:

Dec 10, 2010 - About composition: "I guess I think of the craftsmanship aspect of it, it's just really something you do. You're trained to do, you try to do it the best way you can, and there's nothing special about it." He's right, guys.

godihatelag Says:

Dec 13, 2010 - the editor did not care for this woman. 

DarkZekeX Says:

Mar 8, 2011 - Awww :D I wanna meet him ^_^ Great composer. And he just seems so sweet ^^

hollymollyize Says:

May 3, 2011 - Wow. The first time I heard him talk!

aliciabyer Says:

May 15, 2011 - "bulla burtok"!

MsModernComposer Says:

Dec 20, 2011 - Haunted Landscape is amazing!

ghpmdm09 Says:

Mar 7, 2012 - His voice sounds just like Mayor West from Family Guy.