Crumb, G :: Vox Balaenae for three Masked Players

George Crumb presents the seminal Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale) for Three Masked Players (Electric Flute, Electric Cello, Electric Piano).

The formal structure of Vox Balaenae presents in three parts: 'Vocalise (…for the beginning of time),' 'Variations on Sea-Time,' and 'Sea-Nocturne (…for the end of time).'

The opening 'Vocalise' (marked in the score as 'wildly fantastic, grotesque') is a cadenza for the flutist that exhibits the most overt references to the singing of the humpback whale. Crumb accomplishes this likeness by requiring the flutist to sing and play at the same time. Perhaps the most 'whale-sounding' effect occurs in passages where the flutist must cover the embouchure hole with their mouth so that the sung tone is projected through the tube of the flute. Fingering changes are specifically notated for these tones sung through the flute that produce a shimmering sound. The 'Vocalise' concludes with a parody quotation from Johann Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra, a tone poem inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophical novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra which concerns the role of man on earth.

Following the Strauss quotation, the cello introduces the sea theme ('solemn, with calm majesty'). Crumb labels the ensuing 'Variations on Sea-Time' using geological time periods: 'Archeozoic,' in which only single-cell organism life existed, 'Proterozoic,' in which oxygen accumulated in the Earth’s atmosphere and multi-cell organisms emerged, 'Paleozoic,' in which life forms transitioned from the ocean to the land, 'Mesozoic,' the 'age of reptiles,' and 'Cenozoic,' the 'age of mammals' and the arrival of man (marked 'with an imminent sense of destiny'). Crumb signals this arrival of man with a restatement of the Zarathustra quotation before the return of the sea theme in the Sea-Nocturne ('serene, pure, transfigured'). Crumb remarks that this concluding passage is 'couched in the ‘luminous’ tonality of B major and there are shimmering sounds of antique cymbals... I wanted to suggest 'a larger rhythm of nature' and a sense of suspension in time.''

Duration: 18'. For advanced players. Oversized. Includes single score.