Aaron Shorr: Professorial Address

GEORGE CRUMB (b.1929)
Makrokosmos Volume Two:
Twelve Fantasy-Pieces after the Zodiac

Part 1
1: Morning Music (Genesis II) Cancer (Exuberantly, with primitive energy)
2: The Mystic Chord Sagittarius (Adagio molto, serene, desireless, like a Nirvana-trance)
3: Rain-Death Variations Pisces (Crystalline, with elegance [tempo metronomico])
4: Twin Suns (Doppelganger aus der Ewigkeit) Gemini (Majestic; solemn – “Hymn for the Advent of the Star-Child”)

Part 2
5: Ghost-Nocturne: for the Druids of Stonehenge (Night-Spell II) Virgo (Dark, fantasmic, subliminal)
6: Gargoyles Taurus (Marcia grottesca: savagely, with iron
7: Tora! Tora! Tora! (Cadenza Apocalittica) Scorpio (Dramatic, with great intensity; violent, relentless)
8: A Prophecy of Nostradamus Aries (Stark, powerful; molto pesante)
Part 3
9: Cosmic Wind Libra (Ghostly, shadowy, tremulous)
10. Voices from the “Corona Borealis” Aquarius (Passacaglia: very slow, with majestic calm)

11: Litany of the Galactic Bells Leo (Jubilant, metallic, incisive, echoing)
12: Agnus Dei Capricorn (Very slow, like chanting) “Prayer-wheel” – Very slow; like a vision; as if suspended in endless time