![]() In my warm-up, I sing and play a lot because it encourages this very free and natural way of blowing out through the instrument, and sort of wakes up all the resonators in the body, like in the head and chest. What does that feel like, and why does Crumb put a spotlight on it? Jarrett Hoffman: You get to open the piece with that sound that flutists can make so well: singing and playing simultaneously. It’s almost like the piece represents an awareness of all these other lives going on in parallel to our own existence. The whales can hear each other through vast distances in the ocean - and maybe we don’t know exactly what it means, but we know that they’re communicating with each other in their own way. ![]() Lorna McGhee: If you’ve listened to the sound of humpback whales singing to each other, you know it’s amazing what George Crumb has done to evoke that. The first item on our conversational agenda? Whales. Then on Thursday, she’ll play Vox Balaenae. She’ll make her ChamberFest debut on Tuesday, June 19 at 7:30 pm at the Crawford Rotunda at The Cleveland History Museum, where she’ll perform Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s 12 Miniatures for Flute and Piano. I recently spoke with Scottish-born Lorna McGhee, principal flute of the Pittsburgh Symphony and professor at Carnegie Mellon University. 3 in f and the “Adagio” from Berg’s Chamber Concerto. Taking the composer’s suggestion, ChamberFest Cleveland will cast a deep blue light over the stage of Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music on Thursday evening, June 21, when they present Crumb’s underwater epic as part of a 7:30 pm concert titled “A Turn in the Road.” The program will also include Dvořák’s Piano Trio No. A trio for flute, cello, and piano, all amplified, the work continues to fascinate audiences with its imitation of whale song, and the feeling it conjures of time standing still. 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.In 1969, George Crumb heard the complex, otherworldly singing of the humpback whale - then a deeply endangered species - and was inspired to write Vox Balaenae (“Voice of the Whale”). 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. 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.
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