Crumb: Four Nocturnes

"George Crumb…an important historical figure in the long line of American maverick composers...As a composer in search of transcendence, think of Ives, Cowell, Morton, Partch, Ellington, Nancarrow, Carter, Cage, Feldman,Tenney, Monk… each in their own way. It is in this company that George Crumb belongs. A company beyond category." Art Lange

Volume Six of Bridge's Grammy-winning George Crumb Edition features the premiere recording of the composer's only work for solo organ, the roof-raising "Pastoral Drone." Organist Gregory D'Agostino, quite literally pulls out all of the stops in Crumb's "in your face" essay. Also featured on this CD is the first digital recording of Crumb's seminal orchestral masterpiece, "Echoes of Time and the River," performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic, under conductor Thomas Conlin. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1968, "Echoes of Time and the River," is among Crumb's most personal scores, with its four movements ranging from intimate chamber music to electrifying tutti outbursts. Bridge Records is also pleased to re-issue, for the first time on CD, legendary mezzo-soprano Jan DeGaetani's reading of Crumb's "Lux Aeterna." DeGaetani's relationship with Crumb inspired many of his finest scores ("Ancient Voices of Children," "Night of the Four Moons," etc.), and this re-mastered recording, at long last, restores her masterful performance to the catalog. Piano virtuoso Robert Shannon continues his work on this series with a powerful performance of "Gnomic Variations," and is joined by violinist Gregory Fulkerson for Crumb's eerily beautiful "Four Nocturnes."