Those acquainted with the piece have come to expect the full theatrical package of the masked players and blue stage lights since familiarity with this particular score in addition to knowledge of other works by Crumb have diminished the impact of the once groundbreaking timbral effects and compositional language exhibited in Vox Balaenae. Over the past 40 years, however, these timbral effects have all become rather commonplace, yet audiences still crave a renewed sense of novelty from this seminal work. In the early years of Vox Balaenae’s performance history, the timbral effects produced by the extended techniques in the score could hardly be defined by audiences and critics alike. Finally, he specifies that the concluding phrase should be performed silently in pantomime to create the effect of a fade out. In the introductory performance notes, he states that all performers should wear a black half-mask, which “by effacing a sense of human projection, will symbolize the powerful impersonal forces of nature (nature dehumanized).” He also suggests that if desired, Vox Balaenae may be performed under deep-blue stage lighting to further enhance the theatrical effect. In addition to the specificity of musical elements in this work, Crumb also recommends several theatrical components. Rather than literally incorporating the whale song recording that served as the raison d’être for this piece, Crumb requires the performers to mimic and approximate these sounds acoustically through carefully notated extended techniques and timbral effects. Vox Balaenae also exhibits Crumb’s reverberant acoustic through electronic amplification of the entire ensemble: flute, cello, and piano. This work was “inspired by the singing of the humpback whale, a recording of which the composer heard in 1969,” and provides commentary on both the lifespan of the earth and man’s relationship with nature. The use of electronic amplification in Crumb’s works serves to enhance these unconventional sounds while highlighting the evocative and often haunting nature of his music.Ī prime example of this aesthetic is Crumb’s Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale) for Three Masked Players (1971). A self-described post-modernist composer, Crumb cites the echoing, reverberant sounds of the West Virginia river valley as an inherited acoustic that is reflected in many of his works. 1929, Charleston, WV) often explores new sounds and timbres for conventional instruments in his works, an approach to composition previously explored by Henry Cowell (1897-1965) and John Cage (1912-1992). Timbre in particular has been realized by means of tuning systems, instrumentation, orchestration, extended techniques, and digital manipulation. Based on observations of these trends, the two parameters that seem to demand continual reevaluation and expansion are form and timbre, yet the application of these parameters has also shifted over time. The outliers have come to shape the retrospectively-crafted musicological narrative arc, a story that relies on experimentation, novelty, and change. Throughout the history of Western art music, large-scale developmental trends have continually been defined by the composers who broke the rules, so to speak.
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