School of Music Virtual Faculty Recital March 17
March 15, 2021
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MACOMB, IL - The Western Illinois University School of Music will present a Faculty Recital at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 17, in the College of Fine Arts and Communication (COFAC) Recital Hall.
Due to the restrictions currently in place, there are no general admission performances in the COFAC Recital Hall. This performance will be broadcast on the School of Music's YouTube Channel and Facebook page.
PROGRAM:
Instructor Suyeon Ko, flute
Assistant Professor of Cello and Director of Orchestral Activities Kenny Lee, cello
School of Music Director Jeffrey Brown, piano
Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale) - George Crumb (b. 1929)
Vocalise (…for the beginning of time)
Variations on Sea-Time
Archeozoic
Proterozoic
Paleozoic
Mesozoic
Cenozoic
Sea-Nocturne (…for the end of time)
George Crumb (b. 1929), American pioneer of avant-garde music stated that "although technical discussions are interesting to composers... the truly magical and spiritual powers of music arise from deeper levels of our psyche." His innovations in sound and extended technique have always been in service of musical expression and spiritual experience rather than exclusively for technical originality. His string quartet Black Angels (1971) incorporates an eccentric combination of instruments, including crystal glasses, and gongs to evoke the sounds and experience from the Vietnam War. The Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale), written in the same year as Black Angels, is no exception; it is a work full of ingenious extended techniques developed to evoke the sounds of singing humpback whales. The piece is scored for electric flute, electric cello, and electric piano. In addition to instrumental and sonorous innovation, the Vox Balaenae also features elements of theatrics. The score indicates that the three performers should be masked (highly appropriate for the pandemic). Crumb states, in his score, that the "masks, by effacing a sense of human projection, will symbolize the powerful impersonal forces of nature (nature dehumanized)." He offers the performers the option to utilize a deep-blue stage lighting to further enhance the visual component of the performance. The piece requires mastery of several extended techniques from the three instrumentalists, including simultaneous humming and playing from the flautist, whistling and seagull-like harmonics from the cellist, and pizzicato playing from the pianist. The timbre of the cello assumes exotic hues throughout the piece, due to the unconventional tuning (A-D#-F#-B). Four antique cymbals are also used by the flautist and the cellist during the Sea Nocturne. Through these scintillating combinations of instruments and techniques, Crumb captures both cosmic and aquatic sonorities to produce this breathtaking and surreal masterpiece. - Assistant Professor of Cello and Director of Orchestral Activities Kenny Lee.
For more information, call the COFAC Recital Hall office at (309) 298-1843 or visit wiu.edu/recitalhall.
Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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