George Crumb (1929-2022)
BLACK ANGELS: THIRTEEN IMAGES FROM THE DARK LAND (1970)
I. Departure
1. Threnody I: Night of the Electric Insects
2. Sounds of Bones and Flutes
3. Lost Bells
4. Devil-music
5. Danse Macabre
II. Absence
6. Pavana Lachrymae
7. Threnody II: Black Angels!
8. Sarabanda de la Muerte Oscura
9. Lost Bells (Echo)
III. Return
10. God-music
11. Ancient Voices
12. Ancient Voices (Echo)
13. Threnody III: Night of the Electric Insects
“It is a study in spiritual annihilation... it scared the bejabbers out of me.”
David Bowie sums it up pretty well, bejabbers and all. There is terror in this music. And yet, so too, there is sublime beauty. Framed in three sections— Departure, Absence, and Return — Black Angels explores ideas of superstition, fate, death, and redemption. Using an instrumental palette of extraordinary range from tam-tams to crystal glasses and an electric string quartet, Crumb conjures a world in which disparate times— ancient, present, and future— exist as one.
Artists: Timothy Christie, electric viola; Norbert Lewandowski, electric cello; Maria Sampen, electric violin; MingHuan Xu, electric violin