# programme notes #

# texts #

# reviews #

general notes

The four books of Madrigals were composed in pairs -- Books I and II in 1965 (for Jan DeGaetani, on commission from the Koussevitzky Foundation) and Books III and IV in 1969 (for Elizabeth Suderburg). Like Night Music I, they are based upon the beautiful poetry of Federico García Lorca. Each book is scored for mezzo-soprano and two or more instruments, and the texts consist of from one to three short sentences which dwell upon the themes of life, death, love, earth, water, and rain. The settings of the texts are subtle, atmospheric, and intimate. Crumb does not strive for any large concerted tutti effects, but rather for a relatively large number of sonorous gradations within a small frame of reference. The choice of just a few accompanimental instruments, each with its own unique timbral and idiomatic characteristics, permits the composer to explore their interaction and contrapuntal combination with a meticulousness and refinement that is disarming in its simplicity.

The Madrigals are devoid of any esoteric constructive devices except in two notable instances: the first mardigal of Book III contains isorhythm, and the first madrigal of Book IV contains strict retrogrades. In both cases, however, the use of these devices is not arbitrary, but rather suggested in the text itself.

Madrigals, Book I
In addition to the soprano soloist, the madrigals of Book I are scored for vibraphone and contrabass (with low E tuned down to E-flat). In the first madirgal Crumb sets the single line "Verte desnuda es recordar la tierra" (To see you naked is to remember the earth) in two statements in freely measured time, which are separated by opening, middle, and closing passages based on the syllables "tai-o-tik". The second madrigal is divided into two main sections (Rain Death Music I and II) by three bell-like punctuating chords. And in the third madrigal he creates a clear formal design through the internal repetition of words, syllables, and phonemes rooted in discrete motivic structures.

Madrigals, Book II
The three madrigals of Book II are set for voice, percussion and one flutist, who successively plays alto-flute, flute in C, and piccolo. The first song consists of two statements of the text separated by short melismas on vocalic syllables, both of which are accompanied by alto-flute, antique symbals, and glockenspiel struck with hard sticks and wire brushes. The second madrigal is a dark, slow, lamentful setting, while the last madrigal of this set is an animated response to the text "Caballito negro, ¿Dónde llevas tu jinete muerto?" (Little black horse, where are you taking your dead rider?).

Madrigals, Book III
The first madrigal of Book III contains an isorhythmic setting of the text. Crumb uses two different isorhythmic patterns with talea of ten measures and seven measures, respectively, for the harp and the percussion. The vocal part, however, does not participate in the isorhythmic organization. The second song of this book is one of the shortest of all the madrigals and is a slow, calm setting of the line "Quiero dormir el sueño de las manzanas para aprender un llanto que me limpie de tierra" (I want to sleep the sleep of apples, to learn a lament that will cleanse me of earth). The last, and longest, song of Book III is a lullaby that is again scored for voice, harp, and vibraphone.

Madrigals, Book IV
The first madrigal of Book IV contains retrograded passages between sections, within sections, and as part of the motivic ideas themselves. Thus the retrogrades exist on the macrostructural, sectional, and microstructural levels, simultaneously. When using these retrogrades, however, Crumb is careful to exchange material between the voice and the instruments in order to give the madrigal both a sense of growth and unity. The following madrigal is a freely set lament, with its single line of text not uttered until near the end of the piece; the soprano is instructed to sing on a glissando, and not to dwell on given pitches. The last song is a relentless and implacable setting of the text.

Donald Chittum

programme notes in CD booklet, New World Records 357-2

The Madrigals were composed between 1965 and 1969. Like many of Crumb's most significant works, including Songs, Drones, and Refrains of Death (1968) and Ancient Voices of Children (1970), they are constructed from fragments of poetry by Federico García Lorca. In a sense, his many Lorca pieces constitute, as the composer has pointed out, 'an extended cycle'. Still, each work stands firmly on its own merits.

The four books, which last about thirty-two minutes in performance, are scored for soprano and a variety of instruments: vibraphone and double bass in Book One, alto flute (doubling flute and piccolo) and percussion in Book Two, harp and percussion in Book Three, and flute, harp, bass and percussion in Book Four. Fierce themes of eros and thanatos haunt the piece, reflected in its agitated, percussive idiom and angular, often harsh vocal lines. The texts evoke Goyesque images: Verte desnuda es recordar la tierra ("To see you naked is to remember the earth"), Los muertos llevan alas de musgo ("The dead wear mossy wings"), both from Book One; ¡La muerte me está mirando desde las torres de Córdoba! ("Death is watching me from the towers of Cordoba!") from the last book.

Crumb's penchant for hidden structures is evident in the first madrigal of Book Three, La noche canta desnuda sobre los puentes de marzo ("Night sings naked above the bridges of March"), in which he uses two instrumental isorhythms of different lengths, while the voice floats unencumbered above. Yet the Madrigals are, like all of Crumb's music, more about meaning than technique. Dark and disquieting, they are the music made when reason sleeps.

Michael Walsh